How swimsuit pictures happen.

For those of you who want to step inside the sausage factory (and never look at a hot dog the same way again), here's the inside dope on how the Connect Statesboro swimsuit photos get on the page.

Once we've got a willing model, we did the vast majority of the shoots outdoors, either early in the morning (8 a.m.-ish) or late evening (7 p.m.-ish). Why? Because that's when sunlight isn't directly overhead, minimizing harsh lighting - the dreaded "boob shadow" effect - and making it not so darned hot outside.

With a helpful assistant holding a reflector at the perfect angle, a photographer (usually me, we're a small staff) shot the pictures. Typical shoots had anywhere from 100-250 pictures, from which we culled two to four "winners" that'd get their shot in the magazine.

Once we knew the photos that were going to be worked up, the fun began. Just as an illustration, I'll use a photo of myself to demonstrate (photo by Luke Martin). Keep in mind these aren't the exact steps that we used on every photo, just a rough approximation of some of the things the models went through in the digital world. Click the photos for a larger look.




There I am. Don't I look sexy? No? Well, Mom thinks I'm cool, and that's all that matters.

First things first. We need to crop the photo to focus attention away from the background and on my bulging bicep.



Much better. Cropping is one of those simple touches that can really make a photo pop. Read up on the rule of thirds for the secret recipe to good crops.

As sexy as I'd like to think I am, I know that's not the case. Genetically I got the short end of the stick as far as complexion goes. I'm in my mid-to-late twenties and still fighting breakouts. As luck would have it, it's not a good skin day. On top of that, years of soda have made it so my teeth aren't the brightest out there.



The teeth aren't bad (thanks, Dr. Lasala), but they could be better. Looking at my arm, not only do I have a rather unsightly surgery scar, but I've apparently have too much underarm hair.



I have no fear, however, for these things can be fixed. First, I apply a global smoothing to my skin - it evens out my skin tone and makes my skin that much closer to perfect.



Much better... but not perfect. To fix the remaining complexion and scar issues, I break out the Photoshop "healing brush," which tries to make an area that stands out (like the scar or a zit) match the surrounding area's shading, texture and color. Oh, and it works like a charm on underarm hair.



Whoops! Forgot the teeth - and while we're at it, my left arm looks really, really pale. It probably should match my sunburned head (thanks, Brooklet Peanut Festival). I can fix both with adjustment layers, another nifty-cool Photoshop feature that lets me apply an adjustable effect to just a part of a photo.



Beautiful. Just beautiful. Now we do something a little more advanced. I want to make my bicep just a little more manly.

The first step is drawing a curve that approximates the line I want my pumped-up muscle to take. Then I use Photoshop's liquify tool to push the edges of the skin to match the curve.

Sounds tough, right? Trust me, it's not. Works for reshaping all kids of body parts.



Oh, yeah. That's more manly, all right. As a final step, we'll apply some slight vignetting - making less-important areas of the photo a little darker so more-important areas stand out.



If I was get really fancy, I'd use the "dodge/burn" tool with my drawing tablet to put in some highlights and shadows to simulate muscle definition. Gotta get on that elliptical machine more often...

This is a quick example (about 5 minutes of work). The shots that went into the magazine took anywhere from about 10 minutes to an hour or more.

So that's the kind of work we did in the Connect Statesboro swimsuit issue. Nothing too drastic - we started with some of the most beautiful women in the area. Check it out this Thursday on stands everywhere.