Disclaimer: I'm not a professional; these are my opinions and my opinions only and based on my own experiences in model photography.
Models and Photographers Tips: Model Photography Portfolio BuildingKeep in mind that I’m in my portfolio building stages right now and have been since I started back in late May 2011. But I have learned a few things about building a portfolio based on simple common sense logic and some experience as a model photographer.
What you the model or model photographer needs to know before starting to shoot for a portfolio of your own is to figure out your goals in model photography. As a photographer ask yourselves “Why”? Specifically why do you want to shoot models as a model photographer, what do you want to achieve from shooting models. Are you a glamour photographer? Fine Arts photographer? If you don’t know and still finding yourself in what you want to focus on try many types of model photography.
As a model ask yourselves why do you want to model, just for fun, career, or side job? And what type of model? Artistic nude/implied nudity modeling? Parts modeling? Goth model?... etc.. Know what you want to do, if you don’t know just test the waters by trying many different types of modeling until you know you only want to do that type. When you’re just a model that does generally all types of modeling you’ll have a portfolio that will look like that or you’ll want to look like a general model.
For a general model that doesn’t have a specific type of modeling you’ll want to go for a general all purpose modeling portfolio.
The following information is important to models when building a portfolio…
- Incredibly diverse photos
- Ability to work with many different photographers with different photography styles/specialties
- Different themes (with genres that you feel conformable and your goals, note these genres can be mixed in any combination)
- Artistic Nudes/Implieds
- Fashion – Catalog/Runway
- Parts
- Promotional – Trade Show/Product Demo
- Commercial/Advertising
- Performance – Acting/Dancing
- Glamour
- Alternative – Gothic/Punk/Tattooed/Pierced
- More on this site [here]
- Different angles and composition
- Headshots (shoulder and above)
- Full Body shots
- Mid-Level Body shots (waist or above) [generally known as headshots]
The following information is important to model photographers when building a portfolio…
- Incredibly diverse photos
- Ability to work with many different models with different model styles/specialties
- Different themes (with genres that you feel conformable and your goals, note these genres can be mixed in any combination)
- Artistic Nudes/Implieds
- Fashion – Catalog/Runway
- Parts
- Promotional – Trade Show/Product Demo
- Commercial/Advertising
- Performance – Acting/Dancing
- Glamour
- Alternative – Gothic/Punk/Tattooed/Pierced
- More on this site [here]
- Different angles and compositionDifferent lighting styles
- Headshots (shoulder and above)
- Full Body shots
- Mid-Level Body shots (waist or above) [generally known as headshots]
- Low/High Key
Another tip to model photographers is to keep things simple when starting to build a portfolio until you’ve mastered everything in lighting, angles, composition, and have equipped a good amount of photography equipment for more complex concepts. Such as myself I have a complex production just in the starting stages of pre-production and getting all of the props for it will be extremely difficult with lack of funds, not just that the proper crew members like MUA’s, Hair stylists, etc… won’t come cheap, so avoid complex concepts that require cash to attempt and most or all complex concepts will unless you know people to lend you props, free services and locations…
Check out my portfolio goals [here] and get an good idea of what I’m talking about in goal setting as a model photographer.
Like this article? Want to learn or read more related articles? Check out the following blog series posts - Models and Photographers Tip Series - Index; Model Photographer Tips; and Photographer to Model Tips
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