Earlier this year I collaborated with photographer Roger Hagadone on a series of ads for Grand Victoria Casino in the Chicago area.

The image shown here is one of ten images we created for the campaign. For each of these images Roger shot the background and foreground elements inside the casino and then flew out to Los Angeles to shoot the models that would be composited into the images.

Working on set with Roger as he shot the models I quickly dropped them into the backgrounds so he and the client could preview how the final composited images would look. Then once the final picks had been made I took copies of all the files and returned to my studio where I started to work on crafting the final composited images.

To keep the focus of the image on the model I used Photoshop’s Lens Blur filter and to create the illusion of a short depth of field and then progressively darkened the deepest parts of the background. The table was added in front of the model and I brought in just a hint of her reflected in the wine glass. Then I retouched the model and added a touch of stylizing glamour to give her that special look Roger wanted.

Below are the before shots used to create the final polished image.

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