Bluestill's Corner : Legend of the Samurai Editorial shoot

After a long personal hiatus it feels good in a special kind of way to be sitting back at the computer blogging. I could not dream of a better way to start off a blog with anything other than a Bluestill editorial shoot. I were hoping to return to the blog with the capabilities of loading video, but that function has never worked for me in the past here on the Blogger and I doubt if it is working now. As always I have to start off by giving a shout out to Team Blue who made this shoot possible. the model Ms Domoneka Franklin is new to modeling and has never modeled before. Yet she is such a natural that it is a wonder she is undiscovered. The first time I met her all I could do was think editorial. Thank you Domo for going the distance. My MUA; Samantha Tokita is a true darling in every sense of the word. Our meeting started from just a simple note and grew into this huge think tank session. I knew from listening to her talk that this lady was the right person for this editorial. I could feel it. Sammie, also handled the face painting of the mask used in this editorial. She was the perfect co-pilot for this project:

Secondly, I cannot even begin to thank my Ace in the Hole hairstylist; Ciara Janee, owner of Dreme Dior Beauty. There are those people in your life who you just know you can always count on. Even though I decided to keep the hair very simple in this editorial, I knew Ciara would take simple all the way to perfection, and that is exactly what she did with very little hesitation, considering we shot this the day after Valentines Day when most couples were probably just turning over, this team had celebrated and pulled it together for this project. I will never ever forget that huge smile on Ciara face when she greeted me that morning even though I called her super early because hair was the first stop and I wanted to be sure she was ready for us. I could have at least shown up with flowers or candy right? Ciara will always be a huge asset to me because she never thinks inside of the box, and isn't afraid to prove it.

The Wardrobe and props

Sammie and I had met up for lunch and started deciding the props for this editorial. After viewing some photos on Pinterest I knew without a doubt that I wanted a long bow. After calling a few friends who hunt, and coming up empty handed, I knew I would be making this long bow, and I was excited about doing so. I took a walk thru the woods and before long came upon the perfect fallen branch, that had seasoned and were just waiting to be used or burned as firewood by someone. I went to the store and got me a cheap pocket knife and went to working on it. I could see it taking shape and I knew it would work out well. I later had my friend from Japan inscribe it with kanji letters to read: Legend of the Samurai and a few other sacred quotes.

The wardrobe selection was 100 percent inspired by what I had seen on Pinterest. I particular kept those looks in my head as I hunted for the wardrobe. I were quite delighted to so easily find similar clothing so quickly and all in the same store.

The equipment

Camera Body: Nikon D800

Lens: 70-200 f2.8 @70mm

Lights: 1 Einstein and 2 Alien Bee 1600

Modifier: 2- 28 inch beauty dish and Large Softbox, large reflector

Camera Settings:

Beauty shots: ISO: 320

Aperture: f8.0

Shutter speed: 1/200th second

I decided it would probably be best to post the photos unedited so that if you decide to shoot similar you will hopefully see exactly what I saw when I took the shot. This photo was shot using the two beauty dishes in a clamshell lighting shot (see diagram)