How Per Florian Appelgren Shot L'Officiel Indonesia Beauty Editorial

When Per Florian Appelgren first got the brief from L'Officiel Indonesia, he was excited as shooting styled beauty is his strong suit and he absolutely loved doing it. Being able to work with a top-tier model such as Sara from GirlsClub Management Berlin was also a huge plus point.

The plan was to create an edgy yet playful beauty look in which each part facilitates the other. He chose a strong, reliable team inclusive of makeup artist Anouk Nijs, hair stylist LaToya Velberg and wardrobe stylist Sato Okoro from Angelique Hoorn Management. With their skills, they were able to achieve a balanced and modern editorial look.

The main focus for Appelgren on this shoot was to not overdo it but to have clean, nice and even beauty lighting to bring out the makeup and show the clothing perfectly. Less is more is usually his go-to plan.

The whole shoot took about nine hours until the last image was taken and they were all very happy with the end results. While still on set, the whole team worked together to select the final images. This way, Appelgren was able to send his files straight away to his retoucher, The Visual Craftroom. His post-processing instructions to the retoucher were to just enhance the photos a little as he wanted to keep the raw, edgy, and natural look to the images.

Equipment List

• Canon 5D Mark IV
• Sigma ART 35mm and 50mm lenses, tethered into a MacBook Pro 15-Inch
• Key light: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 500 with a white umbrella
• Fill light: Small Elinchrom beauty dish
• Dark flats on both sides

Lighting Setup

The series was shot at 1/160 s, f/11, ISO 100. The key light is above to the right at 45 degrees, and the fill light placed right in front of the model.