French photographer Felix Barjou, 25 is making a big impact on the world of photography. When it comes to taking photographs, he likes to take things to the next step, creating ideas that can only be completed in photoshop. Because he has a wide skill set in photography, he is able to experiment with various styles. His photos can range from being dark, mystical, surreal. He creates a concept and executes it in any way he can. He combines his passion for lighting, image editing and staging to create outstanding and unique photographs.

He has a few techniques that vary with each shoot. For this specific shoot below, he runs us through the process of how he got his final image to be so perfected and realistic.

In the photo above, he has made sure to separate the elements of the photo (model, mirror, background). He used two flashes – the first a speedlight with a blue gel to illuminate the face and arm. The second flash is a headlight with a grid for a small reflection.

He then asked his model to hold the mirror in two positions so he is able to overlay them together in photoshop and get the complete mirror:

The final image is almost complete – just needs one more motion, which is the model’s hair blowing:

After all the photos have been taken,  he took them into photoshop where he mixed all the photos together, fixed and brightened the colors, dodged and burned areas and ended up with the final masterpiece:

The success of the Joe Barjou is incredibly inspiring, it really shows how far one can go when mastering a technique.

– Paola Pasqualini