On 04 October 2017, it finally happened... I had my first photoshoot with a model. It was a TFP shoot. For those of you who read my blogs, this was the model that I was supposed to shoot with during the summer, but could never sync our schedules.
We shot for about 2.5 hours, including outfit and makeup changes at Lake Las Vegas. The locations were the covered bridge, the waterfall, a pair of staircases leading to a private pool, and a spot on the lake where some very tall reeds made for a nice backdrop.
I'm still processing them, but here are a few sample photographs. I'm experimenting with various Lightroom settings and presets to find what looks the best, most artistic, etc. I'll also be showcasing a few more on my portfolio website, PhotosByWLG, Instagram, Twitter, and my Facebook page.
ABOVE: Taken on the shady side of the covered bridge at Lake Las Vegas. This was the most difficult place to shoot because it was shady with a bright background. Probably should have shot here last rather than first.
ABOVE: Taken on the sunny side of the covered bridge at Lake Las Vegas.
ABOVE: Taken in front of the wedding chapel doors on the covered bridge at Lake Las Vegas.
ABOVE: Taken directly across from the wedding chapel on the covered bridge at Lake Las Vegas.
ABOVE: Taken at the waterfall at Lake Las Vegas
ABOVE: Taken on north staircase leading to a private swimming pool at Lake Las Vegas
ABOVE: Taken on the south staircase leading to the same private swimming pool at Lake Las Vegas.
ABOVE: Taken lakeside in front of a stand of large reeds at Lake Las Vegas.
My model was great and quite accommodating with my lack of experience. I learned a lot...
Photographing models is a lot different than photographing landscapes, sunsets, sunrises, and the stars. Everything moves a lot faster. You have to make camera adjustments faster. You don’t want your model waiting on you. You don’t want to make your model hold poses for a long time.
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The photographs I took of her on the shady side of the covered bridge came out underexposed. The camera indicated that the shutter speed was correct for the aperture setting and scene, but it was taking into account the brighter background. I needed to shoot at a slower shutter speed (or increased ISO or wider aperature, though my 18-200mm lens only stops down to f/3.5 - but it’s such a great lens!) so that she was properly exposed. As such, early photographs in the shoot weren’t as good as the later ones. I was able to fix them somewhat in post-processing, but there was some noise that I had to eliminate to make them look decent at 100%. So I need to remember to over expose the scene so the primary subject is properly exposed when shooting in the shade with a bright background.
I need to work on my composition and framing. I took way too many shots of her facing the closest edge of the photograph, instead of giving her space in front of her in the photograph.
I rely upon the camera’s autofocus most of the time because I wear corrective lenses, usually multifocal contact lenses on shoots. I know to focus on a model’s eye, but the camera often isn’t very good at picking eyes as a point of focus at times either. So I have some shots that look good at less than 100%, but her eyes are just slightly out of focus when viewed at 100%. I need to work on manual focusing as well as remember to change the camera setting to use single point auto focus.
I didn’t move around her as much as I should have, though I was also trying to prevent lens flare and the natural reaction to squint if she was looking toward the sun.
Some photographers have a bad habit of checking the back of the camera after almost every shot. I have the opposite problem… I don’t look at the back of the camera often enough. I need to look at the back of the camera more frequently so that I can make adjustments sooner. I think the reason I forget to look at the back of the camera every so often is that I started dabbling in photography with film photography, well before digital cameras existed. There’s no screen on the back of a film camera to review the shot. You don’t get to see how well your shot came out until after the film is shot and processed. So, I forget to look at the back of the camera and see what I got when I shoot all my “film” and “process” my “film” (download to my computer) Not completely true though. I do look, just not as frequently as I should during model shoots.
I need to use the burst mode on my camera more during shoots.
As I said, my model was extremely accommodating with my inexperience. She’s done quite a bit of modeling and her posing is quite good. I didn’t direct her much at all, except on the stairwells. I should have given her more direction in her poses. I think we could have gotten even more good photographs had I done so. (I did study modeling poses before the shoot.)
Overall, it was a successful shoot. Despite my nervousness and inexperience, we got more than a few good shots to add to our portfolios. We had fun. We've already talked about working together again... April 2018 definitely, maybe sooner.
I'd appreciate any feedback, especially from photographers.
Thanks for reading.
Stay Tuned,
DeadGuitarist