23.02.10
James Lightbown: How to achieve beautiful skin tone and texture
James Lightbown is a London-based advertising and beauty photographer. He has worked for several clients and agencies including GHD, Sergio Tacchini and JD Sports. He is represented by Beth Wightman and his fine art work has been exhibited in various galleries and shows including The London Design Festival, The Art Lounge and Artzu. He is also involved with networking websites www.cliclamode.com and www.whoistesting.com
Professional advertising photographer James Lightbown used a macro lens, black Coloramas and sophisticated contour lighting to create captivating images. Shooting handheld, often from the floor of his studio, here he reveals how to achieve beautiful skin tone and texture.
The body shot
I used a Tamron macro lens — 125 @ f/11 to give me loads of nice sharp detail.“I also use a Bowens 500 head with a regular 120-degree reflector on it. This was handheld by an assistant. “As the model was virtually naked on a wooden desk, it was easier to pose her as I wanted first so she was reasonably comfortable, and then direct the assistant to adjust the lighting to give me the shot I wanted. I’m very precise with my lighting and this was the most comfortable way for everyone to be happy (though the assistant had to hold a hot flash head!)”
The beauty shot
“The lighting for this shot was very simple, just one big softbox on a Bowens 500 head. I was in close shooting at ISO 100, 1/250 at f20 using a Tamron 90 Macro Lens. The studio was blacked out and the model was 10ft in front of a black background to make sure there was no light spill. Often for a shot like this, make-up can take up to two hours. This gives you plenty of time to refine your lighting and be ready to shoot and visualise what you’re doing before everyone is in place. When shooting beauty, it’s important to cast someone with great skin; you’re only creating more work for yourself if you don’t.”
Edit
Using Aperture, I go through the images and give anything that jumps out at me a one-star rating. I then create a gallery showing everything with one star and repeat the process, giving the better images two stars, further narrowing down the selection. I continue this process until I've chosen the final images.
Keep a record
Having chosen the final images I want to use, I convert and open them in Photoshop using Adobe Raw. Then I create a duplicate layer of the base layer. This gives me something to go back to, both as reference and to grab any details I may need later on in the production process.
The finer details
For this image, I retouched the shape of the nipple and right breast to make it a little fuller. Next I masked the underwear and adjusted the levels and curves of these separately. These parts were in shadow and dealing with the whole image would have left the underwear completely black, and I would have lost all the detail.
Layer upon layer
I always organise multiple layers of what I am working on into folders. Then duplicate that folder, merge into one layer before carrying on. Using an adjustment layer, I play with colour balance to reduce yellow light and make cooler. Using another adjustment layer, I push the contrast, masking out areas that are losing detail.
Remove imperfections
I cleaned up the skin, removing the creases on the model’s stomach. I work at 200% or 300% magnification with a small healing brush — perhaps 10 or 12. When I'm happy the skin is distraction free, I move onto the remainder of the post-production, giving the image its final look and finish.
Take the edge off
I tweaked the colours using colour balance adjustment layers, using two or three layers to give me more control. Then I boosted the contrast within a curves adjustment layer, masking out any areas where blacks were being lost. The image was then desaturated in an adjustment layer to take the edge off.
James’s Kit bag
A Canon 5D MkII with grip and extra batteries. However, I am happy shooting with whatever a client requires, for example Hasselblads with back if an agency needs to go billboard. I've got three lenses in my bag that get me through pretty much every scenario I need:
- Tamron 90 f2.8 macro lens
- Sigma 24-70 f2.8
- Canon 50 f1.8 MkI
I love the Tamron lens, which I’ve had for years. It’s fantastic in lots of situations. You get great detail with it. I’ve even shot full-length fashion with it on occasion. The Sigma lens is a great all-rounder in the studio, it gives me a bit more flexibility when shooting full-length fashion, but I will still use it for beauty.
I almost always shoot handheld. When shooting fashion, I always shoot from the floor and the best piece of kit for this is the mechanic’s trolley my girlfriend gave me so I can scoot around the studio floor.
I’ve got a selection of Bowens heads and light shapers available, but I try to keep light set-ups simple, only adding to a one or two-head set-up if it’s really necessary.
Retouching kit
A Mac G5 with dual monitor set-up, image on one monitor, toolbars on the other. I use an oversized A4 Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet, which is by far the most important piece of kit when it comes to retouching. Skin cannot be done properly with a mouse...ever!
This feature is from the February 2010 issue
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