Photography 101

I am putting together a web-tv segment, PHOTO 101, on basic of model photography. Anyone has any suggestions or input on what I should include other than what type of gear to use?


Just A Guy Thing

[telcoman]

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I am putting together a web-tv segment, PHOTO 101, on basic of model photography. Anyone has any suggestions or input on what I should include other than what type of gear to use?



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Can I ask a couple of questions about your intended audience?
Photo 101 indicates a beginner at photography - is that your audience?
Or
Is you audience photographers that want to photograph models and your taking them from skills they have to how they are using them diffently to photograph models?
Or am I totally off base.

Give more details about the audience and your intent and people can help you fill in the blanks better.

David

good questions david. my target market will be beginners who want to learn the ropes of taking pictures of their subject. in this case, male and female models. I hope this clarifies a lot of stuff.

Thanks.

[jimmyd]

maybe the title. i assume it's about glam photography. perhaps photo 101 is too road a subject.... maybe Glamour Photography 101? or Glam Photos 101? or something like that. good luck with your project, dude. let's hook up sometime.

[telcoman]

I forgot to ask another question. I didn't find out if this was a 15 minute webcast as a stand alone video or an hour a week for 15 weeks.

Here's what I'd do if I were to do something like this. I'm sure there are gaps or order changes needed, I may have even used some incorrect terminology but this gives you a starting point. Maybe people can help you out by picking this appart and filling in some detail.

Regards

David


Photo 101

A. Camera Basics
1. Aperture –What’s the f/n stuff
a. f stop and relation to aperture and amount of light let in.

2. Shutter Speed
a. basic rules for the focal length of the lens used
b. stopping action

3. ISO - Film/Sensor sensitivity

4. Balancing Aperture, shutter speed and ISO for quality and desired effect.

5. White balance/film selection – lighting conditions

B. Time Honored Traditions of a good photograph

1. Diagonal lines

2. S curves

3. C curves

C. Basic Posing – Know the rules then break them.

1. Feminine
a. S curve

2. Masculine
a. C curve

D. Equipment

1. A no BS evaluation of Digital vs Film
a. Digital drawbacks and benefits
b. Film drawbacks and benefits
2. Point and Shoot vs. SLR
3. Lens Selection
a. Are you price sensitive or quality sensitive
b. Do you need a fast lens?
c. Prime vs Zoom
d. Focal length discussion
4. Distinguish between what you need and what you want
a. Will you shoot mostly indoor studio environment
b. Will you shoot mostly outdoor on location?
5. Care of equipment

E. Lighting

1. Existing light
a. Take advantage of the light around you
b. modifying with reflectors
2. Artificial light
a. flash/strobes
b. quality of light
c. get that flash off the camera
3. Mixed lighting
4. Diffused
5. Direct
6. Light Modifiers
7. Metering
8. Illustrating a basic studio light setup
a. key
b. fill
c. kicker
9. Styles
a. Broad
b. Butterfly
c. Short
d. Rembradt
e. Split


F. Planning the shoot

1. What is the purpose of the shoot?
2. What locations would work?
3. What do you need out of a model?
4. Wardrobe requirements
5. What kind of makeup and hair required
6. Time of day
7. How will you light the model
8. What shots do you need.
9. Select Model

G. Model Selection

1. Finding Models
a. Web
b. Agencies
c. Friends
2. Expectations
a. Type of shoot
b. Your capabilities
c. Model’s capabilities
d. Wardrobe – you or model
3. Compensation
a. Experienced paid model
b. Less experienced Test model
c. Which will serve your needs

H. Execution – getting what you planned for
1. Confirm model, MUA and assistants
2. Equipment
a. Bring what you need
b. Batteries charged
c. Equipment functioning
3. Communicate with the model.
a. Communicate
b. Communicate
c. Did I mention communicate?
4. Determine pose
5. Light the pose
6. Work the pose and expressions
7. Put the camera down, breath, evaluate – look for distractions
a. Is the background working?
b. Is the wardrobe working
c. Are the poses working?
d. Is the lighting working?
e. Are there any distractions in the picture that we need to deal with.
8. Make adjustments

I. Taking it to the next level
1. Find a mentor
2. Network
a. Garage Glamour
3. Workshops
a. Glamour, Beauty and the Nude – Rolando Gomez
b. Super Shoots – J T Smith
c. many others

[Aquiles]

I know this is probably redundent but I would really like to see a lesson on the dynamics of using light to bring out or emphasize features and what poses work best with what body types to bring out the best in a models assets.

Thanks David. That's a lot to absorb. Hopefully I can cram half of it in a 5 minute show. I am still deciding if it will be a show by itself or it will be intercut into a behind the scene model shoot. I will definitely let you know once I post it on my site.

www.justaguything.com

happy b-day jimmyd! i should have labeled the subject better to easily understand.

yeah, we should meet up sometime. i will let you know when my schedule slows down a little. there is a lot of video shoot to be done for the next issue of Just a Guy Thing. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Al_Nowak]

A beginning course on model photography should not emphasize the equipment too much. Start throwing around comments about using $1000 cameras and big bucks lighting setups and you'll scare off a lot of potential shooters.

Pick up just about any basic photography book and you'll frequently find a goodly portion of it taken up with discussions of cameras, lenses, etc. Why? Well, it's easy to put together and makes the book look fatter. But does it really do any good? I kind of doubt it.

I'd stick to how to get the best possible results with minimal simple equipment. Then if they are still interested, and enthusiastic, they can spend the big bucks for more expensive toys...

A simple camera and a little window light can produce great pictures.

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[telcoman]

Like I said, I should have asked how many minutes you need to fill. I gave you a lot of content based on your request for a beginning photographer shooting a model. You may want to limit your scope A LOT if you only need 5 minutes.

David