i know.  i know.  i should be working on my website.  BUT i scheduled shoots almost every sunday since may in order to post a new site with a new focus....so i have to edit all of those images first!  :)  i have another favorite from the matt cusson shoot.  he wanted something vintage.  something grungy.  nothing clean.  no sunny beaches.  no rolling hills of prettiness.  so this is another composite i created one night.  background is a stock photo from this cat.

stephanie is new to modeling.  she's fun to work with and with time will gain some confidence behind the camera.  it's intimidating!  that's why i'm on the other side of the camera.  lol.  samantha of illustrious day spa did her make-up.  hair by ms. kelly.  i love the feathers.  the gloves were samantha's grandmother's and we were very careful with them.  this photo was shot in the stairwell over at CDIA.  my favorite hallway in the whole world, for sure.  there are huge windows and beautiful old hammered metal walls.  if that makes sense....

for stephanie's retouch, i removed the hair that was falling across her shoulder/neck.  i smoothed her neck and skin.  elongated her fingers and slimmed her hand.  it's not like she had a big hand, but the camera angle distorted it.  i punched up the color in her make-up and brightened her eyes.  enjoy!

the lovely kelly joined me a few sundays ago with samantha of illustrious day spa.  we were shooting stephanie (i'll post one of her pictures next) and our second model texted to cancel.  don't even get me started on models and cancelling or not showing up or being late.  grr.  anyway, kelly stepped in to be our afternoon model and we had a lot of laughs.  this photo was one of my favorites.  in the retouched photos, i fixed some stray hairs, added some more bangs, did a little work on her skin and then played around with some finishes/photo treatments?  which one is your favorite?

i tend to neglect the gradient tool in photoshop and saw some really neat work in a model mayhem portfolio that inspired the work below.  just playing around with gradients. too lazy to use the pen tool tonight. i used the magnetic lasso at a pixel feather of 1 and then covered up any "mistakes" with the paisley, the crown and the 'glow'.

so christina has been telling me about matt cusson for over a year now.  he's wicked talented.  wicked down to earth.  wicked check him out here and here too. matt joined the photoshoot at bella nova salon (in foxboro, ma) a few sundays ago.  yes.  i am still working on these photos.  ;)

here is a before and after on mr. matt cusson.  the biggest changes include fixing the distraction (me) in the reflection of his sunglasses and then adding some contrast and grunge to the image.  holler!  KMD