New models - Ashley and Ruby

[hazliya]

So, my Friday plan brought me to Jamaica Plain, where I planned to work with two brand-spankin'-new models. I had played matchmaker, as both had said that they really wanted to shoot something tandem, and both had heard that I was an excellent photographer for new models to learn from (sweet!). So they sent me messages asking to keep them posted if I had any ideas for shoots, and the gears in my head (though maybe not the ones outside my head xD) started to turn. Thus, I headed up there for a day of shooting and then dinner, which I shall post about later.

The beach itself turned out to be ridiculously windy (though that made for a few good shots), but luckily, the inside of the boardwalk was warm and bright and decorated like something out of Bioshock.
Best. Backdrop. Ever.

Though I wish I'd gotten a good shot of Ruby's tattoo - she's a huge Jim Morrison fan, and has Doors lyrics on the back of one shoulder.

For now, my top five of Ruby, Ashley, and together, so... fifteen total.


Ashley:
1
2
3
4
5

Ruby:
6
7
8
9
10

Together:
11
12
13
14 (they looked so freaking cute, I had to take a picture. xD)
15



Which are your favorites? I need one from each group.

Also, I think that my photography is legitimately getting better. Not just my pictures, but my demeanor. Both of the models independently sent me messages thanking me for being awesomely chill, giving a lot of direction, and showing them why I did things as I went along. "No one else does that," to quote Ashley. "It was awesome."

That's even better than seeing the shots for the first time. I'm about to send them copies - I can't wait to hear their reactions. =)

I love new models.

Comments

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

Niftyness!

I vote for 3, 9 and 14.

[jalawingedone.livejournal.com]

My favorites are exactly the same as 'psi's.

[dncingmalkavian.livejournal.com]

First model is very pretty (great eyes), but she needs to not leave her mouth open in every single shot - a bit more expression would be nice. She has really beautiful dark eyes - a good expression would draw more attention to them.

The second is just like me - way too serious. Great unique look, but I'd really love to see some major expression on her face. A smile would be great, or surprise.

4,8, and 13 seem to have the most character or be the most natural.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

i like 5

[notplaid.livejournal.com]

2, 6, 15 - fo' shizzle. Keep posting photos, it's great to see your work.

General technical observations: Keep an eye out for over-exposures and burn-out, especially on the models' skin/forehead. Digital cameras do not handle over-exposure gracefully. Your camera almost certainly has exposure compensation, so don't be afraid to dial it down to keep burn-out under control. You may be able to get the camera to display a histogram when previewing shots, which helps enormously to spot over-exposure. Also, for #10, the camera's auto white balance appears to have wandered off and done it's own thing resulting in a not-terribly-flattering pea green cast over the shot. The white balance can get confused by scenes with very strong color casts, usually from strongly incandescent or fluorescent lighting. That is a good example of a shot where you'd probably want to over-ride the auto while balance.

General compositional observations: Your composition is generally very good. My only suggestion would be to consider tightening in on the model. Example: #9 has large expanses of ceiling that don't add much to the shot. #5 and #10 to some degree as well.

Keep up the good work, and keep posting!

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how to adjust the balance on my camera - is it a generic thing that's the same on all of them?

And also, is there an easy way to fix it in photoshop? xD

[laurion]

Accessing and using the controls will probably differ from camera to camera, but the practice and effect will be similar overall. A combination of the manual to learn how to get to the controls, and http://digital-photography-school.com/introduction-to-white-balance or http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm or http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_white-balance.html can help with learning to make manual adjustments.

Some correction can be done in Photoshop, but as always, it's much better to do it at the source...

[notplaid.livejournal.com]

It varies from camera to camera. Check your manual.

If your camera can save photos in raw format then you can probably adjust the white balance in photoshop (using camera raw plugin, free from Adobe.com) with results just as good as doing it in-camera. You can still use photoshop if you can only save them in .jpg or .tiff but you'll take a fair hit in quality. It's usually easiest to do this in CMYK mode (Image -> Mode -> CMYK) and then use the curves tool (Image -> Adjustments -> Curves) to adjust the curve for each channel individually. Here's my 10 seconds result:



The colors are still a little off, but the whites are much closer to white at least.

[mariaklob.livejournal.com]

2 9 15!

5, 7, 15

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

The other outdoor shot of Ruby (#6) is also excelent, in fact all the solo photos of Ruby are great, the camera really likes her.

The thing I don't like about the first couple of paired shots is that their eyes are pointing in opposite directions

[laurion]

I just like the tandem shots better than the solos. I can't say why, unless I way over-analyze, I just prefer the tandems.

[elenuial.livejournal.com]

Man, who wouldn't like tandems more? XD

[nightskyre.livejournal.com]

Almost completely unrelated. I stumbled on this (http://i.gizmodo.com/5168454/how-to-create-stunningly-realistic-high-dynamic-range-photographs) and thought you might like it.