This post is from a couple of years ago. I have brought it over from my previous site at Godaddy, and have made some changes in the text.

I last shot Anjo in September of last year (2023). Since then I bought an optical spotlight and another special lens from Lensbaby, the Soft-Light II, both of which I used. Some of the images below were shot in natural light in a blocked studio window, while others were shot using colored gels on the main light, and colored gels on the spotlight. The effects of the gels on Anjo’s skin were very visually pleasing. As always, I experimented. Did I learn anything? Yes. the Soft-Light II is great for nature, especially close-ups of flowers, and so forth. It is not so great for portraits, in that the out-of-focus look in studio suggests a technical failure — as though the photographer didn’t know what he was doing! I realized I wasn’t getting exactly what I wanted, and switched to a conventional lens for the rest of the images.

Nonetheless, we both had a lot of fun, and, with a beautiful model, got some great images. Enjoy!