Finally, we have shifted through a mountain of film and have chosen the final selections for the spring fashion edition. Two locations, five models, four shoots and about 40 rolls of film later, we have a magazine.

Luckily, they only major glitch was having to reshoot the slinky purple dress because all of the film from that outfit was inexplicably overexposed. The dress had been shipped back to New York but the designer agreed to ship it right back to use for a reshoot on Monday. the model was booked during the lunch hour from her regular job and the stylist was set too. The weather was perfect, matching the bright skies of the week before. One problem - the folks in new York didn't mark the package as "priority" delivery and the dress wasn't there by noon. We regrouped for Tuesday.

The slinky purple dress reshoot - and the film - came out without problems. In fact, the timing of the reshoot actually improved the photo. The photo was made and hour or two later in the day than the first shoot. The higher angle allowed the background to fall into shadow, allowing the bronze statue to be outlined by a sidelight. The results were more dramatic than the earlier shoot.

On this page, you can see four of the final selections from the shoot. Any of these photos could be used as a cover but of course we can only select one. We had to consider which photo could fit the cover, allowing room for type. Then, we wanted to find a photo that visually said both "spring" and "fashion." We considered two of the photos as the strongest choices and the number two selection will be the lead photo inside the magazine.

We considered the strengths of each picture. The photo of Nandini at the gate is very pretty with good empty space and the butterfly dress looks like spring. A photo of Christia in the blue dress is a tighter crop, giving more impact to her eyes - a key element in the "big face" cover design. Christia posed again in the slinky purple dress and this is both high fashion and outrageous - but is it too outrageous for out typical reader? And the photo of Jenni in the studio is the most graphic design and is heavy on green, the color of spring.

The magazine publishes March 15 when I can share the final choice but until then, which photo do you think would make the best cover? You can post your thoughts on the Talk Back section or email me at TWBurton@aol.com.

Open shade with reflected sunlight produced soft lighting for this photo of Christia.
photo by Tom Burton/The Orlando Sentinel