Rossella Vanon
Rossella Vanon is an award-winning beauty and fashion photographer, retoucher and educator renowned for her use of light and colour. Based in London, her clients include GHD, Lipsy and Vogue, she regularly teaches workshops and has even written a how-to book,
Lighting People. Visit rvanonphotography.com.
skittishness. This makes meticulous planning all the more important for fashion and beauty, as it’s essential that everyone involved knows exactly what’s expected and what the end result should look like. ‘In the planning phase, we want to pinpoint as clearly as possible the kinds of images we want to obtain from the shoot and outline the steps we need to take to create those shots.
‘The initial inspiration could come from anywhere – it can be another image, a colour palette or even a model you would really like to photograph. This initial inspiration is key to jumpstarting the planning process, but it’s just the beginning. What we want to do next is develop this idea as much as possible, so that it isn’t just a general outline, but a detailed and comprehensive plan of action.’
Pinterest is a go-to source of inspiration for Rossella and a great place to discover new and exciting colour schemes that could potentially work as makeup colour palettes for beauty shoots. Once she’s found a colour or style that excites her, she then starts to narrow down her initial ideas and think about whether it will work for a spring/summer or autumn/winter beauty shoot. She’ll research current seasonal beauty trends and, based on what she finds, decides what specific type of makeup to focus on. ‘This could be bold lipsticks or metallic eyes.’
With the type of makeup determined,
Rossella then turns her attention to other aspects of beauty such as hair, nails and clothes, before deciding on a specific style based on the kind of images and moods she wants to create. ‘I then make a mood board for each of these elements and email it to the creative team to give them a visual reference guide for the shoot. Remember that although planning is absolutely essential, you will always have to adapt your initial ideas to suit the subject, their features, skin tone, hair colour and other important characteristics.’
Shooting
With meticulous planning comes wellstructured shoots that run smoothly and without a hitch. And with time
being such a precious commodity – makeup artists and stylists aren’t cheap – Rossella’s inspirational mood boards ensure that everyone involved understands the visual style before a single photograph has been taken. She even creates a mood board of suitable poses, which she prints out and keeps close to the model at all times.
Rossella is just as meticulous when it comes to kit, and first on her studio checklist is lighting. ‘I start every shoot day by making sure I have all the lighting equipment I need and that it is functioning. Then I sit down with the creative team and, together, decide on the order of all makeup/hair changes. I also sit down with the model while she’s in makeup and chat to her, break the ice and show her the mood boards and discuss the kind of mood and poses I’m looking for.’
The main challenge of any fashion or beauty shoot is making sure that there’s enough of a visual connection between images and looks to create a cohesive photo series, but ‘not too much that there’s too little variation’. This requires attention to detail, which is where technique and teamwork come to the fore. During a shoot Rossella is relaxed and chatty, constantly directing her model, while the makeup artist and stylist are never far away, making almost imperceptible refinements to ensure consistency. ‘I like to sit on a high stool when I shoot, especially on beauty projects. It gives me the stability I need to hold my lens steady and focus on small details. I tether to my laptop straight into Capture One so the team and I can see the images on a bigger screen and spot details that would be entirely missed on the camera’s rear display.’
When it comes to technique, simplicity is the key. Rossella’s favourite camera/lens combo is a Canon EOS 5D Mk IV coupled with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, a quality prime that affords a comfortable working distance between photographer and model. ‘I’ve used this lens for years – it provides a great amount of detail for a fairly low price tag.’ For lighting, she relies on Profoto heads for their ‘sturdiness and reliability’ and a range of modifiers including softboxes ‘of all shapes and sizes’ and a white beauty dish.
As for specific lighting setups, however, this varies according to the brief. ‘I’ve shot with two lights as much as I have with five, and used a simple octabox as much as I have enjoyed playing with coloured gels.’
One of Rossella’s favourite setups is to place a 5ft octabox 30-45 degrees to one side of the model, with a softbox placed opposite and behind the subject. ‘Sometimes, I even use the octabox on its own – when one light is correctly placed, the results can be beautiful.’
Editing
Selecting images doesn’t simply mean choosing your favourites – there are briefs to meet and clients to please. ‘Correctly selecting images means picking strong images that also make a strong series. And the type of shots I select always depends on the purpose of the shoot. For example, if I’m working for a magazine, I want a series of six or more images where each image portrays a different makeup/hair look, and with enough variety. I also need to make sure that any landscape format images don’t have the subject right in the centre of the frame, or the magazine’s “gutter” will distort it when the shot is printed across a spread. If I’m working for a client, on the other hand, I may let them take care of the selection phase.’
Rossella has spent years refining her post-processing workflow and even runs an online retouching course. This stage of the
process varies dramatically depending on the individual taste of the photographer, the genre and, to a certain extent, the purpose of the shoot itself. ‘My editing workflow is a very important step and I like to use this opportunity to add impactful, tailored colour grading that will add my final signature to the images. I also like to remove distractions from the background, skin imperfections, stray hair and more. The key is to keep it subtle, natural and believable. Looking at the images, no one but me should be able to tell what was edited.’
Editing is an important final step that can put many different spins on any given shot, and it’s important for fashion and beauty photographers to work towards an editing style they can call their own. Rossella’s workflow is different every time, but can be loosely grouped into the following steps: use the Healing Brush tool to remove blemishes; the Dodge and Burn tools to enhance contrast; the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools to remove stray or unwanted hairs; apply colour grading layers; apply sharpening if necessary, particularly if shooting with a wide aperture; liquify to subtly enhance shapes such as eyes and lips.