Gerald Lues Cover Shoot for WOW Magazine

On 26 May 2014 I did a photo shoot with Gerald Lues from Gerald Lues Kitchens & Cupboards (082 926 3536) for the cover of the June issue of WOW Magazine in Klerksdorp.

Meeting Gerald was great as I immediately discovered a person who has as much passion for his work as I do for mine. Looking at the kitchen we were standing in you could not help to reach out and touch the surfaces and perfect edges. Gerald takes pride in his work and with reason. Gerald pointed out a few of the extra touches added to this kitchen for this specific client and it is here you discover that Gerald does not just build a kitchen to get the job done, he builds a kitchen for his client to enjoy which is perfect for that individual. Gerald has been creating kitchens and building cupboards for 10 years and the quality of workmanship and precision of his craft shows not only experience, but a special skill.

This is the final shot which was chosen for the cover of the magazine

Shooting magazine covers is stressful enough, but for this assignment for the WOW Magazine cover the setting was an upmarket kitchen. Even though the kitchen has great natural lighting, which is a combination of fluorescent and warm incandescent lighting, it was quite a bit of a nightmare from a photographers perspective. The colours look good to the human eye when you look at them, but to the camera sensor the mix of colour and colour cast on subjects creates havoc with white balance. The only way to get all the colours to mix would be to use a single large softbox and then blast out the other colours and allow only a tinge of the ambient light to bleed through. I would have loved to use 2 light sources, but with the limited space and multitude of reflective surfaces I had to keep to 1 light source. I used a 80×80 softbox with double diffusers worked great and the colour combination turned out great.