I spent the good part of the day photographing Shannon Ostrom, budding model and actress who’s already been an extra on some local productions like Smallville. She has such a charming, youthful look to her, always smiling — it took until the end of the shoot before she managed to get a little attitude in the black dress (perhaps it was time for a late lunch?). We had a great time, captured some great images, and I have no doubt we’ll work together again.

Simple and casual:

This is one of my favourite images I’ve taken in a long time. Just perfect timing, expression, pose, composition, lighting, and exposure.

Like many other shoots, sometimes the last bunch of images of the day are the ones that pay off:

On a technical basis, I used the D3 and 24-70/2.8 for the majority of the shots. The headshots were with the AF DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D (phew) – aka 105DC. It was my first major shoot with this lens since I decided to splurge for a portrait lens and it is simply amazing what it does for skin — so sharp, yet so subtle and flattering. I think it’s better than the 85/1.4 which I have found so far to be a bit clinical without postprocessing. Initial shots were simply done in open shade and the later shots were using the Hensel Porty to overpower the sun. The results were just staggeringly crisp, clear, sharp, and rich. All images were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom, which I usually detest for low light images, but does just fine with these and speeds up the sorting process.