Sometimes the unexpected can come of a new creative collaboration. This was one of those shoots. It began simply when model Meredith Vancuyk contacted me to shoot different looks for her book during the pandemic. Much of my editorial portrait work was on hold so I was excited to work on something personal that I could add to my beauty portfolio.

To be safe, I kept my creative team small, working only with Meredith, who provided styling, and videographer Jacob Schoonover. Because I didn’t have assistants and I knew I would have many looks to photograph during this shoot, it was critical that I work with reliable and lightweight gear that could be quickly moved around between looks.

I was particularly drawn to the colors and textures of a floral headpiece and ruffled vintage dress that Meredith brought to the editorial portrait shoot. I decided to play up the red-orange analogous color scheme of the styling by adding in a pink backdrop and keeping the lighting even for a playful and bright beauty finish.

The biggest challenge of this particular look was making sure the headpiece didn’t create harsh shadows over Meredith’s eyes. My solution to this problem was placing a Westcott Eyelighter Reflector directly in front of her. By adding the curved reflector to my setup, I was not only able to fill in the shadows from the headpiece and under her chin, but it also added a curved highlight to her eyes, helping me convey the beauty editorial portrait look I wanted to achieve.

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I placed my main light—a Westcott FJ200 and FJ-X2m Trigger, which I love for its lightweight design, modified with the Westcott 43″ Deep Silver Umbrella—on a Westcott Mini Boom Arm directly above the Eyelighter at a downward angle. This would not only light her evenly, but also the illuminate the eyelighter reflector, allowing me to fill in any shadows. I knew having a silver umbrella would add more specular highlights and would be a great way to add contrast to the image while still keeping it bright and clean. I also placed a 3/4 stop diffusion cover to my silver umbrella ensuring that I would have even lighting and clean highlights in the eyes. Then I added a rim light, another FJ200 modified by a Westcott 1×3 Rapid Box Switch, to separate her hair and highlight her cheekbone.

I love the way Meredith’s stare draws the viewer into the resulting image. The curve highlight of the Eyelighter makes it appear as if she’s looking the viewer directly in the eyes, forming a connection across the medium. This was something that was important for me to achieve—especially during a time of isolation.

Ashley Boring is an in-house photographer for Westcott. She specializes in portrait and product photography and is based out of Northwest Ohio.

Learn editorial portrait lighting techniques and play with the latest Westcott gear at their Studio WPPI 2021 at the Mirage in Las Vegas, August 15-19.