Behind the lens: Francesca

This arresting shot by Helena Mim won the expert vote in our Portraits contest. Here Helena tells us the story behind the image.

"This image is a portrait of my mother, Francesca, in a wild olive field in Greece.

My mother used to live in a suburban area near Athens. One day in late winter we decided to take a walk to gather wild young asparagus shoots for our dinner. Most of the time I have my camera with me in case I find an interesting moment to capture. I'm glad I took it that day! Since it was winter the weather was still wet and depressed, but the saturated colours of natural green and yellow hues made an excellent contrast with my mother's red jacket, and her hair reminded me of the grey clouds. This was my decisive moment, because I realised how that wild scene perfectly matched with my mother's 'wild’ personality, so I asked her to pose in front of my camera. After I reviewed the photograph, the image of Little Red Riding Hood came up to my mind. Francesca could be the elderly version of that character...

The shot was taken using a prime 50mm lens with wide open aperture to manage the low light and create a shallow depth of field. The photograph was first processed in Adobe Lightroom and I made some colour and curves adjustments to give a matte effect. Then I opened the image in Adobe Photoshop where I used the burn and dodge technique and created a fog effect to add a more ambient mood."

You can see more of Helena's work here.


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