Models and Photographers Tips 07: What do I Look for in Choosing a Freelance Model to Hire…?

Models and Photographers Tips 07

What do I Look for in Choosing a Freelance Model to Hire…?

I’m a very rational and logical spender, generally… so you won’t find me impulse buying unless you put me into a B&H or Adorama store where I have the feel of need of buying everything I see pretty much… I already have over a $100,000 worth of wish lists for B&H, but I have researched the products before adding them to my wish lists and I know how I would use them for certain purposes…

Now as for choosing to spend on hiring a freelance model for a shoot is a lot more complicated because so many models in the freelance world that the likelihood of finding a legit, established, highly skilled model with a large pose set, facial expressions, and diverse experiences is extremely difficult unless you live in very populated cities around the U.S. Unfortunately I don’t…

Sometimes having a specific pose/facial set may matter, sometimes it don’t depending on what I’m working on most of the time… If I’m busy working commercial fashion shoots all year long I would need to look at models who show in their portfolios all of their best 1) many and diverse poses and facial expressions, 2) photos in as many different angle shots, 3) photos of a model’s face (close-up and extreme close-up) with NO MAKEUP, and of course 4) photos in the genre of fashion photography *again if I’m looking for a model to shoot for a fashion shoot.

1) As I explained in another post about the benefits of having a set list of facial expressions and poses you know, as a photographer I may be looking specific facial expression and poses that could work perfectly well for a shot I have in mind for my shoot planned and instead of discovering that during the shoot I could save a ton of time and saving time in a commercial fashion shoot is saving a lot of money. But this method isn’t mainstream yet as it does still add time to pre-production; however, myself if I had a large budget like $10,000 from a big client I would prep the shoot using this method to keep the shoot as short as possible to save as much labor costs for the client or/and for myself.

2) As for seeing as many different angles it can show what are your good and bad sides to the photographer interested in shooting you and then see if they setup a shot either mentally or using a storyboard artist as some shoots may have a large number of different angles, but in a fashion shoot its generally a set number and it could be more focused on your best sides as a model… again using this method would save time and a lot of money for both the client and photographer in charge.

3) This is required and I will not hire any model ever for a shoot that I have a budget from a client that allows me to be more selective, and not finding a model’s portfolio with these photos I move onto another model with these photos just because myself and the makeup artist can start to prep work on the model’s face as soon as possible and work a game plan ahead of time than working a game plan last minute at the shoot where we could see the model’s face, or even if the model meets us in person, that will cost time and money…

But if it’s a shoot with a smaller budget where being very selective models won’t be efficient due to the budget, then maybe… (hence is why the bigger the budget photographers have the more quality generally would come from the results) I know will always deliver a quality product but the bigger the budget the more possibilities to growing that quality to being that much more, so technically speaking the smaller the budget the less possibilities to make a quality product, but I’m not saying it’s impossible, but that’s how reality is… more cash, more quality. i.e. Luxury items like sports cars. So, as a model, have these photos if you want to get into high budgeted shoots, as its opportunity to get bigger cut or/and possibly much more publicity is much more likely.

4) And the last one is a bit obvious; if I’m looking for a model for a fashion shoot, please have fashion photography photos in your portfolio. And please ask many different established fashion photographers to critique the photos and ask them specifically if they’re considered fashion photography. Real fashion photographers know in fashion photographer the primary focus of the shot is the wardrobe where its showcasing the fashion.

I hope both models and model photographers (and possibly others) understood the message from this blog article… Setup your portfolios to your targeted audience, meaning for fans (which would be generally all of your work), types of clients – i.e. photographers, modeling agencies, talent agencies, makeup artists, advertising agencies, etc…

Portfolio Quick Tips!

If you want to be a niche model where you only modeling for specific genres of photography like fine art nudes, parts, glamour, fashion, acting (conceptual photography), etc… please make sure to strongly feature those genre(s) in your main portfolio. For example, if you’re advertising on model mayhem that you do nude, display at the least one photo that’s actually shows you in nude or else you will not receive any offers from smart and talented photographers…

Disagree or Agree to the above content? Make comments here with questions, statements, concerns, etc. or send them to my email at Chris@ChrisAdval.com and I'll respond to them as soon as possible. Thank You and much appreciated!

Like this article? Did you learn anything, want more? Check out related articles in the following blog series articles... Photographer to Model Tips, Models and Photographers Tips, Model Photographer Tips