Athletic Japanese Fashion Model in Gold Dress
Jen is a beautiful Asian fashion and swimsuit model who I found through ModelMayhem. Her exotic look really compliments the raw beauty of Hawaii.
Her body is athletic because she is a surfer and she has a “not so typical” Japanese face so I was looking forward to capturing unique images which would spice up both of our portfolios.
This incredible location is on Oahu Island of Hawaii is away from the usual tourist spots. It has stunning cliffs and striated lava walls.
Japanese Fashion Model Against Lava Wall
Warm tones dominate this photo; taken behind the famous Hanauma Bay Crater, called Portlock. Jen’s strong beautiful legs look fantastic and because they are shot from below they create long lines which lead the viewer’s eye up into the picture to explore more.
Although there aren’t any important details in any Rule Of Thirds grids, unless we count the beautiful legs of our Japanese model, the deliberate inclusion of strong diagonal lines make the composition visually exciting and balanced.
I love the results of this photoshoot, the colors, textures, shapes of this incredible scenery allow for unlimited improvisation and incredible variety of photos that could not be achieved in a studio setting.
Jen’s gold mini skirt was a great wardrobe choice, it really compliments the warm colors of the lava rocks and her beautiful bronze skin tone.
If the face of the model would have been placed according to the Rule Of Thirds, there would have been too small space behind her. Her leg and right shoe are still along a vertical grid line so the difference is negligible.
Exotic Japanese Beauty With Wet Hair
Hawaii is a paradise for swimsuit and fashion model photographers who love to work with Asian models. I prefer to shoot with Asian models, perhaps because of my old school Communist Hungarian upbringing is so different from the culture of Hawaii and Asia, I find their beauty unmatched.
I really like this portrait with messy wet hair in the face. I asked Jen a few times to toss her hair in front of her face until I liked the pattern the strands were arranged in. The model has a beautiful symmetric face, beautiful skin and hair, perfect for exotic photos.
It was a very bright sunny day so we retreated into the shade under a lava rock cliff where we found perfect lighting conditions without ugly shadows appearing on the model’s face which would ruin any beauty shot.
This explains how we achieved the diffused soft light and that huge catchlight (sparkles in the eyes).
Overlaying the Rule Of Thirds grid, we can see that composing a portrait just slightly off-center will place an eye into a grid line intersection.
Cropped Portrait Of Japanese Model
I usually do not crop faces in half during post production, but for some reason I made an exception when it came to this photoshoot. I found it interesting how different the two halves looked due to the difference in the pattern of the wet hair even though the model has a symmetric face.
Since this is a cropped version, in camera use of the Rule Of Thirds grid does not apply here. But it is still interesting to examine what parts of the portrait ended up in which sections of the grid.
Interestingly this is the other half of the previous image and it does look very different from the other half due to the random tossing of the model’s wet hair.
Sunny Composition Of Asian James Bond Girl
From the first time I looked this photo all I could think of was “Asian James Bond girl”. The mix of the confident pose with attitude, the model’s beauty and strength translate to a tough her mysterious exterior.
When in doubt use camera tilt, and even of the eyes of the model will not end up in Rule of Thirds cross hairs, her face or an area very close to her face will.
Beautiful Japanese Model With Huge Afro
Jen is a fun girl and she brought a huge Halloween afro to the shoot with her! You may notice an unnatural light source in the form of a reflector which cannot be found on any of my other photos! I did have a friend come along for this shoot but usually I shoot using natural light not only for its look but to have only the model and I on set.
Overlaying the Rule Of Thirds grid, we can see that due to the huge size of the afro, it was not convenient to place the model’s eye in a cross hair for a close-up portrait. Still, the tilted head and the diagonal lines of the top created enough visual excitement so the composition did not end up too static.
Having fill light by the way of a reflector was just a fun experiment which I had not used before or after this shoot. The look it creates is just not my cup of tea. In this example I purposefully exaggerated the effect of the reflector. Our experience with the giant big afro was fun, we took a few overly posed shots and called it a day.
Alternately for a not-so-close-up portrait, the model’s eye automatically lined up with a grid line intersection. It is interesting to check out all the arrangement of the different sections of the portrait in the different grid sections.