Shooting in wild-flower meadows for a beauty commercial, the challenge rapidly became one of seeing less. We needed to retain the colour and overall texture of the meadow while dropping back the high detail, distracting undergrowth. 5K, T1.3, diffusion, lens flare and some skilful art direction provided the solution.

The mid-day hard Spanish sun needed to be softened off with large silks and the model then edged with a low 12K HMI. The use of 4x4 mirrors was a bit of a revelation, both as hard sources and as in- shot flares. These projected the overhead sun from low in the meadow with far more output than any lamp.

Come magic hour the shooting pace really picked up. Here the beauty of the low sun and soft reflectors became the order of the day. Great team work from every department!