It’s Howitookit.com’s birthday! And to celebrate our first successful year in business, we’ve decided to offer an incredible giveaway to one lucky winner! So, we’ve come up with following 3 items:

Click each link below for more details and specs (we can also substitute for cash value or other equipment up to $1,140.38):

1. Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18 MP CMOS APS-C Digital SLR Camera
2. Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
3. Hoya 58mm UV (Ultra Violet) Multi Coated Glass Filter

The beauty of this contest is that ANYONE can win! That’s right… You have an amazing opportunity to get over $1,140.38 worth of FREE photography equipment (we even pay the shipping costs!). To enter this giveaway, you just need to complete 4 simple (and free!) steps and you will automatically be enrolled into this contest!

4 Easy Steps To Enter This Contest:

Step 1: Follow @howitookit on your twitter account and LIKE our Facebook

Step 2: Tell your friends on twitter and facebook about this giveaway (above)

Step 3: Subscribe to our weekly photography tips newsletter and rss feed

Step 4: Submit your comment at the end of this page (scroll all the way down) and tell us what you’ll do with your prizes if you win!

That’s it! That’s all you have to do to be entered in this amazing giveaway!

The deadline for this giveaway is Monday, September 13th, 2010. The winner will be randomly selected and notified via email based on the email address you leave in comments section below. Remember, the more you tweet/retweet, share on facebook, and spread the word about this giveaway, the better your chances of winning! So tell everyone you know and submit your comment below! We are tracking everything, and if you haven’t done all 4 steps, you will be disqualified and we will randomly select a new winner.

Good luck to everyone participating!

Tutorial by Chris Knight.

Shooting a story…

This series was my first attempt at creating a cohesive story. We called it “The Big Bad Wolf.” You know, since it was a love story. All the edits are the same, so I’m going to concentrate on a single image.

Fig 1: Edited Image - Prior To Storyline Added

I shot this on a seamless white background with two lights. An Alien Bees AB800 and Alien Bees Ringflash, which creates the halo shadow around the models. The AB800 was positioned behind and camera left and set to 3/4 power of the ringflash. This creates a nice rim light (or separation light) on the left side of the models creating a 3D feeling. I set up the lights, metered them for the correct exposure, and white balanced. Those steps are always a great habit to get into whether or not you’re shooting black and white or color correcting. My clients like to see a great image out of the back of the camera and this helps.

Shot details:
Camera: Canon Rebel XT
Lens: 24-70mm@45mm
F-stop: f/14
Shutter: 1/100th of a second
ISO 100

Fig 2: Lighting Setup

This was the shot right out of the camera.

Fig 3: Untouched original photo

Instead of a need to body sculpt her, I went with just simple skin smoothing. Running portraiture on the skin at 30% opacity works just fine. It is a very subtle, and mostly natural result.

Fig 4: Simple skin smoothing

I then ran a black and white adjustment layer to tone the skin. I masked out the black lingerie to do that separately.

Fig 5: Black & white adjustment

Then I added a levels layer to even out the skin tone of her arm and used a mask on just that part.

Fig 6: Adding level layer

Next I added a black and white layer for the lingerie.

Fig 7: Adding black & white layer

And then a slight levels adjustment tweak for the contrast.

Fig 8: Slight levels adjustment

Once that was all done, I dodged and burned more.

Fig 9: Dodge and burn

And finally, I used a little bit of LucisArt on a very low setting which essentially finished the image.

Fig 10: LucisArt on low setting

Once all these edits were finished, I put them together in a collective story.

Fig 11: Putting together to make story

Then I added some text and graphics…

Fig 12: Adding graphics

And when all put together, came up with this final image:

Fig 13: Final result

Comparing Before and After Pcitures

So now that you have a basic idea of how you can turn your photos into a story, I hope you get creative with what you’ve already taken and create something spectacular!

Have you ever taken pictures from a car? And no, I’m not talking about an intoxicated friend of yours hanging out of the car window, and you snapping a quick shot with your Nikon Coolpix S70.

I mean from an artistic perspective.

Sometimes, the most ordinary things can be the most spectacular to photograph. Having an eye for these kinds of things develop over time with a photographer of course. But, when you can see the end result without a single photo being snapped, you’re well on your way to becoming an amazing photographer!

We’ve included some pictures taken from cars to give you an idea of how ordinary and everyday life can be used to create something, often times, breath-taking.

Hatch up

Photo by stoffen.

The Science of Speed

Photo by Drew Wilson.

07.00 AM

Photo by Toni V.

Shanghai – Bund Sightseeing Tunnel

Photo by cnmark.

Lightshow

Photo by pfn.photo.

Who’s goin to drive you home tonight?

Photo by AustinTX.

Drivin’ Fast

Photo by H:Balazs.

Tunnel Vision

A Midnight Summer’s Dream

Photo by jcoterhals.

Written by Bobbi-Lee

This is a question a lot of parents ask and I am here to show you how you can improve your photography skills and get that precious photo you will cherish forever. Whether you are using a thousand dollar DSLR or a cheap point-and-shoot camera, these 5 simple tips can help you create wonderful child portraits.

1. Composition – How You Frame It

When looking at a photo, the human eye follows the leading lines and focus goes to the main subject. Leading lines create impact, when done properly they bring your eyes to rest on the main subject, but incorrect leading lines can ruin a photo. When photographing your child try to keep lines from destroying the shot.

Bad leading lines include: actual lines going through the head (eg: the horizon crossing through behind the child’s head), imaginary lines taking the eye away from the subject, distractions in the background that take the eyes off the child and lines that take the focus out of the frame. A good way to get creative leading lines is have your child sit in the middle of two rows of trees that meet at the horizon.

The key to good composition is avoiding shooting from the parents point of view but to get down at the child’s eye level.

If this means lying down or crouching to get the shot, then do it. A baby laying on his tummy on the grass looking straight into the camera looks more visually pleasing than taken from a standing angle with the child’s line of sight not directed at the lens.

Never be afraid to try new angles and points of view. Shooting from directly above with either the child sitting and looking straight up or laying face up looks great.

The following two photos show an example of a bad angle (first image) that does nothing for the viewer, and a good angle (second image) that is visually attractive.

Nothing destroys a shot more than a child looking out of the frame. There’s nothing wrong with your child not looking straight at the camera-those candid happy moments are precious too- but when the composition has the subject placed right at the edge of the frame and looking out it looks odd and displaced. But if you compose your shot so the child is looking into the frame, it is more pleasing whether or not we as the viewer can see what the child is looking at.

In the first image example below the child is looking out of the frame and leading our eyes away from the picture. The shot should have been composed with the child looking into the empty space rather than the empty space behind it. The second image is a good example of looking into the frame.

2. It’s All About The Lighting

Many people believe that the best time to take photos is when the sun is shining bright. They could not be more wrong. It’s definitely better to shoot when the sun isn’t high in the sky causing harsh face shadows, bright spots and squinty eyes. The best time of the day to take the perfect photograph is just after sunrise and just before sunset. At these times of the day the sun is warm and has a golden glow and it flatters every skin tone.

But of course not everyone has the luxury of being able to shoot at these times and are left with taking photos during the middle of the day. There are many ways to combat this problem including but not limited to; using a reflector, shooting in open shade, using fill flash for those shadows and shooting into the sun (backlighting).

Lets have a look at the example photos below. The first one was shot in full sun at around midday. See the harsh shadows falling on the face, especially below the eyes, caused by the sun shining from directly above. It’s like the opposite of the “ghost effect” in which someone puts a torch below their face pointing upwards, creating suitably scary shadows upon the face when telling a scary story.

Now to avoid those harsh shadows, either use a reflector to bounce back some light to fill in the shadows, or use some fill flash which does the same thing, or go find a nice open shaded area. The second image in the example below was take in the shade of a big tree, notice now there are no harsh shadows under her eyes.

3. The Windows To The Soul

Getting eye contact from a child, especially from a baby, can be very hard. Most kids don’t understand or even care for the camera pointed in their face and would rather do what kids do best: play. So get in on the act and make it a game. If this means singing their favourite song, dancing like a clown or making funny jokes just to get a nice natural smile and excellent eye contact, then do it.

When I photograph children I like to ask them questions like what their favourite book or story is, who their best friends are and so on. I interact with the kids which lets them ease up in front of the camera. When photographing your own child, you know your child better than anyone and what he or she loves so make use of that.

Other handy tricks include having a rattle or bell and shaking it to get a baby’s attention, asking children if they can see themselves in the lens or even putting a pez dispenser in the hot shoe of your DSLR.

The main focus of all portraits should be the eyes, so make sure your foc us is spot on and the eyes are very sharp and full of life. I like to put the centre of the eye (pupil) in my cameras focus point, lock focus, then recompose.

However you do it, make sure the focus is on the eyes as the eyes truly are the windows to the soul and great eyes tell a story. To make eyes stand out, make good use of catch lights. Catch lights are the reflections in the eyes. If you are shooting indoors have your child stand facing a window or door so the natural light coming through is reflected in their eyes.

When shooting outside in shade have your child sit or stand at the very edge of the shade so the eyes pick up the brightness from the areas that are not shaded and reflect that back. Using a reflector is also good to get great rounded catch lights.

The following example image of catch lights was achieved by having the subject stand at the edge of the shade of a tree and behind me was a white wall to my left (her right) which is the main reflection in the top of the eye. The bottom part of the reflection is just the pavement which was in full sun and quite bright.

4. Posing

Now if you have more than one kid then you’re probably reading this and thinking that’s fine but how do I get a photo of all of them together with great eye contact and good composition? Well there are many answers to this question but a good rule to follow is to have the kids make contact with each other.

Pose your kids so they are either hugging, holding hands, or close together as this will show the friendship and fun these children have together. For two kids it’s nice to have them hug tightly with cheeks pressed together facing the camera, or have the lay down with their feet in opposite directions but take it so only their heads are in the frame. With three or more children, try to create a triangle with their posing.

Have the older child sit in the middle with two younger ones on the side, maybe the smallest even standing leaning into the oldest sitting. Now even I can’t guarantee you will get everyone looking at the camera at the same time, without blinking but take a few frames because you might get lucky.

One thing so many people do very often is known as “chopping the limbs”. What I mean is when part of the body is cut out of the frame and appears to be a chopped body part. Never crop between the knee and the ankle, as this makes the child look footless and just plain wrong. If you must crop on the legs make sure you do it above the knee line.

Same thing with between the elbows and the hands, cropping at the wrist is uncomfortable and distracting to look at. That’s not to say you can’t ever crop a limb and must always have the whole body in the frame, as long as you follow the above rules and it doesn’t look too odd it will be fine.

See the four examples below of a good and a bad crop of the same photo in different orientation. The first one is a good crop and overall good composition, the second example clearly a bad crop with the ankles cut off, and a bad composition being almost too centered.

The next one is a good crop of the face because although it is cropped at the arm, the hands aren’t chopped off between elbow and wrist. The second one crops off the hand at the wrist and also crops part of the leg making it an over all bad composition.

5. Popping The Color

Now that you have taken the tips above you have probably captured some beautiful images of your children. Now comes what I think of as the fun part, giving more life to your photos. I like to give my images what is known as a “colour pop” or colour boost.

You can do this in Lightroom by adjusting the vibrancy and saturation sliders up, and you can do this in Photoshop by increasing the saturation. I also like to use the sponge tool, set to saturate, in Photoshop and paint over the parts I want more colourful. Adjusting the exposure in Lightroom or Photoshop to make the images more brighter makes a world of difference too.

Colour not only gives your image more flair, but it also shows the child’s character of fun and playfulness with its vibrancy. Here is an example of a SOOC (straight out of camera) image and a post processed image with a colour pop. It’s not too much of a difference but enough to make the image more appealing and vibrant.

With these 5 simple tips, you are well on your way to taking better photos of children, and ultimately creating a beautiful addition to your portfolio!

There are two important things most photographers forget to do when coming up with their business plan, designing their website and other promotional materials. Actually, I couldn’t find a single photographers portfolio I felt was doing a good job addressing both these issues. They forget to define their USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and they forget to tell their potential customers what their USP is.

When potential clients are deciding whether or not they should do business with you, it is very likely that they are also considering your competitors offerings. If neither one of you provide the client hunting for a good photographer with a good reason to pick you, it will all come down to price, and you don’t want that, do you?

In short, your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is what clearly answers the question everyone shopping for a photographer would like the answer to, “Why should I pick you as my photographer instead of your competitors?”. Your USP should be the basis of all your marketing and promotional efforts. It should be clearly stated within seconds after looking at your website, your hard-copy portfolio or promotional brochure.

Developing Your USP

So how do you determine what your USP is? First you have to look at what separates you from your competitors. The fact that you consider yourself a better photographer than your competitors is all relative, as the potential clients might see you all as the same. You need to offer something else.

• Do you offer in-house printing?
• Fast turn-around on delivering final images?
• State of the art studio?
• Professional make-up services included in the price?

It might be the case that all the other photographers offer the same, but if you’re the only one advertising it, your one step ahead.

Take Your USP One Step Further

Your USP is not very good if your competitors can easily copy it. Many prefer to call it their Sustainable Competitive Advantage. This is the one reason why it doesn’t work to position your business to compete on price – it can be so easily copied.

With so many photographers entering the market these days, it is important for your business to define a position and own it in the mind of the consumers. This doesn’t of course mean that you can’ do anything else, you just specialize in one thing. For example, if you live in a fairly big city, rather than doing portraiture, focus on doing stunning executive director portraitures, ready to go into whatever business magazine people are reading these days, to make that specific executive look like one hell of a guy.

“Don’t try to be a jack-of-all-trades; you’ll end up a master of none. Define your sustainable competitive advantage and give it a great tagline” – Sarah Petty.

Using Your USP

The final step once you have a clear USP is to make sure that everything you do to promote your business is working around your USP. If you’re into some children photography niche, have a colourful website and studio with lots of happy smiles all over the place, make sure you mention the word fun and smile all over the place and always push your USP – that you’re the number one person in child photography (but, you can also do other things if they take the time to explore).

Remember, if you can’t find out what sets you apart from your competitors, it is very unlike that your potential clients will.

6 Tips For Brainstorming

Photo: Paul Mayne

1. Always carry around a creative journal. You never know what might come up, that you should be writing down.
2. Ask your friend and family, what sets you apart.
3. Ask previous clients.
4. Find out where you do your best creative thinking. Me personally have the best ideas when I’m in the shower or jogging. What about you?
5. Read magazines and photography blogs. What sets other photographers apart?
6. Subscribe to this blog – we keep serving you great tips to improve your photography.

Now a little challenge for everyone. What sets you apart as a photographer? If you’re not at the point where you offer your services yet, what do you wish to set yourself apart with the day you go professional?

High Speed Photography is the science of taking photos really fast. Some people argue that it should be called “Stop Motion Photography”, rather than High Speed Photography. We’re not going to make an decisions, as “high speed photography” is exactly the same a freeze motion regardless of the shutter speed.

We’ve included some links at the end of the article for those of you who need more brain feed.

Suspended

Photo by DanD.

Apple Deep Splash

Photo by starmag.

Guess where it come from!

Photo by DanD.

Lemon Splash

Photo by starmag.

Year 2008

Photo by rusquillo.

Another High Speed Try

Photo by Whisky n Whisky.

The Crash

Photo by Mohammad AlShuaib.

Eggsplosion

Photo by Mark Watson.

A One Cent Martini

Photo by Nate Flickinger.

Crash

Photo by Saleh.

Limonade

Photo by Fernando Delfini.

Water Splash

Photo by Abdull.

Through the Looking Glass

Photo by Mark Westerman.

Liquid Madness

Photo by Ghadeer Al-Muhanna.

Tutti in festa

Photo by Anno Luce.

Bam! (fist)

Photo by Maren Fischinger.

Tears From Heaven

Photo by American-Psycho-UK.

Banana Shot

Photo by Mark Watson.

Orange

Photo by Nick Harrison.

High Speed (Explore)

Photo by M. Al-Mansour.

High Speed Sink

Photo by Paolo Tinari.

Quarters

Photo by Kominyetska.

Distortion

Photo by Scott.

Yellow Cross

Photo by Kewivis.

Blue Symmetry

Photo by Keith2874.

Golf Splash

Photo by Ferranmat.

Water Balloon

Photo by lordsheppy.

Eruption

Photo by Hance Gesell.

Water Balloon

Photo by Kewlevis.

Splash

Photo by Maxglez.

Coffee & Splash

Photo by Dongga BS.

It’s Raining Crystals

Photo by Lucky Lucas.

Want more?

If you can’t get enough of these high speed photography images, we suggest you head over to flickr to check out some of the groups dedicated to this:

• High Speed Photography 1/10000th Second Flash Exposure Or Faster
• High Speed Photography

Also remember to check out HowItookit.com’s own Flick group here.

Our first ever interview at Howitookit.com is with a German guy named Thomas Wuhrer. Ever since he picked up his first lomo camera in 2004 he has been in love with photography. Thomas has an excellent eye for photography and if you Google his name you will see that he has been featured a whole lot of places.

With neither one of us with English as a first language, we set out to do an interview. First let us have a look at some of his photos:

Click any photo to enlarge it!

Hi Thomas. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started with photography?

Ok! My Name is Thomas Wuhrer and I’m 30 years old guy who live in Tübingen, Germany. I have been interested in “art” since I was 12 years old. That was the time we started doing cool stuff at school – like drawing, painting and other things. I liked it so much that I was drawing different things in nearly every minute.

My favourite were comics. After a few years I started doing these things with airbrush and graffitti. At least combining all things together. In 2004 my sister gave me a lomo camera (this plastic-thing with 4 lenses) and I started to experiment with it. It was so fun that I decided to buy myself a digital camera, because I read that you could “change” this picures after taken it on computer. That’s exactly what I wanted to do. That’s how it all started…

How would you describe your own style of photography?

Funky, different, unnatural but natural, cool, fresh, free, freaky, lyrical, real. I find it very complicated for me to describe this in words. Especially in English. Why don’t you rather just have a look at my photos and tell me what my style is?

What kind of equipment do you normally use when doing a shoot?

Normally I use my Canon EOS 40D with the following lenses and light:

• Canon 50mm f1.4
• Sigma 10-20mm f3.5-5.6
• Sigma 10mm fisheye
• Canon 530ex flashlight

I don’t have a favourite lens at the moment. What lens I choose really depends on what picture I want to take. My favourite location is outdoors, because I like the natural daylight. I normally try not to use any flash, but that also depends on how I want the picture to look like. With the two Sigma lenses I do need the flash, because my distance to the model is so close (in most cases) that I “block” the light from her/him.

Photo by Thomas Wuhrer

How important is Photoshop for your final images?

Photoshop is very important to me! This program is the reason why I decided to create digital and not analog pictures. It makes about 60% of my work. It helps me beeing more creative and makes the picures look like I want them to.

Are you a Mac or PC guy?

I am a PC-guy. I’ve used it from the beginning and I’m very satisfied with it. There is no reason for me to change the system because I don’t know any pros and cons between both systems. And you never stop a running system.

What has been your most memorable assignment and why?

Actually, I haven’t had any assignments yet. I just do whatever I want to do and so far every shoot as been like a “WOW” to me. I like to “work” with different kinds of people and that’s exactly what people-photography gives to me.

Do you have any dream scenarios in relation to photography? A dream assignment in other words.,

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t have this scenario in her/his head? I don’t think so. Anybody who makes “art” has things like this in her/his head. And somedays you will have the idea how you can make this dream-scenario “reality”. I do have many of them and the results will follow in the future.

Photo by Thomas Wuhrer

What is your favourite image that you have shot recently? Can you describe their creation in regards to location, lighting, composition, camera settings etc, also your thoughts when creating the images and what they mean to you?

I don’t have one favourite image. I like all the picures I take and present on the web equally. Otherwise I wouldn’t show them. In most cases I have an idea of what the picture will look like and then I choose the suitable location, lens and so on. Sometimes I just start taking pictures and see what the output is. I have no pressure behind that. I just feel free to do what I want.

So on to some business talk. Are you a part-time or full-time photographer?

Neither. I do this just for fun. Taking pictures is my hobby and I don’t take money for that. Well, sometimes I get a few bucks because the person I made the picures for liked the result, but it wouldn’t be enough to finance my life. 

The only thing I get money for are my photoshop-coachings. I don’t do this very often and its mostly just a “bonus” for me to buy some more photography related stuff.

If not a photographer, what would you have been?

I’m not a photographer.  I work as a model/mould–maker.

One of the things I love about these kinds of interviews is that I get to pick other photographers brains. For every interview I learn something new that makes me a better photographer. What advice would you have to others just starting out with photography?

Don’t try to copy anyone’s style, rather try finding your own. Be critical with yourself. Always try to be the best. Have fun with what you do. Don’t spend too much money on your equipment, as it is you who take the pictures and do all the work, not the equipment.

Are there any photographers that inspire you?

No. My inspiration comes from music and movies.

Is there anything you would have done differently during your photographic career?

Well its not a career, but if I can say this: NO WAY DUDE! I am very happy with what I have done so far.

Last question: What can we expect from your next shot?

That will have to be a surprise : )

Click any photo to enlarge it!

If you want to get in touch with Thomas, maybe to offer him some paid work, get in touch with him using his website.

To finish the interview off, we include a few more images from his portfolio..

A rainy day doesn’t always mean a wash

A tutorial by Chris Knight.

Photo by Chris Knight

Generally, most photographers would call a weather day like this one a wash and go home.  I, however, after driving an hour to the beach to visit a friend of mine, decided that we were shooting come hell or high water.  Unfortunately, it was the latter that made a lasting visit.  Once Alanna and I got to the beach, it started to rain.  We took shelter in a leaky covering as I prayed that none of my equipment would get wet (despite the fact that I brought rain gear).

We waited out the worst of it.  I had my lights in hand, but ultimately, I knew I didn’t want to chance the electrical outage, so I just shot it natural.  It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and still rainy, so I knew I wasn’t bringing my camera outside into those conditions.  The light was extremely uniform.  The sun wasn’t coming out, and the general look of everything was pretty flat.  I had her step about five feet outside the shelter, collect some water on her hands and wet her hair.  I metered for the daylight, balanced my white balance, and then I started shooting.

Shot Details:

Camera: Canon 5d Mk II

Lens: 70-200 2.8 IS (set on 135 mm)

F-stop: f/3.5

Shutter: 1/250^th of a second

ISO 200

Fig 1: Lighting Setup

With her in the relaxed and slightly reclined position, I captured this shot (fig 2):

Fig 2: Original shoot

I then used free transform to shape her body and used the patch and healing tools to clean up her skin. See fig 3.

Fig 3:Patch and Healing

I then applied Alien Skin Exposure 2 with the setting “Color Film – Fuji Pro 400H,” and lowered the opacity to 75%.

Fig 4: Alien Skin Exposure 2

I then added a 57% gray layer set on overlay for my dodging and burning.  By doint a 57 instead of the 50, the entire tone of the image is brightened. See fig 5 for results.

Fig 5: Dodge and Burn

I then added 2 curves adjustment layers.  The first gave a little more contrast to the image.  The second tweaked the blue levels and brought yellow to the highlights.

The final result

After that I was satisfied with the image.  I cropped it and got this result…

See the before and after image. Click the photo for a larger view.

Justin Price Photography

Photo by Justin Price

We’ve caught up with Justin Price from South Florida to have him teach us a thing or two about model photography. Justin started shooting in college at Towson State, when his girlfriend at the time decided to get into modeling. Thinking it would be a good idea to start shooting her himself, he used a Canon rebel at the time to start getting together a portfolio for her. Today you can find his work all over the web, along with the being featured in various magazines both in and outside of the US.

We’ve had Justin give us a few advices from one of his previous photo shots with Elaine Alden from Florida, earlier this year. If you haven’t seen Justin Price’s work before, we suggest you take a look at his website or ModelMayhem profile. Below is a video from a shoot with Justin Price:

On Location

This photo was taken towards sunset when the light was golden and gave a gorgeous even light on the left side of the model, specifically on her hair.  The sky was also lit up nice and evenly and not to washed out like it would have been earlier in the day.  I even caught the reflection of the sun in the metal on the models shoe.

I used a Canon 5d mark 2 to shoot the photo.  My ISO was at 100, shutter speed 200 and my aperture was at 9.0.  My camera was set on the flash balance because it gives it more of a warmer hue which if I don’t like I can kill the hue in photoshop with auto color/levels.

How I arrived at these setting was by taking a photo of just the sky to make sure it was properly exposed. I played around with the aperture until the sky looked like I wanted it to.  I then had the model lay on the tracks and lit her with two qflashes.  The main qflash light had a 12×12 softbox over it to help diffuse the light over the models face and body.  It was about  3 feet above her face on manual at half power.  The second light was used to light up her legs and lower body which helped create separation between her and the sky.  Also the main light was directed at her face and would not have been strong enough to light her whole body.

Finally I relied on the sun to light up the models left side and act as a hair light as well.  I then tried different poses with the model, her hand in her hair, above her head, but i picked this one with the hand on her sunglasses because I though it gave her look more attitude.  I took a few test shots to make sure everything was exposed properly and that there were minimal shadows on her body.  This is the image I came out with:

Fig 1: Result from location

Here are some of the other photos from the same shoot:

Fig 2

Fig 3

Workflow Using Adobe Photoshop

In post in photoshop I first ran auto levels to kill the yellow hue over the photo, as illustrated by figure 4 below.

Fig 4: Auto Levels

The next thing I did was choose selective color, cyan, and put cyan up to 100%, magenta up to 100% and yellow to -100%. Check out Figure 5 below.

Fig 5: Selective Color

This helps make the sky more blue and to give the sky even more color as well as the models skin tone I increased the saturation to +14. Figure 6 below for the saturation.

Fig 6: Hue/Saturation

When the color in the photo was exactly as I wanted it i then took the healing brush, zoomed in on the models face and starting touching that up to make it look flawless.

Fig 7: Healing Brush

I start at a clean area on her head and work out around that in circles making a bigger cleaner area.  I then did her cheeks and chin.  I then went over her entire body removing any imperfections or flaws.  After I smoother out her whole body the image is finished.

Finished Result

See the before and after image. Click the photo for a larger view.

PS: This contest has ended. The winner has been contacted for further contact details and have been given a day to respond.

Today we’re doing our first give-away her on Howitookit.com. Our first giveaway is sponsored by Topaz Labs and they have offered to give away a free Photoshop Bundle worth $179 dollars. Needless to day, this is a great offer!

Have a look at the gallery to see some of the stuff you can do with this bundle.

What you will have to do to enter this contest:

1. Leave a response as a comment on this post.
   (Need something to comment? Tell us who your favourite photographer is).
2. Tweet from your twitter account, and include the following link to this post anywhere in the tweet:
   http://bit.ly/22fF17

As long as your link is included somewhere in your tweet, you will automatically be entered into the contest. If you want to, feel free to include @howitookit in your tweet as well.

The deadline for this giveaway is Monday, November 2nd, 2009. I’ll be randomly selecting a winner using random.org.

Good luck to everyone participating.