Country Eyes
This was the same train location I used for James, our male model of the day. Lizzie, an aspiring model and photographer herself. volunteered to pose for local photographers at the Smithville, Texas, Photo Festival. This is a humbling and brilliant idea because you learn so much by watching rather than than engineering and doing. I myself will often just assist other photographers and it causes me to reflect and think more about what I would or would not be doing as well as evaluating why the photographer I'm helping is doing what they are doing. Lizzie was very popular this day, you can imagine why, and so I'm not sure there was an ability to focus on who was taking her picture at any given time. Later in the day though, as things were winding down and people were leaving, we snuck off into the train and grabbed some shots. This was shot with a large fill reflector bouncing light to the inside of the train following my line of sight. I literally shot right over the top of this giant gold reflector. I also had an SB800 off right, 45° to simulate the ambient liglht, but just beef it up a little bit more. This gave me that nice hotspot in the middle that pushes all the color and saturation away from the center target.
For someone with little modeling experience, Lizzie could pull of a flirty look real fast. I usually reference my same request when I want this look, and I'll offer it to you. "Give me that look that you use when you want someone to buy you a drink when you're out at the bar with your girlfriends. The one that gets the guy to say, I need to buy her a drink!". Now this sounds a little presumptuous that all women have done this. Of course they haven't, but if you're modeling, an attractive young woman, and you live in a college town...there's a good chance you might have. Plus, I've never, EVER, had a model say "oh I've never done that." So if that's the technique they know, I say go with it. Lizzie chuckled when I asked, and then BAM, there was the look.
As I've said to many friends and colleagues, I may not be the greatest photographer ever (far far from it actually) but I do know two things 1) Photoshop. 2) How to read and talk to people. That skill will get you far if you're trying to build a portfolio of work with non-professional models and want good looking work. So keep that in mind, learn how to engage, listen, and respond.
Country Eyes
This was the same train location I used for James, our male model of the day. Lizzie, an aspiring model and photographer herself. volunteered to pose for local photographers at the Smithville, Texas, Photo Festival. This is a humbling and brilliant idea because you learn so much by watching rather than than engineering and doing. I myself will often just assist other photographers and it causes me to reflect and think more about what I would or would not be doing as well as evaluating why the photographer I'm helping is doing what they are doing. Lizzie was very popular this day, you can imagine why, and so I'm not sure there was an ability to focus on who was taking her picture at any given time. Later in the day though, as things were winding down and people were leaving, we snuck off into the train and grabbed some shots. This was shot with a large fill reflector bouncing light to the inside of the train following my line of sight. I literally shot right over the top of this giant gold reflector. I also had an SB800 off right, 45° to simulate the ambient liglht, but just beef it up a little bit more. This gave me that nice hotspot in the middle that pushes all the color and saturation away from the center target.
For someone with little modeling experience, Lizzie could pull of a flirty look real fast. I usually reference my same request when I want this look, and I'll offer it to you. "Give me that look that you use when you want someone to buy you a drink when you're out at the bar with your girlfriends. The one that gets the guy to say, I need to buy her a drink!". Now this sounds a little presumptuous that all women have done this. Of course they haven't, but if you're modeling, an attractive young woman, and you live in a college town...there's a good chance you might have. Plus, I've never, EVER, had a model say "oh I've never done that." So if that's the technique they know, I say go with it. Lizzie chuckled when I asked, and then BAM, there was the look.
As I've said to many friends and colleagues, I may not be the greatest photographer ever (far far from it actually) but I do know two things 1) Photoshop. 2) How to read and talk to people. That skill will get you far if you're trying to build a portfolio of work with non-professional models and want good looking work. So keep that in mind, learn how to engage, listen, and respond.