Natural Light Adventures 02: Gear Talk.

As I've mentioned in the previous post, I'm no gear head (but if I had the cash then hell yea I would lol). But it is important to know your limitations, working with what you have and making the best of it as much as you possibly can. Even if you need to push the boundaries on post processing which will allow your gear limitations to expand. We'll discuss further on post processing in another post, but keep in mind I'm not a magician in post processing.

The following may mention some information based on the assumption you've mastered manual mode on your camera.

Cameras

My choice of camera is a DSLR, more specifically canon, from T2i, XSi, 20D and a 6D. Now granted I did not expand much on my natural light photography until I had a 6D where it does have very high ISO ranges and great quality ISO up to 6400 and sometimes if really necessary 8000. This isn't a review of the canon 6D but just wanted to share my experience regarding ISO on the 6D.

The choice of camera will control most of your limitations of what you can and cannot do on natural light portrait work, and as mentioned control the size of available natural soft light during golden hours. Such as if your camera does not produce great or 
decent quality ISO higher than 1600, your limitations will be much smaller than a camera like a canon 6D having decent quality ISO at 8000, so your window could be 30-60 minutes possibly. 

Vital Red Flags on Working with an Agency for a Model

If you're a regular follower and reader you'd know my thoughts on modeling agencies. The vast majority of them are scams, unethical business practices, and heck even doing illegal business practices even in some states. Here are some tips and red flags to know when finding and working with a modeling agency. Granted I'm no model, and I'm a photographer who never experienced this but this is information based on the research I've done on all agencies, and experiences of professional agency fashion models such as YOANNA HOUSE, which some is mentioned on this creativeLIVE course here which I highly recommend watching!

Red Flag: [SCAM] Any upfront costs asked by the agency. Such as some I've seen myself are

• Audition Fees
• Application Fees
• Require in-house Photography only
• Require in-house modeling classes only

This is the biggest red flags when going to an apparent very questionable "agency". I would steer clear of them as much as possible because their business model is to make money off you paying them which in reality is WRONG! A real agency's business model is to work WITH the model as a tool to work with corporations/businesses to work on advertising campaigns or promotional events and they get a cut of what they pay you. 

Red Flag: [SCAM & SAFETY] Online Presence

A real agency's online presence will be taken seriously. If you see something like a WIX platform website or something very outdated like it was designed in the 90s... RUN! That is the best choice honestly because they may be worse than just a scam it can be very dangerous situation you're putting yourself in if you do meet up or go to their address. Even if they got 1 million likes on facebook or 2 million followers on instagram or twitter, these numbers can be easily faked and bought. A website is what a serious company invests into. Also a similar tip to do is google the company's name. See how many results you get good, bad and the ugly results of that company will show up generally. If you don't get any results that's another RED FLAG.

6 Do's and Don'ts for Freelance Models working with a Photographer

The following do's and don'ts for freelance models working with a freelance photographer. Generally the below would vary if the shoot is a paid gig, or you're hiring the photographer, or it is a TFP shoot. As well would vary heavily on the photographer as every photographer is vastly different and are not expected to be the same as any other photographer. Also when I say photographer I don't mean Joe Blow or Jane Doe down the street. I mean the serious professional photographers who are day in and out of being in front of social media which will clearly show their care of their brand.

1. Do ask for compensation for your time and look only if you think the photographer's abilities will not add to your portfolio, or if you're unable to afford any time to do any portfolio work (TFP). (Even when you know you may not add the images to your portfolio if you have no other use as well, some cases some model may use some images not in their portfolio to either use it for other marketing needs. So if you need images of a specific kind but know it won't be in your portfolio you can either hire the photographer or offer to do a TFP.) But do not contact them and ask them to hire you, if you want a specific photographer to hire you follow them on social media, they may follow your work and may make an offer to hire you or offer TFP depending on the photographer.

2. Don't ask for "All images". This is big one for serious, professional photographers, and photographers who take their branding very serious business. Some models will ask for this to study their own look, some photographers will be hesitant to giving this especially unedited, and will never fully retouch all the images. At most some will release it un-retouched, and will require an NDA (non-disclose agreement in case you release these images and will need to pay a fee for release and are subject for civil suit as per the contract's agreement being violated). Photographers do this to protect their public image and branding. Not all photos in a photoshoot are magically fantastic, it requires hours of selecting the right image and hours of retouching those images.

In some cases both parties, or all parties have very sensitive branding, everyone should be careful on who they work with. If you do not give the trust to that person or work, do not work with them. In cases where you're being paid and you are not a huge fan of their work you can choose either to work with them or not work with them but if you're in need of money today and need constant cash flow then simply shoot with them do your best to make them happy and simply not include it into your portfolio and marketing. I know its a bit more difficult when the client (generally a photographer) say who you are and your face is in the image but its part of being paid to model. A side note, a photographer can choose not to edit any images they see are of no value to them nor their brand they are not required to edit them, especially if they are paying you. And some photographers at certain levels will not under any circumstances for TFP or even if you pay them as you being the client. A photographer you hire will provide images they think are best based on the expertise you hire them for and select those best images they think work best for you. At most they'll give you X number of proofs for you can select for retouching.

3. Do ask a lot of questions if not enough detail is given to fully understand of the possible shoot. Information given to models for TFP or paid gigs vary on the photographer. Every photographer is vastly different and should not be expected to be the same as the last. Typical information that should be asked are if not already included or provided... (side note some information may not be available as they may be in casting stages only and may not have it until later in the pre-production. )

1. Location, either general area at first or specific address
2. Compensation
3. Times and Dates, sometimes in the early stages of pre-production a specific set date/time will not be made until a week before or days before, depending on the type of shoot.
4. Theme
5. Wardrobe, which may be provided at times, and other times may not depending on the type of shoot.
6. Makeup/Hair included or doing it yourself?
7. Estimate length of time for shooting
8. Are you able to photograph behind the scenes photos, and share them.
9. Are you able to share any unedited images, and edit them yourself.

4. Don't compare a photographer to the past photographer's you've worked with, such as a photographer you say something like "ummm, all other photographers I've shot with do this like that". You never say this unless its asked and welcomed, but generally it is not. Anything, from how they shoot, or processing their coordination, or editing, etc... 

5. Do have very well ironed and cleaned wardrobe when asked to bring wardrobe. Some may be surprised to see this but this is a very common thing where clothing has wrinkles or creases that are unappealing to look at on the final image. Sometimes it may not be possible to remove this understandably, and may cost some investment to have it professionally ironed and cleaned to ensure the photos come out as clean as humanly possible and cost less time in editing. For example, I personally have spent 1 hour removing creases and wrinkles on a dress in editing. Granted some creases are caused by some poses.

6. Don't be unprepared. Many things can go wrong when a person in a dynamic group relies on every person of the team. One person comes unprepared and forgets a key factor to have a successful shoot can derail and stop the entire shoot or cause delays, of if lucky just a minor tweak on the shoot and re-coordinating. Some examples...

1. If you have something on your body that wasn't on any images shown to the photographer and not mentioned, it should be mentioned at pre-production stages of casting not show up at the shoot looking different. Even minor changes will cost changes to the entire group and flow of the shoot. If you need to make changes to your look advise the photographer before hand if possible. In some cases if this is a paid gig for you, you can risk losing the job if the photographer no longer sees the look you're providing matches the vision of the shoot.
2. Changes like: Hair color change, minor or majorly changed. Tanlines, this one is a big one especially shooting a photoshoot that would show the tanlines, but if you're shooting on a shoot that will cover these up its no problem, just know if you have a booked shoot for like bikini and then you want to go to the beach you have the option attending the beach and risk losing the shoot because of those tanlines. Added tattoos, some tiny ones is ok for most photographers, large ones not so okay. Piercings, as long you're able to remove them BEFORE the shoot it will be much easier to edit out, if not mention this at casting, if you added this after being casted mention it ASAP to the photographer. Any of the above changes must be mentioned to the photographer ASAP actually.

This post will be added to the Photographer to Model blog series. Check out more on this series here.

What is a Freelance Model?

Another post for Photographer to Model blog series. But this time it is posted on my website's blog. Here's an excerpt...

Entrepreneurial Spirit
Being a very successful freelance model requires not just entrepreneurial spirit, but using that spirit to learn to work hard and smart to grow into a well oiled machine. It will not be easy, heck running the business side may or will hurt your mindset of being a model for some as keeping in shape, learning poses, learning to master your body will be a day to day task, so adding on another million business tasks will not be easy to take on.

If you truly want to be a freelance model, study the possibilities of what you can or cannot do with your look, and then once you know this you can try each of those see which you may enjoy most and which can earn you most revenue/cash flow. If you can I highly recommend taking some business college courses or reading a whole lot of business articles and books on running a freelance/sole proprietor business. You may already assumed if you’re not 5’9 and “super skinny” you cannot be a model, its okay, its a very commons misconception as this is obviously to people in the industry incorrect. Many full time and part time models start at any age, size, ethnicity, background etc… yes some will pay more than the other and yes some areas will have a lot more work available and yes you may or may not have much competition in certain areas in the industry because your look isn’t extremely popular like glamour, high fashion, bikini, etc.

More on the website. Originally posted on my website here.

This post will be added to the Photographer to Model blog series. Check out more on this series here.