This portrait was captured using a Nikon Z6 II paired with a 105mm lens, shot at f/2, 1/200 sec, ISO 200, fully in manual mode with manual white balance. The scene was created in a shopping mall, where I used a store display filled with oversized artificial sunflowers as a vibrant, color-driven environment.

The biggest challenge was the intense yellow ambient reflections bouncing off every surface. To keep the skin tones clean while preserving the saturated background, I shaped a portable LED light from the side, using the petals as natural modifiers. The mall’s mixed overhead lighting competed with my LED, so controlling light spill and maintaining contrast required very precise positioning.

I used spot metering to expose strictly for the model’s face, allowing the foreground petals to fall into a soft blur thanks to the wide aperture and the long 105mm focal length.

For post-processing, I refined the skin and micro-contrast manually, then applied selective color grading to unify the yellows into a warm, cohesive palette without overpowering the natural tones. The goal was to keep the portrait glowing yet controlled, with the flowers forming a soft, immersive frame around the subject.