Each Monday, we’ll highlight one indie photographer whose body of work deserves special recognition. Please enjoy their photography here and make it a point to enjoy the rest of their work on their website.
This week we journey to Tel-Aviv, Israel and shine the indie spotlight on photographer Amir Weiss whose main photographic styles are concept and beauty photography.
Kit:
Amir’s camera bag consist of the Canon 7D dSLR and a 50mm F/1.4 lens which he finds gives him excellent bokeh, depth of field and the pinnacle of sharpness in his photographs.
Workflow:
Amir shoots mostly with artificial lighting or combination of daylight and artificial light. In his style he tries to catch not only the posted moments but also the natural poses that come between posing.  Post shoot he imports all of his captured images into Camera Raw in Photoshop initially applying some pre-sets he created himself and fine tunes the image exactly to his taste before importing it into Photoshop for final editing.
While in Photoshop he uses the Smart Object mode in order to keep the integrity of his original image while he fine tunes the lighting, when he is satisfied with his lighting he use some self-created actions to clean up the models skin and enhance the photograph to his linking. One tool that he particularly likes to use is Nik HDR in which he blends his images in the unfiltered mode utilizing extreme care and being mindful of the final output.
Tips, Tricks & Techniques:
While Amir says that his style is still under development he does have an important tip to share, he advises photographers to venture outside their ‘safe zone’, “don’t get complacent with your current style” he says.  Amir is a strong proponent of enhancing your knowledge in photography and believes that one should always strive to learn new styles while also having a strong foundation in the basic elements of photography.  In his current style however, he is sure to enhance image detail and sharpness to give images pop and an HDR feel, but he cautions against over-sharpening to the point that images look unnatural.
Another great tip is to test the ideas that pop into your head when shooting models if you are on a relatively relaxed schedule. Amir loves to shoot ideas… what he means by that is that he always tries to capture the models character regardless of what he is shooting. Amir finds that by embracing the character of a model into the shot it adds that extra zing to the image rather than just a sterile photograph.
Lessons Learned:
Amir worked almost exclusively with umbrellas and soft boxes until he experienced the results of working with a honeycombed beauty dish in addition to his existing lighting matrix. Since then, he has purchased one of his own and uses it in almost every shot, he says, of the honeycombed beauty dish, “the roundness of the light just feels right.â€
Inspiration:
Amir discovered Joel Grimes work 2 years ago and was instantly impressed by Joe’s HDR editing style and his use of double backlighting. Amir was thus inspired to create his own editing actions in Photoshop to achieve the specific results he desires.
Amir is also inspired by Israeli photographer named Natalie Houlding, who also happens to be a good friend of his and a genius with Photoshop. Natalie helps him a lot with ideas and also reviews his work with the candor that only a friend who is an accomplished photographer can give.
What’s Next:
Amir’s bucket list includes working with animals (with lighting of course), macro photography and also the use of  sound/motion shutters to freeze movement, he plans to try all of these in the near future.
Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/amirw
500px:Â http://www.500px.com/amirweiss
