Newbie from London, UK - Shooting university girls for FHM style

[hollisterbay]

Hi guys, I am new here

I'm a university student and I do alot of web designing and always had an interest in photography.

I slowly been doing it a little - I have a close friend and she is a really good photographer and has done stuff for National Geographic and such.

I'm planning to do something for my university - almost like a student magazine of shoots. We are going to be taking pics of generally girls - much like an FHM/Maxim feel to it.

My friend is going to do most as she is the good one with the camera however I want to know more too and want to know other ideas and tips.

Ok so if we are going to get a bunch of uni girls and want to make them look "glamorous" like they do in FHM - Initially I was thinking of hiring out a studio here in London to do the shoots in - but then I thought, I don't want a boring plain white background in the shoot, I want "things" I want it to look like a university feel, so maybe a dorm room or just a lounge or something.

What is the best way to do this? Are there studios with set type of styles or environments? Or would we just have to cold call places like hotels and say can we do a shoot in a room or something?

I'm really not sure at all how to do this -

Any help or tips would be appreciated

Thanks!

 

[JerryPH]

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

Thats a start. Then decide what you want to do, there are a million possibilities and a million different answers. The question is so broad as to not have a clear way to answer you.

 

[aphelion]

You may be making your life more difficult by trying to compare yourself to FHM and their photography budgets. They can get pretty much any prop or location they want because of their money. You certainly can shoot in dorm rooms or hotel rooms, but that might end up looking more like an attempt at soft-core porn than you want.

If you can get permission from your school, maybe they'd let you shoot on location in classrooms, the library, science labs, automotive labs (think motorcycles or trucks), locker rooms, theater stages, etc. Authentic locations will do a better job of making the shoot look right.

That said, I know a lot of places aren't too keen on granting this type of permission, so you might need to be creative. Especially if you are wanting to bring any kind of light setup with you.

If nothing else, make sure the girls feel comfortable with your location. If you have to sneak into a basement at 2am, they might be worried or stressed, and this will show up in the shots. Unless you are a female, I would recommend having another female with you and the model at all times.

In regards to studios with sets: it's possible that you can find a studio with prop sets and the like, but chances are a good selection will cost much more than you want to spend.

 

[Alex_B]

welcome

location is secondary IMHO, light is what counts and decides if something looks cheap or not.

 

[JIP]

I really hope you don't expect "FHM" style results with an amtuer photographer usint amatuer gear shoting an amatuer model. The shots you see in mags like that are done by pros with excellent gear not to mention models who do not need alot of direction. They have teams of stylists or at least makeup artists and to top it all off they use people whi are photoshop professionals to correct all the blemishes that everyone else can't cover thos things up in the shoot. All that being said I do not want to totally discourage you. I do agree with the person who recommended Strobist to get a start learining about location lighting but just don't be too disapointed when you first shoot does not look like an FHM shoot and keep trying.

 

[RyanLilly]

Have you thought about wardrobe, makeup and hair, as JIP has mentioned? Find a few students in the theatre department for these, students are always looking for more things to add to their portfolio.

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

Hi guys, I am new here

I'm a university student and I do alot of web designing and always had an interest in photography.

I slowly been doing it a little - I have a close friend and she is a really good photographer and has done stuff for National Geographic and such.

I'm planning to do something for my university - almost like a student magazine of shoots. We are going to be taking pics of generally girls - much like an FHM/Maxim feel to it.

My friend is going to do most as she is the good one with the camera however I want to know more too and want to know other ideas and tips.

Ok so if we are going to get a bunch of uni girls and want to make them look "glamorous" like they do in FHM - Initially I was thinking of hiring out a studio here in London to do the shoots in - but then I thought, I don't want a boring plain white background in the shoot, I want "things" I want it to look like a university feel, so maybe a dorm room or just a lounge or something.

What is the best way to do this? Are there studios with set type of styles or environments? Or would we just have to cold call places like hotels and say can we do a shoot in a room or something?

I'm really not sure at all how to do this -

Any help or tips would be appreciated

Thanks!

GREAT IDEA!!!! Why didn't I think of that? Uh oh wait.............all guys I know at that age did . I used to think that it was a unique idea because there wasn't enough mags with half naked women in them. Don't let that get you down......on your first spread just book jessica alba and jessica biel to appear in your magazine and have one of the BEST female photographers in the world do the shoot for you and your in the game! Break out the check book and hope your bottom line carries at least 7 digits to the left of the decimal.