Dominica in blue

[jetrim]

Shot at a South Beach penthouse apt. last night. Thoughts?

[n8]

The lighting on her head doesn't seem to flatter her face that much, it seems to accentuate her brow too much. Everything else looks very nice.

[draymorton]

Shot at a South Beach penthouse apt. last night.

Life's tough.

I love it. Torn on that lighting issue. I see what n8 is saying; on the other hand, it somehow enhances the expression and mood. Not that I know the first thing about fashion photography, but I really like the overall effect.

That said... if I had to nitpick, I'd say that she looks a little orange and that the face appears oversaturated and overcontrastated. I feel really dumb saying any of that, though, not because I just made up a word, but because this is a great piece of work. I can't imagine being able to pull it off.

[PhilF]

I like it!! Wish she move her chin up a bit to show here eyes more.
light setup?

[w.slayman]

Jetrim,

I only have a very minor nit, there is something agout her hands especially the right that bothers me, but I am not sure what it is. Otherwise it is better than I could hope to pull off, and it's really great work.

[arne saknussen]

I love the blue...blueness......?? Anyway the use of blue is very striking.

And, how do you get to shoot all these beautiful women? I want your job. Do you need an assistant? I'll work for free.

[draymorton]

I'm actually liking the orange now and realizing that it's part and parcel of the "art" of it all. The saturated colors really do elevate this above and beyond the standard issue fashion shot.

Also echoing arne's parting thought.

[jetrim]

I love the blue...blueness......?? Anyway the use of blue is very striking.

And, how do you get to shoot all these beautiful women? I want your job. Do you need an assistant? I'll work for free.

I used the blueiest blue gel in my case, Shot it straight up at the white ceiling, and voila...blueness for all

Seriously, the way I get to shoot all these beautiful women is to
A)network my @$$ off locally, attending anything and everything to do with studios, photography, fashion, models.

B)be better than the next guy - and this right here in the critique forum is an integral part of that process

C) Maybe the MOST important - When you do finally line up a TFP shoot, give the model the damn "P"! Most heard complaint I get from models is that they spend 3 hours at a shoot, sign a release and never get a copy of the photos. I hear it over and over and I can't overstate it enough - models talk to each other A LOT; on Facebook, on mayhem, on model1, on modeling intl, at shoots, etc. A good reputation for delivery (even if the shots ain't fantastic) will get you more girls than you can possibly shoot, a bad reputation and you'll be a leper.

I got this e-mail back this afternoon as a reply from the model:

omg you are fast!! i love it!! thank you so much for taking pictures!

Dominica .....

This insures that I will get a chance to shoot her again, but more importantly she'll put out the word to OTHER models. (like the lovely Masha who called to schedule a shoot for next week, after Miami Fashion week closes)

[draymorton]

Jet, how many images do you usually send the models?

Do you send them all post-processed? Do you send unprocessed jpegs for them to choose from beforehand? Do you ever send them unprocessed images to keep?

[draymorton]

Seriously, the way I get to shoot all these beautiful women is to
A)network my @$$ off locally, attending anything and everything to do with studios, photography, fashion, models.

B)be better than the next guy - and this right here in the critique forum is an integral part of that process

C) Maybe the MOST important - When you do finally line up a TFP shoot, give the model the damn "P"! Most heard complaint I get from models is that they spend 3 hours at a shoot, sign a release and never get a copy of the photos. I hear it over and over and I can't overstate it enough - models talk to each other A LOT; on Facebook, on mayhem, on model1, on modeling intl, at shoots, etc. A good reputation for delivery (even if the shots ain't fantastic) will get you more girls than you can possibly shoot, a bad reputation and you'll be a leper.

I got this e-mail back this afternoon as a reply from the model:

This insures that I will get a chance to shoot her again, but more importantly she'll put out the word to OTHER models. (like the lovely Masha who called to schedule a shoot for next week, after Miami Fashion week closes)

GREAT advice.

By far, the hardest part is the networking. For me, anyway. It's an entirely other skillset.

[jetrim]

In the beginning, I would pick what I thought were the best 5 and send those fully retouched. As I got better shooting, and faster retouching, I started to change the way I handle it, which also seems to have opened me up to a better better class of model as a result.

These days I take all the images from the shoot and run them through Lightroom with auto-tone on import, then *maybe* do some cropping as needed, but no further adjustments.

I upload those "proofs" to the website and send the model a link with the password and let them choose up to 10 for retouching - this does 2 things, it buys me a couple of days while they decide, and it insures they get the shots they're happy with. (I do have the ability to put a "proof" overlay on top of the gallery images, which helps to keep them from snatching the unretouched ones and throwing them up on the web before hand) Not everyone has their own website though, so fixing 5 shots and getting them to the model within a week is a good target to aim for.

One resource that's great if you live in or near a big city is meetup.com you can find groups of photographers that get together for "group shoots" at local studios. Some groups have a fee, others don't. My meetup profile is here so you can see what it's about and the types of groups I belong to. This is a great way to get the networking thing kick-started.

[armando_m]

Beautiful photo !

Great idea about the blue light

Wonder how it would be to have a willing model rather than the standar response
"Another photo ? DAAAD !!! ... ok ..."

[draymorton]

In the beginning, I would pick what I thought were the best 5 and send those fully retouched. As I got better shooting, and faster retouching, I started to change the way I handle it, which also seems to have opened me up to a better better class of model as a result.

These days I take all the images from the shoot and run them through Lightroom with auto-tone on import, then *maybe* do some cropping as needed, but no further adjustments.

I upload those "proofs" to the website and send the model a link with the password and let them choose up to 10 for retouching - this does 2 things, it buys me a couple of days while they decide, and it insures they get the shots they're happy with. (I do have the ability to put a "proof" overlay on top of the gallery images, which helps to keep them from snatching the unretouched ones and throwing them up on the web before hand) Not everyone has their own website though, so fixing 5 shots and getting them to the model within a week is a good target to aim for.

One resource that's great if you live in or near a big city is meetup.com you can find groups of photographers that get together for "group shoots" at local studios. Some groups have a fee, others don't. My meetup profile is here so you can see what it's about and the types of groups I belong to. This is a great way to get the networking thing kick-started.

Thanks. This kind of info, to me, is far more valuable than "what's the best way to retouch skin," etc. WIll check out meetup.

[PhilF]

In the beginning, I would pick what I thought were the best 5 and send those fully retouched. As I got better shooting, and faster retouching, I started to change the way I handle it, which also seems to have opened me up to a better better class of model as a result.

These days I take all the images from the shoot and run them through Lightroom with auto-tone on import, then *maybe* do some cropping as needed, but no further adjustments.

I upload those "proofs" to the website and send the model a link with the password and let them choose up to 10 for retouching - this does 2 things, it buys me a couple of days while they decide, and it insures they get the shots they're happy with. (I do have the ability to put a "proof" overlay on top of the gallery images, which helps to keep them from snatching the unretouched ones and throwing them up on the web before hand) Not everyone has their own website though, so fixing 5 shots and getting them to the model within a week is a good target to aim for.

One resource that's great if you live in or near a big city is meetup.com you can find groups of photographers that get together for "group shoots" at local studios. Some groups have a fee, others don't. My meetup profile is here so you can see what it's about and the types of groups I belong to. This is a great way to get the networking thing kick-started.

Man .. in my case in the beginning I give them 25 PPed images. Yes the more you get better at it ... you get attractive models. Now I only give them 10. I do have a proof site too for them to chose. Same us Make Up artist.... they are all over the place. Ever since I tried a shoot with a make-up artist, I never shoot without one now. In fact I have another one tomorrow morning... a gorgeous 22 year old native american model.

BTW Jet... you didn't answer my light setup question. Were you just using one BD with a grid?

BTW.. I get models from mayhem...what other good sites are there that I can post casting calls for TF?

[gahspidy]

Really well done here, Jet. Exceelent advice from you in here as well. I always make it a point to work quickly and get the subjects images as soon as possible. I week is very reasonable, but sometimes i try for sooner. Your excatly right, they chat and usually know one another and chances are you will wind up being referenced by one or another as you are looking to line one up. i have only been doing portraits and model shoots for a few months now, and I am quickly finding out that the very good models usually know one another because they have either worked together at some point or have attended events be it fashion or fetish parties where designers and models gather. . .
I had not known about meetup.com and will check into that in my area.
time has always been against me. . . .
Keep up the fine work, always a pleasure to learn

[jetrim]

BTW Jet... you didn't answer my light setup question. Were you just using one BD with a grid?

BTW.. I get models from mayhem...what other good sites are there that I can post casting calls for TF?

Sorry if I missed the question...The setup was 1 2'x2' softbox to camera left 6' high for the key and 1 7"reflector with a blue gel on a background (short) stand, pointed straight up at the ceiling for the fill - used the kitchen cabinet to hide the fill light. ratio was 1:1 (equal power to both heads)

Another excellent resource for local models is Craigslist - look under "creative gigs" and you'll usually find plenty of willing models, respond to their adds for photographers, or post your own.

http://onemodelplace.com/ is another good resource if you don't mind paying membership dues.