The dying Swan BTS movie (Patreon)

BTS from creating The dying swan image.

There is one thing about this image I have kicked myself over the shin countless times: I did not bring any oil for the body.

In a situation like this with the diffused sun, adding oil to the body will drastically increase contrast in the skin and make everything look better. I (almost) always have a small bottle in my camera bag, but I transferred this to a net at my previous location and did not bring the net.

I've more or less fixed it in the image via a lot of dodge and burning, but shiny skin would have been the way to go.

Since this, I've started a small checklist I put in my camera back and check every time I leave home or the car:

• Body oil
• Towel
• Wet wipes
• Snacks (Chocolate and almonds)
• Fruit
• Hairpins
• Hair-elastic
• Extra water
• Monopod and remote trigger (for shooting down on a model)