Winter Pearl Portrait Photoshoot

The inspiration

In the world of photography, there is a new genre that everyone is still getting used to…AI photography. Imagination intertwines with tech and can be transformed into extraordinary creative portraits. It’s a place where fantasy can feel real.

Recently, my Instagram algorithms started to show me more AI-generated photography. If you haven’t had the chance to see it, let me explain: these images, at first glance, look like real photos, but often times on close inspection they have an otherworldly quality that flags them as fake to the human eye.

One concept, in particular, caught my eye—a series of close-up beauty shots where it seemed as though delicate pearls were falling like snow around the subject. It was a concept I wanted to bring to life. (see bellow)

There’s always a highly skilled HUMAN who is expertly prompting a computer to make these images. The artist behind these photos can be found here: panoramachannel

The challenge with creating these images in real life is AI art doesn’t need to follow the rules of gravity! We needed to figure out how to make tiny pearls stick to our model’s face and have even more peals falling from the sky. One might suggest throwing pearls all around…now I think you could get that to work however I wanted a more consistent and calculated positioning of the falling pearls AND I didn’t want to have to collect them off the ground after every photo!

How we did it (a look into creative portraits)

Sarah, my talented makeup and hair artist, whose enthusiasm matched my own was interested in trying this concept. Sarah’s expertise proved invaluable, sparing me the worry of makeup execution and wardrobe sourcing. She transformed our model into a snow-dewed ethereal beauty, perfectly complementing the enchanting concept we sought to capture.

Meanwhile, I focused on the technical aspects—suspended pearls, lighting, backdrop, and editing. Utilizing fishing line and chicken wire, I brought the illusion of falling pearls to life, hovering just above our model like delicate snowflakes in mid-air.

For lighting, I opted for a bright, natural look, achieved through the gentle diffusion of a scrim. To evoke the serene backdrop of a winter’s day, I chose a blue paper backdrop.

Editing

In post-production, I enhanced the dreamlike quality of the images, adding more pearls and delicate flurries reminiscent of snowfall.

A note to you…

If you’ve ever dreamed of stepping into a photo studio and becoming a part of the creative process I would love to work with you! Reach out about shooting a new concept or if you are already in love with this one (which we have now fine-tuned) let me know if you want to shoot the “Winter Pearl” concept. Together, we’ll make creative portraits that belong in the halls of a museum