Lighting, Posing, Clothing, and Retouching.
This was a 3 light set up plus one reflector. A main light, a hair light, fill light and a reflector. The light was adjusted so that there was a 1 stop difference between the main and the fill light. This adjustment along with the reflector control the contrast of the image. The contrast is the difference between the lighter and darker parts of the image. The hair light was used to separate Stephanie's dark hair from the background so you could distinguish between the two.
Joshua was posed in the classic basic pose. That is, his head and body are facing the main light and his head is perpendicular to his slightly angled shoulders. His height was also adjusted to place his lips near the height of Stephanie's eyes. He is also posed sitting straight at the camera while Stephanie is standing on his left shoulder. Here, she is actually in the classic basic pose.
Stephanie, when seated, is in the classic feminine pose. Her body is turned away from the main light while her head is turned back towards the light and tipped slightly toward her higher shoulder. She is also in the same pose while standing on Joshua's right shoulder.
Stephanie and Joshua were trying to stay in the same tone while picking there clothes and also trying to avoid busy patterns. That way, the main emphasis of the portrait stays on the face. Some corrective steps were taken to assure that the emphasis was on the face. Such as, a closer camera view and bringing Stephanie's hair forward over her shoulders.
Retouching consisted of several levels. It began with simple contrast adjustment and included skin softening, eye touch up and skin touch up.
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