Tattoo photography looks simple until you try to do it well.

Skin reflects light differently than ink. If your lighting is too soft, the tattoos lose depth. If it’s too harsh, the skin texture overpowers the artwork. Balancing those two is harder than it sounds.

I had the opportunity to photograph Minerva the Moon Girl at Copperflair this week and decided to treat the session as both a portrait shoot and a technical study. I also used it as a testing ground for a new lens – the Sony 85mm GM – and to continue to develop an editing approach I’ve been trying to refine.

Tattoos aren’t flat graphics. They wrap around muscle, bone, and movement.

The biggest lesson from this session was restraint. More light doesn’t improve tattoo photography. More clarity doesn’t improve it either. Shape and tonal separation matter more than slider adjustments.