My first photo shoot with a model

So I recently had my first photo shoot with a model who wasn't a friend or family member. I hooked up with an

actress/model in Boston who was looking for updated photos for her portfolio, and agreed to do the shoot TFP. We

met in the Public Gardens in Boston for the last couple of hours of sunlight. I'm really happy with the results

(although there were hundreds of throwaways, there were a handful of what I felt were really good shots.)<br><br>

I'd love to get feedback on the photos (composition, etc.) but mostly your thoughts on how to get a model,

especially someone you aren't acquainted with, to open up and relax more for the camera. I'm sure it has a lot to

do with the model's level of experience, but there was a lot of sort of awkward posing, and unnatural smiling. I

wasn't able to get a lot of real candid or natural-looking shots. Do you guys have tips on this, as well as

directing? I didn't give her a lot of direction, mostly because I was unsure of what would work.<br><br>

The shots are here: It's a Facebook album, but you don't need an account or login to view it:<br>

<A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035133&l=0980a&id=20803585">Photos - Emily C</A><br><br>

PS: These images are post-Photoshop. I ran them through a layer of Dust and Scratches filters after removing a

few blemishes, did some very light dodging, and a bit of overall sharpness/brightness/contrast edits.<br><br><div></div>

Chris, before I even got to the bottom of your post I knew these were post photoshop. For my tastes, I find the skin smoothing heavy handed and plastic'y. Oh, the white balance is really amber-- looks good on the hair though.

 

What you wanted to know is how to get a model to relax. First, you have to appear confident. Second, I always try to create a verbal rapport w/ them. I generally meet them some where easy and then drive them to the location-- it gives me a chance to talk to them w/o the camera being in their face.

 

Granted, I'm an outgoing (and self proclaimed) witty personality. So some of my joking around may not be right for someone else.

 

Lastly, shoot for an hour or more. The first 30m for most people modeling are crap. They are thinking about what to do, instead of doing it. It's like when you first walk into a building, you have all this to take in-- after that, you just walk.

I think your shots could benefit from using some kind of reflector to open up the shadows a bit. In the first image, most of her face is really dark, but the right side (her left side) is blown out. In the third and fourth images, the left side of her face and hair need to be separated from the background a little more. A reflector could do that as well. My favorite image is number 5. Same comments apply relative to separation. I would remove the two bright dots above her head and shoulder.

 

All the images a a tad too warm for my tastes, but that may have been the effect you were looking for.

 

Drop-dead gorgeous model, BTW. You must take more photos of her.

If you said here are some nice snapshots of my girlfiend, I would say good job. But as portfolio shots for a professional model, I think both you and she are off to a good start but have a ways to go. As Phil suggests, you need to be working with either reflectors or fill flash to balance the lighting better. Warm skin tones are flattering but you may be a bit overboard in these. Most of all you need to switch to a long lens and throw those backgrounds out of focus. To get better expressions, I would try to get her doing something. Sit her at a table reading a book, have her pick flowers, anything other than sit there and look at the camera like she's waiting for you to squeeze the shutter. Posing is up to the photographer but the model has to bring something to the table other than a pretty face. My guess is she hasn't quit her day job.

Craig is right on with the fill flash suggestion. Part of the problem is that the model is in direct sunlight, and that

produces deep shadows even late in the day. Try placing her in the shade and bouncing in some of that great, warm

light. Or as Craig suggested, use a touch of fill flash.

Wow, thanks for all the comments guys. Really helpful.

 

I guess I may have overdone the smoothing effect, but I tried to take care not to go too far (even pulled back a little). Sometimes its hard not to go too far, each incremental step you kind of think, "wow, that looks even better, that looks even better.." like sharpening - it seems ridiculously easy to just keep sharpening your image until it becomes noticeably horrible, or contrast - I'll keep increasing the contrast and when I realize I've gone too far, even if I find a middle-point it now looks gray and hazy. Something I need to work on.

 

The photos are really warm. It seems like most of the shots I take that I'm happy with are like that, overly-amber looking. I guess that's the way it looks good to me but clearly if a number of you are bringing it up it must not to anyone else.. Same deal as overdoing effects..

 

I've tried using fill-in flash but I really hate how it sucks all the warmth out of the images. Even with the flash exposure turned way down I can't keep it from looking harsh, and I kind of like the way shadows play on faces, showing contours, etc. I don't have any lighting equipment, what should I look for in terms of reflectors or lights? I don't have too much money to spend on stuff right away but might be willing to pick up a few things.

 

Craig, a lot of the shots were taken with a 70-200mm, the longest lens I have, at f4.0. A few were shot with a 50mm 1.8.

 

In any case, this is all very appreciated. I'm glad for my first try it wasn't too horrible. Phil, I'll definitely hook up with her again.

 

Chris

<i>I've tried using fill-in flash but I really hate how it sucks all the warmth out of the images.</i><P>Something is wrong with your technique. There are plenty of images with fill flash that are not lacking warmth. The images suffer from the color cast ("warmth"), from the light and from the shadows, as pointed out above. They also appear to be soft without reason. A stylist would be a big help, her hair is not looking professional and her makeup needs to be different to help emphasize facial structure. I would highly recommend a local class or mentor to help you.

I'll apologize for this probably stupid question, but when someone does a shoot TFP, what does that mean? Besides free....

Trade For Prints

Thanks, Jeff - now I really feel stupid! I'm wanting to learn more about portraiture - people and animals - and that's one of the approaches that I've wondered about.

Keep in mind that, if you're doing TFP with animals, cats prefer tuna-flavored prints, and dogs prefer bacon-flavored prints.

It's not just the heavy color cast, it's the posing and the light quality that are not on target.

TFP is not free, it's an exchange of a valued service for another valued service. Free would be me shooting something I can't use in my port just to make a girl happy :-) That will never happen *lol* OH, TFP traditionally stands for "Trade for prints", but now days b/c digital medium is so often exchanged, it's more of a "Trade for Pictures".

 

Chris, you can email me and I can send you an action for skin smoothing that is about Stuff magazine level-- none of it is in my port, b/c I find it too heavy. But, I have it for those models that want it. I'm going to assume that this is for a very amature book, and not an agency comp card-- b/c agencies (generally) do not like excessive skin smoothing. Can you imagine how upset you'd be to hire a model based on a comp card, only to find that she's not what was represented? I've had a TFP shoot like that, and was upset-- and I blame the photographer for the pictures, and her for using them in an online port.

 

Fill flash is daylight balanced, and shouldn't remove any warmth from an outdoor shoot :-/ Currently your white balance is too far off-- which is probably what you mean. Your flash will/may (brand?) automatically change your whitebalance (unless you change this in your camera config) to flash-- and you'll get a closer wb to reality. Since you are set on an overly warm wb, it'll look less so to you, but more natural to us. If you are shooting raw, you set your wb when converting.

You monitor may need to be calibrated as well. It may have a "cool" cast to it which may cause the overcompensation as well as throwing flash into the "cool" realm. Bad flash typically looks harsh, not "cool".

Hey,

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Sorry it took so long to respond but I just returned from a few weeks in China.

 

The only flash I currently have is the on-camera flash, so maybe a good flash is an investment I should make soon. Also, Nathan, I'll email you about the skin-smoothing - the more I look at the shots the more it looks like I indeed may have gone a bit too far with it. And I'll calibrate my monitor as well.

 

Chris