Tag: style

Posing Models Part 1: 5 Beginner Steps for Photographers Working with Models

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Jennifer Berube

As a photographer, you’re going to be working with and posing models at some point in your career. An experienced model will be able to strike the right poses with minimal direction. But, when you’re working with someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience, helping the model find the right position and stance is up to you. This article is the first in a series that will help you with posing models in a variety of settings and shots. Keep reading for five steps that will set you down the road to becoming a model-posing master.

Step 1: Set the Mood

You should have an idea of what tone you want the final photographs to take as well as the space and props you’ll need for the shoot. Matching lighting, backdrop, and props to the overall mood is the first place to start. From there, you need to make sure your model is in the right frame of mind. They should be comfortable with you, the setting, and their understanding of your direction.

If you have never worked with the model before, take a minute to get to know them. This doesn’t have to be a long conversation. Just a little chitchat will go a long way in establishing a connection. The more the model trusts you, the easier it will be to give them direction.

Step 2: Brief the Model

You need to plainly convey what you want to the model. They need to know the purpose of the shoot, the mood you’re going for, and what you generally expect from them. If the purpose of the shoot is to show off the handbag they’re holding, make sure they know that.

An excellent way to quickly and clearly get your message across is to keep a sample book. Put together a collection of examples from various photographers that showcase the style, tone, and mood you are going for. Pinterest is excellent for this as you can keep different boards for different styles. Make sure the models are posing in a style that is similar to what you want.

You should also make sure you’re using samples that feature a model similar to who you’re working with. For instance, don’t pull photos of a model that has a completely different body type than the person posing for you. This will create an unrealistic expectation, and your model will become increasingly nervous as they try to meet it. Well-chosen samples will immediately help the model see what you’re going for, cutting down on time and confusion.

Step 3: Remember that You’re Working with a Person, Not a Prop

Most people aren’t going to be rude to the model, so that’s not what this step is about. It’s about recognizing that the person on the other side of the camera is in a bit of a vulnerable position, and their primary goal is to accurately follow your instructions. They need feedback to be able to do this, and to keep from becoming anxious or nervous.

When working with and posing models, make sure you’re talking to them. If they’re doing great, let them know it with a word of encouragement. Nice, beautiful, lovely: stick to something positive and non-offensive. If you have to give negative feedback, keep your tone light and encouraging.

Step 4: Keep the Energy Going

Music, snacks, breaks, and absolutely no chimping: these are a few ways to keep the energy alive. Chimping is an industry term that refers to when a photographer continuously checks the quality of the photographs during the shoot. This will make the model nervous and change the tone of the shoot. Stay upbeat and encouraging, and consider finding music that matches the mood to keep your model in the right frame of mind. Take breaks instead of getting frustrated, and remember to have fun with it.

Step 5: Use Your First Few Shots to Refine Everything

Take a few shots, then have a look and tweak everything. Does the mode look uncomfortable? Find out why and fix it. Maybe they aren’t clear on what they need to do, maybe they aren’t comfortable with you, or maybe they aren’t comfortable in their shoes. The next thing to look at is how the model’s clothing interacts with the environment. Do they need to pop more? Add a colorful scarf. Are they popping too much? Take off some accessories. Is the shoot bland overall? Add some more props. Play with your positioning too. Try shooting from a low angle, looking up towards the model. You’d be amazed at how much this simple shift can change your photos.

These simple tips will help get you started with posing models. The best advice is to have fun and don’t be afraid to experiment. Be sure to check out our other articles in the series for more in-depth information about how to pose models for different types of photo shoots.

How to Promote Photography on Instagram

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Kim Suarez

These days, social media is an essential tool to any business marketing strategy. First of all, it’s free. Second, it’s all-reaching, meaning nearly everyone is a user. Last and most important: it works. It works if you know how to properly use it to your advantage. I’ve even heard photographers who have gotten paid work on Instagram or based on their Instagram account.

If you have thousands of followers, you are considered an ‘”influencer” and brands will send you their product or book you for gigs because any image you post is like a free billboard for them, immediately garnering tens of thousands of views in a second.

This influencer status is not reserved only for the elite, or famous, or even the most talented. It is given to those who know how to play the social media game and win. Below are a few tips to using Instagram to promote your photography to achieve this status and grow your business and brand.

Be Yourself

Essential to any business or personal development strategy is to be yourself, to be truthful about who you are not pretending to be someone you are not. We can’t all be that cool, hip style-savvy blogger with thousands of followers who posts amazing pictures of themselves from all over the world. Honestly, there are too many of them anyways now. You are unique, you have a combination of qualities and experiences that no one else has. Give yourself the exercise of digging into these attributes that make you unique, and create your personal brand around these.

Curate and Captions

More important to photographers, since this is a visual social media platform, is that you curate your Instagram. This is your portfolio, and you only want to show your best work. Maintaining a high-quality standard is essential to booking high-quality clients and appearing in high-quality outlets. Be sure to follow the quality of quantity rule here. If you don’t have any quality images to publish at the moment, wait until you do.

In addition, captions and hashtags are important in Instagram posts. You want your caption to add to your story, and humanize the image and yourself. Tell a behind the scenes story of what it took to get that shot, or explain what brought you to that location. The more personal, the better. This will help fans feel more connected to you, it makes you more relatable. It will also build your brand, and give you a stronger presence in your desired niche. Hashtags are also a great way to caption your images, and tie in with Connect and Style below. You can use hashtags which are associated with millions of tags, adding your post to additional pools of images, seen by more users than those who follow you. If you want your images to be seen by magazine photo editors, find the magazine’s Instagram. They all have their own hashtags now, and you can add them to your captions to gain visibility.

Connect and Cultivate

If you do not interact with others on Instagram, they will not interact with you. Set aside a few minutes each day not only to post but to go through others photos as well. Make sure you curate those you follow to stick with your brand category. You want to be associated with these people, so when others see them, they will see you. Continue to build these relationships, and start to form new ones. You’ll never know what this could lead to in the future, whether it be work or investments or just great personal relationships. To tie into the above, liking and commenting on others posts will humanize you, and help others feel more connected to you. It will also help you feel more connected to others, and you can reach out to those you admire for advice or even opportunities to assist.

Style and Consistency

Style and consistency go hand in hand when building a brand, whether personal or business. If you followed the first tip and are being true to yourself, this should come somewhat easily. Being consistent in what and how you post will make it easier for others to define your brand, and to feel more connected with you. They will see images and writing and know it is you before even looking at the name. This is what you want because these you’ve successfully given your brand a consistent style. You want people to think of you when they think of a particular style. This will lead to more booked gigs and a greater understanding of who you are as a photographer.

Being consistent in your Instagram posting also means knowing what time of day to upload, and being consistent in this schedule. Those who are serious about using Instagram to build their brand, research their target market and know when they are looking at Instagram. Timing your upload to post within this time frame is the secret strategy successful Instagram users employ. Doing this alone will greatly benefit your brand’s Instagram presence within your specific targeted viewer pool.

While the above may sound daunting and like a lot of work, it is essential to building a strong and successful brand on Instagram. Those who are successful are not that way by accident. They are very strategic in their posting, community involvement, and research. But, you need to make sure that you are having fun while working at this. If it is not fun for you, you will not maintain the consistency necessary to build a large following. Using Instagram to promote your photography can be time-consuming, but in the end, can make or break upcoming photographers looking to become influencers and authorities in their specific category.

What’s Your Photography Style? – Discover Your Inspiration

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Jennifer Berube

Those of us who love photography often find ourselves taking pictures of anything and everything we can, at all times. On top of that, we often browse the work of other photographers, whether for inspiration, admiration or even to check out the competition.

And as you see more and more shots from others, and hone your own craft, you’re probably going to find that you prefer particular styles over others. It might be that you like the photos of certain types of subjects, say landscapes. It may also be that you like the work of a particular photographer, or work done in particular style. This is a good way to start figuring out what YOUR style is.

Different Photography Styles

A style is a hard thing to define, as the varieties are infinite. As mentioned above, you can categorize by subject matter, methods of shooting, and many other ways. The best photographers are known because they have their own styles; they might be good at capturing emotion in a picture, or they may specialize in landscapes or other subjects. The really cool thing about that is it can become possible to know who took a photograph simply by looking at the work.

If you have a particular subject you like to work with, it may be the beginnings of discovering your own style. Perhaps subjects aren’t so important to you, but other factors are, like bringing a striking contrast or unusual angles into your work. This again helps to define you as an individual and add your own unique style to your work.

Browsing the work of others helps here as you can single out those shots that you really enjoy and consider high quality, and pick out what specifically makes them unique for you. This can then be applied to your own work.

Developing Your Style

Once you have some inspiration to work from, you can then develop this into your own work. Don’t be too rigid with what you do, and don’t restrict yourself to either what is already being done, or what you intended to do. Sometimes we think something sounds like a great idea and works well for another photographer, then realize it doesn’t really work the same way for our own work. In this kind of situation adaptability is a must. You have to roll with it and be willing to discard ideas that you had considered great, if you aren’t satisfied with the final product.

The end goal is to come up with shots that have your own flavor and that satisfy you in terms of quality as well. Adding and taking away elements is something you should experiment with; after all, nobody wants you to just clone the methods used by an already successful photographer, since you’re unlikely to do it as well as they do.

Experimenting with a variety of methods, angles, techniques and subjects also helps to develop your overall game. This is a must for professional photographers as there will be times when your client wants you to work outside of your usual style and do things their way instead. Since these clients pay for your work, it’s best to keep them happy.

If you personally feel that there is a better way to do it, it’s a good idea to take shots in both the style they want and the style you feel is better, so you can show them both and try to persuade them on your style.

The Benefits of Style

The biggest benefit of creating and developing your own style goes back to our earlier point of recognizing work. Once you have an individual style developed, your work will be much easier to recognize and will also gain admiration for its uniqueness. This can lead to more exposure for you and make your work more sought after. This is a great advantage for professional photographers, as we are always looking to cross that threshold from looking for work, to where work looks for us.

Never Stop Experimenting!

Despite all these advantages to your own style, you should never stop trying to further develop your style. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different methods even once you are established. Further development can keep you ahead of the curve, and you never know when you’re going to make another breakthrough and find a way to make your work even better.

The best photographers are those who are never entirely satisfied, and who always want to find ways to improve. Use this as an example, and always strive for more. That way you’re sure to never become stagnant or ‘old news’.