When I posted my last shot I mentioned that there were three broad categories of shots that I took during the Bodygraphia photographic symposium: ones that I staged, ones that were shot while someone else was directing the model, and a set of portraits of Iva Sakarova. This one (kind of) falls into the second category, though I don't think anyone in particular was directing Maria at this point – she was just doing model-type stuff while we all photographed her.

And yes, I know it's a cliché – both conceptually and aesthetically – but I am pleased with how it turned out :)

In terms of the post-production …

If you've taken a look at the original you'll see that this one was over-exposed (by 1 2/3 stops). I did think about going with the metered exposure, but as Maria was standing in the shade, most of the light was coming from behind her, and I was shooting at ISO 400, I decided to go for a high-key portrait from the outset rather than spend ages trying to 'lift' the image in Photoshop. That said, I did use some of the techniques I discuss in my Portraits: part two tutorial, but on the whole the post-production was a simple matter of tidying up the background, cloning out a few other distracting details, converting the image to black and white using the Channel Mixer (as described in both my B&W tutorials: here and here), then using a couple of masked curves (one for contrast, the other to lighten Maria's face and hair).