Mayan Photoshoot with Renee

Equipment:

• Canon 5D Mark III, with 24-105 & 50mm lenses
• Canon Speedlite 430EX II
• SMDV DIFF60 Speedbox Diffuser
• Source 4 Par Light (with various filters)
• Reflector

I’ve been wanting to work with long time friend and artist Renee Batres for a while. We go back to high school, and we’ve gone our separate ways long since I graduated in 2003. However, in reconnecting with her through Facebook and Instagram I came to realize her passion with art and makeup. I saw that she was very passionate with her work and over the years her level of mastery really astounded me, so I reached out to her. With my busy life, as well as her own, made for scheduling a possible shoot almost impossible. 

As luck would have it, the stars aligned just at the right moment when both our schedules were free and so we scheduled a quick photoshoot.  It was a freezing cold time of the year which meant really bad conditions for taking photos out in the open and so at the last minute I decided to do the shoot inside my makeshift studio.

The theme of the shoot was without question one that came the most natural to both of us. Renee’s own Mayan heritage (Mexican/El Salvadorian) was of great importance for me to capture in a way that best represented that cultural group. I pulled out all the things I could possibly find that would be represented of that time period. I had researched several styles of clothing while Renee researched makeup and decoration styles. I showed Renee clothing styles and the pieces of cloth I had at my disposal and in no time she made them work. Every detail was perfectly placed according to what I’ve researched over the years from the replica Aztec Death Whistle around her neck to the Coyote skin to the side of her loincloth, everything was a perfect artistic representation of the time and style.

I was really impressed at how quickly we operated and wrapped up shooting. The pictures far exceeded any expectations that I had! I was really greatful to bring to life this cultural concept that I really admire and have been pursuing over the years. Hopefully in the coming weeks or months we’ll try another Mayan/indigenous style to the region.

Post-editing and creating the composite

The first step was easy enough; cut out the original image in Photoshop. I brought up the contrast and brightness in order to see the details around her for me to cut it out more easily.

Next I went around my old photos from when I went to Mexico to see something that could match up with what I was aiming for in terms of a story. I ended up finding the perfect photo from an isolated stream on the outskirts of Calvillo, Aguascalientes after a storm. The rock formations and stream made for a perfect fit. I took the photo on a Canon T4i with an 18-55 lens.

Then came the process of trying to mix the background with just enough coloring to roughly match my subject. I slowly began tweaking the background by darkening it (brightness and contrast, curves and level), fading out the clouds to make them seem like at night.

Then came the hard task of blending the background with the image. For that I used various gradient layers along with colored blends which I created by painting everything around the subject dark and then choosing an appropriate blend layer.

Lastly, I applied several color curves (adjusting primarily the blue and reds) to make everything match color-wise.

Once I was satisfied with the imagine I then ran it through Lightroom and Exposure X (Alien Skin Software plugin). I adjusted the coloring in Lightroom and moved up the clarity before running it through Exposure X. In Exposure I added a very light ‘old film’ overlay with a very small amount of light burst coming from the right-hand side.

After slightly tweaking the image in Lightroom I again brought it back into Photoshop. In Photoshop I then started added the final curve layers followed by adding more shadows around the subject to make it look more real around the surrounding rocks. Using the clone stamp tool I expanded the loincloth a little bit further to match the surface of the rock and then adjusted the layers to make the subject blend in more with the background. And that was it. The whole process took about 3 hours. What took the longest was the very last step (see Blend 1-3 below) trying to blend the subject with the background.  The more curves I added the more it made the subject blend and look less fake…however, if I added too much curve layers the whole image coloring looked really horrible and fake. My best advice is to figure out how you want the overall coloring to look and not to divert too much from that. In this instance I wanted a little more red (to match the red rocks) and then added more of a blue coloring to make it seem as if it took place at night.

To follow Renee click HERE!

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