Ahri before/after comparison! [Long awaited]

Hello my Sweethearts!

Long time no see. Today I'm here with bright mood and hopes. Which makes me a bit more talkative. )
My beautiful doggo Ryo, with the help of huge amount of medicine and funds, finally feeling good and his appetite came back. There are still some problems and we'll need to solve them, but progress is here, which is good news.
He managed to ate something poisonous back than, even I was watching him cautiously. Only mysterious thing is: was it our dry dog food (it can go bad) or ate something on streets.
Now, I'm at ease now a bit, so I can work properly. )

Thank you very much on your warm words of support and advices. From all my heart I'm really grateful and thankful  to each of you who found time to write and be with me. 

I'll do my best to repay it with hard work and efforts!

As title says, there will be small comparison story. I chose shot, that shows perfectly what was done and changed during post-production, which I prefer to call "Love" or "How much love was poured".
AS you know, we used plastic mirrored surface or "flexible mirror" as base for most of our shots. I shared with reasons to that, but didn't said that it also gave feeling of changed gravity. For my Friends who were curious what is the material of mirror, it is mainly polystyrene or mirrored polystyrene used in interior design. Mostly they are sold in small sizes, but there are options of 200x100 cm definately can be found.

Small remark: It was quite heavy and not so flexible, but you can roll it and band a bit. Only thing I don't know, how well it'll change form if heated with industrial dryer.

I like use lying position on set and if it is possible, I'll definately use it. Main reason is very simple: People don't have folds on their bodies while lying. It is very unfortunate, when you bend model in best possible pose and folds appear in waistline. Than you need to redraw everything on post-production, shape, texture and shadows.

But this position also brings other problems like:

First, if the model have specific body structure, there might be no waist at all. Yes, most of us don't have waist, that's why I usually put models in twisted poses, so it can appear.In Ahri case, luckily our model has waist given by nature, so it was not the problem )Another hint to make waist appear more is to ask models to bend back as hard as she can. Yes, it is uncomfortable, but gives the best result.

Second, chin can disappear. If you try to lean back your head, acordong to your jaw structure it'll become smaller or second chin will appear. ) Strange thing that I encounter in usual life, that people tend to think that double chin is trait of obesity. It is not, it's just given by nature bone structure and "amount" of skin (and its condition).So, when chin disappear, just put something under the head and ask model to push lower half of the head forward. Not comfortable, but we need to endure. 

And our model endured everything, big shouts to her efforts and cooperativeness. )

As I said, lying pose is good, because I need to add very small adjustments to body shape. I hate doing that, but characters we work, on usually created being over feminine and over sexualized. Curvy, juicy and THICC. So it is inevitable, that we'll change the body shape acording to original creator's vision (in honor to that). And acording to my own vision of ideal body type. 

If you ask me, what body type I choose as close to ideal, it'll be women in 80th and early 90th. Best showcase is old Eddy Merfy film "Coming to America", plenty of them in the beginning scene ) Wish one day, I'll work with such models )

This particular shot was not the hardest from my experience. But still a lot of "Love" was put in it. Main reason, why it wasn't hard, because we planned our photoshoot being simple, yet original (yes, we think that we are VERY original, haha) ).
Our vision for this shot was revolving around "air" theme. Ahri character can float and on most arts she is shown to be like that. We wanted show this side on different angle. Like it was in Witcher's second DLC (sexy scene, hehe) ). Lying and floating above the ground. So, I erased junk, dirt, unnecessary wires and reflections (only left ones that will work). Too many elements will distract viewer. Also central composition helps to gather attention, creating feeling of floating. I rewarked all background acording to idea of central composition. If the colors were dirty, magic also wouldn't work.

But, most of us here for beautiful girls, so it is crucial to make proper retouch of model's skin and adjust make up. I believe eyes are mirrors of the soul and the character, so I put a lot of efforts in face department: cleaning skin, draw hairs, draw eyes, enhance make up, adjust face form (if needed). Usual stuff for every person who works with photography. )

Hope you felt, what we intented for this shot. )

If you want to read more stories like that write me in the comments. And I'll appreciate, if you'll write your questions and suggestions on what you want to know about. Even on certain shot from any photoshoot. )

Have a great day! I'm doing my best to get in working mode, I'll be more active ) Please take good proper of yourself and your loved ones!