Done for a client looking to build a new modeling portfolio for the Inked Magazine covergirl contest, this is a shoot I did in February of 2024. The aim of the shoot was to give off those gothic, punk rock vibes whilst also making the clients tattoos super clear, visible, and defined. I found it a little difficult when starting off, to try and get as many of her tattoos into the frame as possible, but as the shoot moved forward we found lots of different poses that showed off all of her ink. Overall I believe I shot about 200 raw photos for this project, before working with the client to refine them down to the best 30. From that 30, I chose to put my personal favorites from the project here.
I tried a variety of different lighting setups to make the clients tattoos stand out as much as possible. I found that warmer lights tended to make the tattoos a little less clear, almost as if they were blending into her skin, but as soon as I switched to a starker white light everything began to fall into place. I shot a few sets of her in different outfits, trying out a low angle with a darker backdrop for the later photos but in my personal opinion the best shots were the ones on a white background. The client and I wanted to add some more interesting elements to her spreads, so I came up with the idea to project images that fitted the theme onto her while I shot. I had the client sit on some raised tables and did my best to align the projection to the edges of her figure. Ultimately the hard white light from the projector gave some really interesting results and I’m super happy with how they turned out.