I was delighted when international burlesque artist Cherry Shakewell forwarded me a copy of the September 2011 Volupte showguide featuring her ‘Goldfinger’ portrait I’d shot a year or two ago.
Volupte Showguide Sep 11 - Cherry Shakewell portrait by Terry Mendoza
Having worked with Cherry a few times and have to say it is always a pleasure – she is such a charming lovely person to shoot with. This image Volupte selected happens to be one of my own favourite portraits – for those interested in the technical aspects, here’s a little resume:
Shot with a Nikon D2X, fitted with the Nikon 105mm close up lens – this lens has to be my favourite, producing pinsharp images and yet subtle gradations; the other Nikon lenses produce a ‘harsher’ more contrasty image. It was shot at f11, and the lighting was a Bowens fitted with a beauty dish, along with a triflector.
The sparkly hands? Cherry rubbed moisturiser into her hands, then dipped them in a bag of gold glitter…it worked really well, although I was still finding little glitter sparkles in the studio weeks later!
I minimally retouched, then boosted the shadow and highlights for a punchier image. Oh, and I did cheat just a little by adding one or two photoshop ‘star-bursts’ where the sparkles were brightest.