People Shooting is not easy!
It is not easy shooting humans. They are fidgety, impatient, easily distracted, imperfect subjects. But sooner or later you are going to want to shoot a few of them. Notice how I keep using the word shooting? Well, that’s what it feels like most of the time unless you are taking pictures of professional models. Or Jeremiah. That's his name. The cute baby in the picture. He is great to shoot. Came out of his mom's belly posing for the camera. I got really lucky with him.
Other humans for the most part will have to be told how to pose, what to wear, how much makeup to put on, what to do with their hands, what direction to look into, etc. That can be a pain in the ass if you are new and do not know yourself how to answer those questions. I got lucky and found a group of models that get together with a group of photographers in a very symbiotic relationship to shoot. The models get a bunch of free pictures for their portfolios and the photographers get to practice on them.
Another way to get better at this picture taking thing you got going is to show your pictures to your friends and volunteer to take pictures of their kids for them. I was lucky enough to have one of my friends push out little Jeremiah just for me to take pictures of. That's what I call a good friend...
Other humans for the most part will have to be told how to pose, what to wear, how much makeup to put on, what to do with their hands, what direction to look into, etc. That can be a pain in the ass if you are new and do not know yourself how to answer those questions. I got lucky and found a group of models that get together with a group of photographers in a very symbiotic relationship to shoot. The models get a bunch of free pictures for their portfolios and the photographers get to practice on them.
Another way to get better at this picture taking thing you got going is to show your pictures to your friends and volunteer to take pictures of their kids for them. I was lucky enough to have one of my friends push out little Jeremiah just for me to take pictures of. That's what I call a good friend...
Finding friendly models...
I was kind of stuck taking pictures of everything around my house and wishing I could find someone to pose for me. Then a friend sent me a link to www.meetup.com and I found a group to join. They told me about the model group and that’s how I got my first few models. The way that it works is you pay an annual fee. Like 5 dollars or something like that. Then the organizers will find a place to meet at and ask you if you would like to attend. I have participated a few times. The organizers select a model and a group of photographers, then that group goes off and takes their shots. After some time the models switch around and you get a new one. Sometimes you get a couple.
This type of environment can be very helpful to someone like me, who does not know what he is doing and wants to see how others work. I learned a lot. The only drawback I found was that after the first switch, everything goes to hell in a hand basket and its every photog for himself. I just ended up walking around shooting every girl that was posing, be it for me or any other photog. That part can get a bit tricky because you do not want to step in front of someone else’s camera.
After the first meetup, I e-mailed the pictures to the models and one of them sent me a link to www.modelmayhem.com
where you can create a profile and post up to 20 pictures for free. From there I got a few models and model wannabe's asking me to take their pictures. I learned what TFP means. (Time for prints) They pose for you and you give them the pictures to use in their portfolios. Kind of a win - win situation. I could be more aggressive pursuing those models to get more shots but it has been a bit of a bad last 6 months health wise. I am going to try and do more of that.
I like the taking picture part, but I get the most enjoyment out of working the images in Photoshop. As you go thru my pictures you will see what I mean.
This type of environment can be very helpful to someone like me, who does not know what he is doing and wants to see how others work. I learned a lot. The only drawback I found was that after the first switch, everything goes to hell in a hand basket and its every photog for himself. I just ended up walking around shooting every girl that was posing, be it for me or any other photog. That part can get a bit tricky because you do not want to step in front of someone else’s camera.
After the first meetup, I e-mailed the pictures to the models and one of them sent me a link to www.modelmayhem.com
where you can create a profile and post up to 20 pictures for free. From there I got a few models and model wannabe's asking me to take their pictures. I learned what TFP means. (Time for prints) They pose for you and you give them the pictures to use in their portfolios. Kind of a win - win situation. I could be more aggressive pursuing those models to get more shots but it has been a bit of a bad last 6 months health wise. I am going to try and do more of that.
I like the taking picture part, but I get the most enjoyment out of working the images in Photoshop. As you go thru my pictures you will see what I mean.