revjim.net

Saturday night I did a photoshoot with Laura (who prefers that I don't link to her). I took about 140 shots and ended up with 9 that I liked. A lot of the unused photos were the result of choosing a background that just didn't work, resulting in an entire set of poses being tossed out in the editing phase.

Laura was great to work with. Jess (who helps me with every shoot) and I both commented afterwards that these photographs don't do her beauty justice. Laura is both sexy and attractive with and without clothing. I'm incredibly lucky to have had an opportunity to work with her, and am very grateful for her time and her patience. As soon as I improve a bit more, I would be very happy to shoot her again.

You should also know that Laura isn't always this solemn looking. I just preferred this look (partially explained below) in my editing process. She has a beautiful smile and has a tendency to do so. I was constantly asking her to smile less.

This shoot was an incredible learning experience. Despite the low hit ratio and background troubles, I think the images from this shoot really show that I learned a lot from the last. I think the lighting is a lot better than before. Additionally, in the last shoot, the model pretty much posed herself while, in this shoot, I had to do a lot more. This is good because it forced me to learn for myself what looks good and what doesn't. Here's what I learned:

# Despite the fact that almost every house in America has flooring that is a different color than the walls, this doesn't look good in a photograph. The images are much more pleasing when the background matches the floor covering.
# Unless you are willing to overexpose your subject or the background, black hair will disappear on a black background. This isn't a bad thing, but it can be upsetting if it wasn't what you were expecting.
# Asian people present a unique set of problems (just like white people, black people, large people, children, etc) when being photographed. Generally speaking, their eyes tend to get smaller when they smile. This means that, if you aren't specifically counteracting this you could end up with an image that doesn't have the same sparkle in the eyes that you're looking for.
# A light directly facing the chest will cause the skin on the chest to become brighter than you'd expect (and probably overexposed). A slight turn toward or away from the camera should eliminate this.

I've left the two most important lessons out of the list in order to emphasize it. First of all, I can't expect to get a model to let go and allow herself to be pushed to the edge of what she is comfortable with if I am not also pushing myself to that edge. Secondly, when I work a pose, I start of with something basic, and slowly modify the pose, angle, and framing, until I get a shot that is pleasing. However, as soon as I get that shot, I stop with that pose, and move on to the next. I need to continue to work that pose just a little more, not only because an even more interesting shot might result from it, but also because that ensures I get a few shots of that "final" image, just in case one of them caught the model with her eyes closed, or a funny expression on her face.

My favorite images from the shoot are "Desire":http://photos.revjim.net/laura20040703/20040703_214346, "Said Without Speaking":http://photos.revjim.net/laura20040703/20040703_220344 (NSFW), and "Pure Innocence":http://photos.revjim.net/laura20040703/20040703_215437.

bq. "Laura 2004-07-03″:http://photos.revjim.net/laura20040703 (some NSFW)

As always, your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.