My first model from Model Mayhem....C&C Requested!!

[shmne]

Quick tips from what I've seen:

- Learn to direct your model better, he may not have been the best in the world but he has the same exact face in every photo. This is something you need to be aware of and fix immediately through proper communication and coaxing.

- Have a purpose with your photos. None of these have a purpose from what I can tell, they are just pictures of a person. I take that back, the one of him in the gym could have a purpose but I don't think you realize why that one is probably the best of the group. Here he is doing something, modeling the gym equipment. A model generally has their photo taken with a goal in mind, and in this case you could say it is to make the gym equipment look more dynamic and "sexy" because a man got ripped by using this (obviously! Otherwise why else would he be using it?).

- To fix a blown background you have a ton of options. Find a shaded area, and use a fill flash to increase exposure on the subject. Bring in a "key" flash (really the sun is your key, but this flash helps a lot more than just a fill) and blast your subject so that you can clamp down your aperture, thus in turn darkening the rest of the scene. 1 stop is most often all that is needed. Finally you could just use layers in photoshop. one layer properly exposed for the subject on top of a layer properly exposed for the background, then paint a mask on the top layer to bring in the bottom layer.

A UV filter blocks UV light, not overexposed light