In this informative introduction, Alex sits down with a representative from Yael Design and the photographer Kristina to discuss the goals for a combination shoot featuring the model wearing beautiful pieces of custom jewelry and what a client such as Yael Designs looks for when hiring a commercial product photographer. He also discusses the often controversial topic of working for contacts and exposure vs. paid compensation and when such a decision may be worthwhile.

Kristina explains her choice of gear for the shoot, going with a medium format Hasselblad camera and Broncolor lighting. She also discusses why she will use a beauty dish to illuminate the model and strip boxes for rim lighting. Alex shares lighting options to create defined lighting on the jewelry, comparing an expensive fresnel option with a much more affordable adapter that can be used with a camera lens and speedlite and explains his choice of stands and camera mounts for the shoot.

Kristina discusses the importance of using professional hair and makeup stylists and what to look for when reviewing a stylist's portfolio to ensure you hire the best you can afford. She also discusses the importance of choosing the right wardrobe for the model to ensure a consistent "story". The hair stylist also shares her views on what to look for in a stylist's portfolio.

Kristina walks through her lighting setup and makes adjustments as she shoots some tests with the model.

With the model lighting basically ready to go, Alex introduces the special lighting he will use to illuminate the jewelry. Through testing, Alex refines the lighting on the model's necklace and discusses how to position the light to get the best results. 

In this final shooting lesson, Alex concentrates on shooting a closeup of the model's earrings and then does an extra shot featuring both the earring and a gemstone ring by placing the model's hand near her face. 

Kristina begins the first post-production lesson by discussing her criteria for selecting shots to be retouched. After making her selections, Kristina establishes her crops for each selection and explains what to look for and why to crop. She analyzes the images in Adobe Lightroom and makes her intial adjustments to the raw files. 

In this lesson, Kristina continues the post-production, bringing the images into Photoshop. In the first image, she demonstrates how to smooth some of the lines of the model's face, hair and hand using the Liquify Tool, keeping her refinements subtle. She then illustrates several techniques for cleaning up the model's hair. 

In the final post-production lesson, Kristina demonstrates several techniques for retouching the model's skin and eye before cleaning up the gemstones in the jewelry, adjusting the contrast of the background gradient, and adding the right amount of grai n to the overall image.