behind the closed DOORs July 14 2016
In todays episode we visit bayphoto for a small tour and the beautiful Santa Cruz pier.
Tip : make that model hurt…..
Well ok don’t take that literally because that’s a whole different kind of photography 😀
But when you want to make images a bit more interesting it sometimes helps to let the model pose a bit beyond her/his comfort zone. During the workshop “coaching and motion” we did some more “extreme” poses with our model Ingrid, who has the legs for it…. and today some of the results.
The most important thing you have to remember is finding the lines.
Some of these were shot with a very wide angle (sigma 12-24) and you will get some distortion from these kind of lenses, make sure you follow the lines and make them lead the viewers eyes towards the model, in this case I use the legs of the model for this purpose.
Also always remember to WALK AROUND the model, this way you get totally different looks from the same setup, and the more you can shoot like this the better is for the end results because you are actually creating more different looks in a very limited time frame, and time…. well we never have enough of that.
Behind the closed DOORs July 13 2016
In todays episode we visit the ocean and Pacifica plus an awesome street in the Mission with loads of graffiti.
Tip : ACTION BABY ACTION… ACT….
It sounds so incredibly obvious but still it’s often forgotten.
If you want action….. do something.
Pretty obvious right?
Still in a lot of photoshoots that I judge I see amazing models, great styling, proper lighting, awesome locations…. but no life. Somehow the images don’t speak. What’s going on?
With most models the thing they do is pose.
But if you don’t tell the model what to do she/he will…. well pose, just stand there or do some killer poses (depending on the level of experience of your subject), but if you coach your model everything will be much better… now imaging not only coaching your model through some poses but REALLY make them act.
During a recent cosplay shoot we had a set with the vampire hunter and the vampire.
Now a lot of photographers would probably choose to shoot the costumes and let the two stand next to each other showing off the costumes, but for me that wasn’t enough, I really wanted so hardcore action, some BANG in the shot so to say. So I told the models to REALLY act, “spike her”, “kill her”, “and you, you are being killed so act like it, scream your lungs out, this is gonna HURT”
The first few shots were ok, but very quickly our Vampire hunter was jumping up and down eagerly waiting who she could kill next, and the vampires were lining up, the fun was really growing, but most of all the images got more and more intense and cool.
Modelling is acting on 1/1000’s of a second, make them count.
And YOU as the photographer are responsible for the end results, coach your models make them enthusiastic about the shots, if you are very monotone and going like “yeah”, “ok”, “great” (mimic the most monotone voice you can imagine, for example Stephen Hawkin) or if you go like this “YEAH BABY”, “KILL HER”, “AWESOMEEEEEE”, “LOVEEEEE IT” (mimic a very enthousiastic voice) you will see that the end results are MUCH MUCH better.
Here are some images from that set.
