Sometimes you have a friend that wants a photo taken for whatever reason, and the friend in question was a schoolmate from my days at the Conservatoire de Cholet. We both still play and now play in the same orchestra. She wanted a photograph of herself with the said violin. She was expecting me to whip out my phone and Bob’s your uncle. Little did she realise that this was just not an option. As somebody who dabbles in photography with cameras and not camera phones, I suggested that I bring the studio to her and that we would try to get something half-decent.

We set up the rendez-vous, and up I turned.  I was offered tea, which as you now know, Dear Reader, is something I have a great affection for, and this girl knows how to make a lovely cup of tea!  Her husband arrived from getting their little boy from school, and we started setting up the studio.  He was a good sport and let me use him for my test shots to get all my camera settings in order.

Then onto the serious business of getting some portraits!  Now that’s the easy bit.  The slightly less easy bit is where the magic happens.  Photoshop is my editing software, and yet is far from being worn, or soft!  The idea is to keep everything looking natural, and the premise “less is more” is my goal.  If my editing is obvious, then I have to go back to the drawing board.

This is the first edited shot from the session and gives you an idea of what the result can be.  See what you think and tell me in the comments how “you” might have done it!

As you can see, the poor girl is a violin player and not a horn player like Yours Truly, but we have to make allowances. Not everyone has the chance to play the most beautiful instrument in the world.