Tag: photo session

10 Tips that will help you prepare a yoga photo session

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Sara Rodriguez Martinez

Yoga is an ancient eastern discipline that is getting more popular every day in western countries. Yoga combines physical, mental and spiritual practices that help to improve the well-being of the practitioner. My personal story with yoga started four years ago when I decided to take some classes. It was a life-changing experience, not just because of the benefits I got for my mind and body, but also for my career as a photographer. A friend that is a yoga professional asked me to take photos of her in different yoga postures (called asanas) because she needed them for her social media channels and accounts (to promote herself). This is how I got into yoga photography… and I love it!

My friend Nita was the one who asked me to do my first yoga photo session. This photo was taken at our last photo shoot in Barcelona.

If you also want to get into yoga photography, first of all, you need to know how to get ready for the photo sessions. Most of the preparations I do for this type of sessions are the same as for another kind of portrait photography. You might be interested in checking my “A How-To Guide on organizing a portrait photo session” to learn in more detail how to get ready. However, there are some special things in yoga photo sessions that are handy to know beforehand.

#1 Get inspiration from yogis on social media

Some yoga professionals have a great social media presence. You can find them on Facebook, Periscope and of course…Instagram! In my opinion, Instagram is one of the best sources for yoga photography inspiration. If you follow some of the great yogis you will have an idea of the trends in the field. The list of yoga professionals you can find on Instagram is endless. Some of my favorite accounts: kinoyoga, yoga_girl, beachyogagirl, nolatrees, carlingnicole, patrickbeach, dylanwerneryoga. And last but not least, the Instagram of my dear yogi friends: reinodenita and lilatotheworld.

Ask your yoga model if she/he has something in mind. Probably she/he is also following other yogis and can provide you a list of asanas she/he would like to try. However, do your own search to increase the variety of options.

#2 Get familiar with the asana’s names

Asana is the name that yoga postures receive. They have names in Sanskrit, such as “Urdhva Mukha Svanasana”. But don’t worry. You won’t need to learn Sanskrit to be a yoga photographer. All the postures have translated names in English. For example “Urdhva Mukha Svanasana” is also known as “Upward-Facing Dog”. Easier, right?

You will get familiar with these names while you are doing your inspirational searches. You can also make yourself a list of names with the corresponding asana posture and take it with you to the photo session. Having an idea about yoga terminology will make it easier for you and your model to communicate and convey your ideas during the session.

#3 Divide the asanas by categories

If you take the list of postures with you to the photo session (like I do), you should have them classified in a way that makes sense to you. This will help you to be more efficient. To find an asana in a big list can get really complicated, especially when your model is waiting for you to tell him or her what to do next! I usually divided them by standing positions, sitting, inversions, bridges, arm balances and so on

#4 Take photos from all the asana categories

Having the asanas organized in several categories has another advantage: you can make sure that you pick asanas belonging to each category and be certain that you have a good variety of photos. Your yogi model would love to have such a variety of photos!

#5 Get close

The whole body is included in the asanas. However, getting close to your model and take photos of just specific body parts can add new perspectives to your images. Hands, feet, back… play with your close ups and you will be surprised by your results!

#6 Clothes matters

Yoga is not about fancy clothes. However, clothes are important for the photo session. First of all, having several outfits will add variety to the photo session, so it is always a good idea. It is also possible that your model is promoting some brand. You should make sure to get photos of all the clothes he/she is interested to be photographed in. In any case, you should include time for changing outfits when you plan the schedule of the photo session. You should also think how/where the yogi model will change the outfits. The solution for this will depend on the location of the photo shoot; if it is held in an urban environment maybe you should contact a local clothing store and ask permission to use their changing rooms if it is held outdoors perhaps you should bring with you a tent…

I also recommend you to tell your models to choose the outfit wisely, especially the underwear. They are going to be moving all the time and sometimes they are going to be upside down. They need outfits that stay perfect in all these different positions. Also, the last thing you want in your photos is underwear coming out. Or if it does…it needs to be a beautiful one! If you don’t want to spend hours on Photoshop retouching clothes, take care of these details during the photo session.

#7 Give the model time to warm up

Yoga asanas are demanding. It is dangerous for the model to start with the yoga positions without warming up. Make sure they have enough time to do it in order to avoid injuries right before or even during the photo session. You should also make sure your model doesn’t get cold during the photo session, especially in between postures. Remember, for them, it is also a workout, they sweat, and between postures they can cold really fast!

#8 Decide when to do the complicated postures

Some asanas are more demanding than others for the models. It is always good to ask them when they prefer to do them. Some yogis prefer to do the hardest positions at the beginning of the photo session because it is when they feel fresher and stronger. Other prefers to leave them to the end either because they need to warm up and stretch first, or because after these hard asanas they won’t be able to do anything else. You need to adjust the photo session to their body requirements.

#9 Never push your client to do something (even if it seems easy)

Some asanas might seem easy when you look from the side, but they are not. In these cases, it is especially easy for you and/or for your model to get carried away in an attempt to get the perfect photo. You mustn’t let your model lose the awareness of their body and their limitations! If they push themselves too far it can end in serious injury. Be respectful and if they tell you that they can’t do something (even if it seems easy to you), believe them. The safety of your model is the most important thing, not the photos. Anyway, there are tons of other asanas, all of them are beautiful!

#10 Go to a yoga class before the photo session to get a feeling

Participate in a yoga session! I’m not telling you to become a yogi now (it is entirely your decision), but yoga is easily available for everybody and there are a lot of yoga studios everywhere. You should attend a class in order to get the yoga feeling and understand where your model comes from and what he/she has to deal with. This will make you a much more empathetic photographer. It is always a good thing to improve the model-photographer relation!

I hope these tips will help you on organizing your yoga photo sessions. Feel free to contact me with any question you might have. I will be happy to help you! I would like to thank all my yogi models for giving me the chance to become a yoga photographer! Nita, Ashley, Ami and Inna… you are amazing! Namaste!

How to handle photographer’s anxiety before a photo session

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Sara Rodriguez Martinez

I don’t know about you, but I always feel anxiety before a photo session. It is a strange feeling because on one hand I love photography and I am happy about booking photo sessions. On the other hand I suffer because all kind of fears come to me: Am I going to do it well? Is the client/model going to be happy with my photos? Maybe I am not good enough! OMG!! Sometimes I feel like I am boycotting myself. Luckily my passion for photography is stronger than my fears and for that reason I looked for strategies that help me to handle my pre-photo session anxiety.

Learning how to handle your photographer’s anxiety is crucial for developing yourself as an artist and professional.

Invest time on preparing the photo session

There might be photographers over there that are able to do great photo session without or just a little of preparation. Not me. I know that if I don’t prepare the photo session in advance my anxiety will be unbearable and I won’t perform well as a photographer when the moment of shooting arrives. I found than investing some time preparing the photo session makes me feel much more confident and in consequence my anxiety diminish. The first time I prepared a photo session took me a lot of time. But then I developed a protocol and now I enjoy getting ready for a photo shoot and doesn’t take me so long. You can have a look to my How-To Guide on Organizing a Portrait Photo Session to check how I prepare everything and get some inspiration.

Do the must-have photos first

I always recommend working on the poses before the photo session. You can create a list of poses and have it with you in the photo session (printed or in your phone/tablet). Put first in the list the must-have photos. This is a great strategy to reduce anxiety because you won’t need to be all the time thinking if you took all the important photos or if you forgot something. You just do the important photos at he beginning and then you can relax and be creative.

Learn from your previous mistakes

Yes, we all make mistakes, even the super pro. Understanding this simple statement was difficult for me. I don’t like making mistakes. Especially if my clients are involve on them. Just thinking about the possible consequences of our mistakes might paralyze us and make us fell self-conscious. This feelings won’t help when you are with your client/model and you need to direct them and look professional. They will notice you don’t trust on yourself and they will feel uncomfortable about it. I needed to meditate a lot about mistakes. I finally understood that the best thing I can do in order to develop myself as a photographer is trying to do always my best (because my clients deserve it) and if a mistake happens, solve it with a professional attitude and learn from it. Mistakes will happen and they will be hard and painful. However, they are a natural part of any learning process. The important thing is that you learn from them and don’t repeat them again. Mistakes can help you to growth as a photographer and as a professional. Accepting this was a big step for me.

Schedule some relaxing activity the day before the photo session

I do all the photo session preparations enough time in advance to be able to relax a little. I know we are all busy. But I have found myself preparing my equipment for a morning photo session in the middle of the night and believe me…. This didn’t help me to diminish my anxiety at all. Since then I arrange my schedule in order to have my equipment ready early enough to be able to relax doing some kind of activity I like. Personally, I like doing yoga, meditation, running or going for a hike. But this depends on your taste. Maybe you prefer reading or meeting with a friend. It is up to you! But take this relaxing time seriously enough to include it in your schedule. It will help you to recharge your energy and clear your mind. You will handle the photo session with a more positive attitude and much less anxiety.

Eat healthy and don’t drink so much

Don’t misunderstand me. I love going out for a beer or a wine with my friends. But the night before the photo session I prefer drinking something alcohol-free just because I want to make sure that I won’t have any headache in the photo session. I also try to eat healthy because if I eat heavy food that is hard to digest I usually don’t sleep well and next day I feel deadly tired. If you are like me, the day before the photo session eat something light and drink alcohol-free beverages. You will notice that you wake up in a good mood and with energy to handle any photo session

Sleep enough hours

This advice goes in the same than the previous one: if you don’t sleep enough hours you won’t have enough energy to deal with all the little problems that a photo session might have. In fact these little problems will look like huge problems because you will feel too tired to solve them. Make sure to sleep enough hours and be rested for the photo session.

Breathe

If at any point during the photo session you start to feel too anxious and you start breathing to fast, try to slow down. Take a 5 minutes break in the photo session, go to a calmer place and breathe deeply. Breathing exercises (http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4386/A-Simple-Breathing-Exercise-to-Calm-Your-Mind-Body.html) can calm the nervous system and reduce anxiety.

Are you also feeling this photographer’s anxiety before a photo session? Do you have a technic to handle it? Feel free to tell me about your strategy or anything else in the comments below. Have a happy photo session!!

11 Tips for handling camera-shy models

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Sara Rodriguez Martinez

The photo session day has arrived. You organized everything carefully. You feel confident. Everything is going to work well. You are going to rock it! You meet with your client at the scheduled time. It is a couple session. You have been talking with her these last 2 weeks and got everything set. But you don’t know him. And it is right now, just some minutes before the photo session starts, that you discover that he is camera-shy and he hates photos!! Oh no!!! He is not cooperating… he looks as lively and happy as a salted fish and his skin tones are even paler… Your confidence vanishes. How are you going to take nice photos when he doesn’t even want to be there? You are supposed to take photos of the couple showing that they are happy!! What can you do now? Sessions including camera-shy models can be challenging, but they are not impossible. Keep in mind these tips for handling camera-shy models. They can truly change the mood of the photo session.

Handling camera-shy models — This is Avraham, my husband. He agreed to be my model for this photo session.

#1 Don’t jump the gun (or the camera)!

Spend some time talking with them before you get down to business, even before you take out the camera, if possible. Get to know them a little before taking the camera out of your bag and let them to get comfortable with you. Try to ask them about things that put them in a good mood: what they like to do in their free time, about travelling, their favorite restaurant… As a photographer your responsibility is to keep a relaxed atmosphere along the photo session. In fact, the best thing for you to do is to make the photo session not to feel like a photo session at all. It should be more like a friendly meeting.

#2 Explain to them how the photo session is going to be

Shy people usually don’t like the feeling of not knowing what is going to happen next. Give your client an explanation about the photo session. Make them feel like they don’t have to worry about anything. Let them understand that the experience should be fun and that they are not being judged by anyone and that they are not obligated to do anything they don’t want to do.

#3 Ask them not to look at the camera

Looking straight at the camera can be intimidating, and it is not necessary in order to get great photos. They can look to the infinite or at somebody else and the results will be awesome.

#4 Take out stress about posing

Tell them that you have a list of poses (even better if you show them the poses briefly using a tablet, a phone, or even a folder with prints) and they don’t have to be imaginative or creative about the poses. Even if they don’t know how to do, you can rescue them with your poses list. However, make clear that they don’t have to copy the poses. They are just an inspiration and they can adjust them to their taste. This is kind of magic. You will see that they check the poses’ list at the beginning, but soon they won’t need them anymore. It is like a placebo. If they get to the point of proposing you some poses, let them do it, even if you don’t like their ideas. First of all this will bust their confidence and second, you might be surprised of the result. Never underestimate the ideas of your clients.

#5 Pose with them

I do the poses with them and I tell them my experiences posing. I like trying the poses I prepare for my clients because then I can understand what they will feel. Honestly, there are some poses that look awesome but you feel pretty stupid while you are doing them. Have you ever tried posing? It is not so easy! Do it and you will have an insight of your client’s perspective. Joke about this. Make them understand that you relate with them.

#6 Start the photo session with easy poses

Make it easy at the beginning and keep more complicated poses for when the client feels at ease. Easy poses are those in which they are doing something (fixing their clothes, talking with somebody, and holding a prop they like…), sitting or leaning on something (a tree, a wall or a fence). There is nothing worse than leaving a camera-shy person posing doing nothing in the middle of an empty space. They will feel like running away from you and your camera.

#7 Make them move

This tip is related with the previous one. Standing still can feel awkward. But tell people to start walking towards you or far from you and good mood will start flowing again. A fun one is making them walk away from you and at some point you tell them: Look at me!! This is the moment when you take the photo. People usually like this strategy: easy, they don’t have to be looking at the camera (or you) for long and have good results.

#8 Make them do something silly and do it with them

There are a lot of silly things you can make them do. The idea is to take photos of all the process and especially of the laughs after! Some things you can try are: make them show emotions like happiness, sadness, madness, disgust… You can have a list ready and go from emotion to emotion fast. The faster the better. At some point they will start laughing and here you will have your best shot! You can also make them fake their laugh. This will make them laugh a lot after it. Remember you are making them being silly. It is important that you will be silly too!! Making one person to look silly meanwhile you look wonderful is not fair. You are all in the same boat!

After doing some silly faces, models can’t hold their laugh any more. You can see here Avraham laughing after all the silly things he did. He is showing a beautiful and natural smile. Note that he is kind of blurry. I was laughing so hard from the silly faces that I was not able to hold the camera without shaking it. Be aware that this can happens and wok with fast shutter speeds!

#9 Encourage them along the photo session

Show them the photos you are taking and tell them how well the photo shoot is going. Positive feedback encourages people and keeps them in a good mood. Let’s face it. We all like to know how well we are doing!

#10 Create an ice breaker

It can be useful to have something ready to make people laugh and relax. If you are good telling jokes, go for it!! I am not so good on that, so I use a toy as an ice breaker. Yes, you read well: I use a toy. It is mostly for family sessions, but I use it for both kids and adults. My toy is not a common one. Besides being a photographer, I am a biologist. For that reason, a friend gave me a plush Herpes Virus doll as a birthday present. It is in fact lovely Herpes. For kids it looks like a sun. Adults can’t stop laughing when I explain to them the story of the toy “A friend gave me Herpes for my birthday” and I say things like “Eihhh everybody…look at my Herpes”. I guess it is so unexpected that it is fun. You don’t need specifically a Herpes toy, but it is good to have something that will make your clients relax a little”

#11 Ask in advance if there are camera shy people in the photo session

Knowing if you will need to work with a camera-shy person will help you to organize a more appropriate photo session.

I hope you find these tips useful. Although they are mostly for camera-shy people, I admit that I use them on all my clients. They are helpful even just to create a good vibe. They also help when your client is stressed (for their own problems) or tired. Making your clients feel relaxed and laugh a little is always a good thing. It doesn’t matter if they are camera-shy or not.

Let me know if you tried some of these tips and how it turned out! Have a happy shooting!!

A How-To Guide on Organizing a Portrait Photo Session

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Sara Rodriguez Martinez

Do you need to organize a portrait photo session? If it is your first photo session or if you want to improve the organization of your photo shoots, keep reading. At first it might seem a bit overwhelming. But if you establish a good workflow, things will become easier. You will feel more confident organizing your portrait photo session and you will even enjoy the process! Along the article, just for simplification purposes, I will refer to the model as “client”. You can apply these tips to friends or models. The photos I am sharing with you today are from two photo sessions that I did for my friend Nita. As she is a yoga teacher, all the photos in this article are somehow yoga related. But these tips are good for any portrait session.

A How-To Guide on organizing a portrait photo session — This is Nita, my yogi friend. She needed photos mostly for her social media and blog so she became my client.

Talk with your client and discover for what does he/she wants the photos

This first tip is a general one and it might seem pretty obvious. However, what your clients want to get from the photos will determine the whole organization of your photo shoot. Deciding about poses or locations will be easier if you know what you want to achieve in the photo session. It is important that you talk with your clients before the photo session and you ask them a series of questions. Some of them will be quite practical and to the point: how many photos they need, if they need them in landscape or portrait orientation, do they need some negative space (empty space) to add text in the photos, if the photos are meant for printing or just for using on the internet, if they will need to change clothes and so on. Other questions are not so easy to answer but are extremely important: what do your clients want to express on the photos? Do they want to look serious? Friendly? Strong? You can talk face to face with your client, by phone or even send them a questionnaire. I strongly recommend you to keep record of everything your client answers.

Decide on location and session length

The information your clients would provide you is precious because it will help you to set the perfect photo session for him/her. I would start thinking on what the client wants to express. From this information you can have a first idea about the location of the photo session. Maybe your client has a location in mind, but as the photographer, I think you should offer your opinion regarding the choice of location. Offer your client a plan but also listen to what they have to say about it. For example, in our yoga photo session, Nita wanted to look friendly, approachable and strong. We decided to do the photo session in several outdoors locations, mostly in the beach. Beach portraits can convey this playful mood that would add to the friendly, approachable look. In addition, Nita loves being outdoors, so she feels comfortable in this type of locations. Think of the comfort of your clients. Happy and relaxed clients mean better photos and will increase the chance that they call on your services again!

She also decided that she needed people to know that she is good doing asanas (asana is the name of the yoga postures) and that she also gives importance to meditation. We made sure to include pictures that show these two sides of Nita.

The undisturbed sand that Nita sits on, together with the clear, blue sea and the wide horizon help to convey the tranquility and openness that Nita achieves through her meditation and breathing exercises.

Now that you know the location and the number of photos your client needs, you can do a better estimation of time you need to book for the photo session. Don’t forget to add some extra time if your client needs to change clothes.

Think about the poses

I found it really helpful to have a set of ready-to-use poses. I usually do some research online looking for poses that will help the client to express what they want: poses looking strong, or relaxed, or approachable…. You can ask the client to show you photos they like too. I even prepare a power point of photos that I will bring with me on the day of the photo session (I like to bring my tablet to the photo sessions, but you can also print them or show them on the phone). This doesn’t mean that I want to copy the poses I saw online. I just have them to give some inspiration to the client. I notice that when I show clients these power points, they feel more confident. I guess they feel like they can always have a look at the power point if they run out of ideas. I have to admit that many of my clients take only one or two looks in the power points I make for them. But even if they don’t use it a lot, just for the blast of confidence it provides, it is worth to have it. The photos I take usually don’t look at all like the ones in the power point.

Check if you need to practice some techniques

Think about the techniques you will need in the photo session. Would you need to use a flash? Do you need a reflector? Or maybe you need to use a circular polarizing filter. Make sure to practice before the photo shoot. You don’t want to make any beginners mistakes in front of your client.

Make a list of the equipment you need for the photo shoot

I love checklists. I have one made with all the equipment for the photo sessions: memory cards (formatted!), batteries (charged!!!), reflector, filters, lenses (clean!!!), camera (of course!)… The amount of equipment you need might be a lot, so having it listed will make your life easier. It is terrible to realize that you forgot something once you are in the photo session. I also add to the list things that might help the client: something to tie the hair with in case it is windy, make up, some water bottles…

Make a list with the kind of photos you need to take

Your client already gave you all this information. Just make sure you remember how many and the type of photos you need to take: portrait, landscape orientation, with a lot of negative space…

Prepare the equipment

The photo shoot is approaching!! Take your equipment list and prepare everything you need. Do it the day before or at least with enough time to charge the batteries in case you need to replace them (even if you are certain you have enough power in the battery, it’s always good to have spares).

Meet with the client a bit in advance

I recommend meeting with the client a bit before the photo session to have time to relax, check your camera settings, prepare your equipment, talk a little and show them the power point with the photos. Starting a photo session in a rush is never a good thing.

Enjoy the photo session

You prepared a great photo session, so you’re gonna rock it! Now it is time to have fun with what you like the most: taking photos!

I have some specific tips for yoga/sports photo sessions: If your client needs to do some physical effort, think that she might need to warm up. These kind of sessions might be exhausting for your client. Talk with him/her and decide if you want to make the complicated and tiring photos at the beginning of the session or towards the end. Everybody is different, so it is important that you know how they prefer to organize these high demanding photos.

Last but not least… tell your clients to choose their clothes wisely, including their underwear!! If you don’t want to spend hours in Photoshop removing marks, folds and underwear that shows up… tell them to pick photo-session suitable clothes. And don’t hesitate in helping them to adjust their clothes during the photo shoot. It might seem like a joke, but believe me; you can save a lot of time and headaches here!

Tell me if you find these tips useful or if you miss something. I would love to know.

Happy shooting and until next post!!