First Model Mayhem Shoot tomorrow... Maternity shoot Saturday...

misstwinklytoes · Mar 15, 2011

Any advice?

She seems really nice and said her brother would like to be photographed as well. I said bring it on. We're both just in it for practice.

My hubby has successfully fixed my computer without losing any of my files. I bought a 1.5 TB external hard drive for photographs and also installed Photoshop today.

I guess I should charge up my camera... I haven't used it in like 2 months between the move, the hubby's surgery, the kids being sick, and my having bronchitis and tonsilitis on top of my allergies. Yay sickness.

I also have a maternity shoot Saturday with the cutest pregnant girl.

So I'm stoked about that. She's a family friend and I'm just doing it as a baby shower type gift, thingy.

Any advice is appreciated.

reznap · Mar 15, 2011

What's your plan? Doing the shoot indoors with a background or outside? What do you plan to do for post work?

If you need someone who can retouch to go over a couple of them, let me know.. I'm trying to improve and build a retouching port. I mainly use frequency separation and detail dodge and burn.

Good luck - def make sure you show up with all of your batteries charged.. and spares too. I just had an off-brand camera battery suddenly die on me (came with my grip). It won't take a charge at all now

misstwinklytoes · Mar 15, 2011

I will be outside at a local park. She asked me to text her if I had any ideas for types of clothes or whatever, but I don't know... My mind went blank. I will let you know if I need help retouching. I'm not sure what I have in mind.

I don't have a spare battery (yet), but I tend to get about 5-7 hours out of my current one, so I dunno if I'm just lucky, or what...

Thanks for the advice!

kasperjd4 · Mar 15, 2011

Have fun, don't be nervous. Remember to watch the lighting if you're outside. Bring some big pieces of white posterboard/matteboard if you want for reflectors, or if you have a reflector bring that. Remember to bring spare memory cards depending on what file type you shoot. If you don't have a spare battery, bring an extra camera. An extra dslr, a point and shoot, anything! The worst thing you can have happen is your camera stop working halfway or in the beginning of a shoot. Keep good communication with the model. Most of all: have fun. Be confident or at least act confident if you aren't. I am on both sides of the camera as I am a photographer for a local magazine and I model for a surf clothing company and the most awkward thing when modeling is having an unconfident photographer shooting you.

Have fun!!!

misstwinklytoes · Mar 16, 2011

Thank you for the reply!

digital flower · Mar 16, 2011

My advice: don't forget to have a little fun

Could you please post how the session worked out?

misstwinklytoes · Mar 16, 2011

I will likely be posting the results at some point. I haven't used my camera in 2 months. I feel like I'm starting all over!

SrBiscuit · Mar 16, 2011

great advice in here.
be yourself. be comfortable.

One thing that really helps me is to keep the conversation flowing the whole time...it puts them at ease, and keeps the mood light.
If you're sitting there in silence studying your settings, and not directing, it could give the wrong impression.

Enjoy the shoot! Can't wait to see results.

Studio7Four · Mar 16, 2011

Have fun! I'm glad you told her to bring the brother. You can use him as an assistant (holding a reflector, holding a coat for her, etc) as well as use him to keep the banter going while you're shooting. I agree that you want to try to avoid uncomfortable silences, but sometimes it's unavoidable that you'll focus more on your equipment and the shot than on the model. I work with models from MM occasionally, and one asked to bring a (male) friend along (I actually think he was just a friend - boyfriends can get either possessive or distracting, so many photographers discourage them on "set"). The shoot went great, and I did get some decent ones with the two of them and of just him.

Do you have a model release that you can have them each sign? Even if neither of you expect to use the photos for anything more than practice or your portfolios it's a good habit to get into. Deal with signing that up front and it will give you some pro cred in the model's eyes.

By the way, looking forward to the maternity shots as well (if she doesn't mind you posting them). My wife is pregnant and we're getting to the point that her belly is worth shooting, so I'm always looking for ideas.

misstwinklytoes · Mar 17, 2011

Man, I had a BLAST! This model was so awesome to work with and her family was GREAT! I'll post some pictures in a bit for critique. I'm fairly happy with the outcome, but I can look back and see some things I could have done differently. She's beautiful, so there wasn't much photoshopping to do to her at all. Just fixing some of my mistakes... I learned a lot and made a model friend, so this was a great experience.