Bill Simone is a photographer based in Pennsylvania and focused on national clients. His work ranges from people to still life to product and the well managed studio is capable of turning out top notch images for all kinds of projects.

This image was shot for the studio book and Bill and Shana, his studio assistant, thought it would be great to share the making of this image with all who are interested. It is a well constructed shot with lots of photography and Photoshop blended to end up with this stunning image.

Here is the beginning of the post, read it all here:

” The Boxer

Shana and I thought her readers might enjoy a detailed description on the making of this photograph.

My first step is always a solid visualization of the photograph, complete with rudimentary sketches which are so bad I won’t even bother to show them. But I believe this is such an important skill to develop. If you can visualize the finished photograph, and progress to visualizing the set, and subsequent steps, you are then able to solve many of the problems of the shoot before they occur. This always contributes to smooth shoots.

So I wanted a model that looked “tough” enough to be a boxer yet had a note of sex appeal about her. Athletic and pretty. Longer hair that could be pony tailed with random strands and frizz escaping to contribute to the working out look. Hands taped in boxing fashion, drenched in sweat.

The model would be positioned leaning over the top rope looking directly to the camera. I planned to shoot her in the studio so as to control a number of factors.

While I could have sought a boxing gym itself, I planned to composite her over a separately shot background as my visualization for the background was overly rough and worn. That thought was inspired by an old third floor I had the opportunity to see about three years ago which once housed a boxing ring. It was ravaged by 40 years of decay and had quite alot of character.”

Bill continues with a well constructed, layer by layer Photoshop tutorial.

If you are interested in this kind of work, this is a wonderfully written, well done article for you.

I think it is wonderful when a shooter like this lets people see the backend of a shoot like this. So much goes into the creation of images, even ones that look somewhat simple, that isn’t seen. Young photographers don’t get a glimpse into that world unless they get a chance to assist, or work for, an established shooter.

For those of you interested in still life shooting, Bill and Shana take you through an amazingly complex image from conception to reality here.

Thanks Bill and Shana for letting me link you up. Visit Bill Simone’s Web Site here.