Chris Poindexter, Author at Snapsort

Working With Models

Jennifer - One of our local models building her portfolio

Working with models and talent is one of the hardest facets of photography, outside of strictly technical aspects, and one of the most necessary for being successful in the business. You not only have to be skilled at navigating the technical aspects of photography like framing, lighting, and exposure, you have to be able to connect with another person to bring out real emotion rather than simply poses.

Basic Posing

That’s a huge topic for a single article. The best way is to get as many different fashion magazines as you can lay your hands on and analyze the photos, don’t just look at them. Figure out the lighting and body positioning in detail. Study books like Doug Box’s Guide to Posing for Portrait Photographers and 500 Poses for Photographing Women by Michelle Perkins.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The only way to get good at it is experience. Fortunately, when models are starting out, they too need the practice and need to build their portfolio. Sometimes you can work out a deal based on mutual need. Those are called “TFP” shoots or Time For Prints: Their time, your photos. It’s a great way to build a portfolio when you’re starting out.

That’s how I met the girl pictured above, at a TFP shoot sponsored by a local gallery. Keep building those relationships and you’ll be successful.

Collective Action

Another thing you’ll discover getting involved in the business is that professional photographers practice even when they’re not working. Remember this article on Do You Have What It Takes? Pro photographers are working at their craft constantly.

Frequently groups of local photographers will partner up for a TFP shoot or pool together to hire paid talent. If you’re new to the business, absolutely get involved. You’ll learn a lot about posing just working around other photographers.

While you’re at it, get a box of business cards and get your name out there. Maybe you can pick up some work as a second photographer at weddings or event coverage while you’re gaining experience and models remember the photographers who make them look good and some have the clout to recommend photographers.

Branch Out

Everyone likes working with pretty girls and that’s where the biggest money in the modeling industry can be found, but don’t ignore men and more mature models. As our population ages there are a lot of jobs out there for older subjects. Not focusing exclusively on glamour shots for younger women is one of the ways you can set your work apart from others.

So remember, you can get a Canon 5D or a Nikon D700 and the best glass and studio flash units on the planet, but if you don’t know how to work with your subjects to get the best look possible, you’ll never grow in the craft.

Five Tips For Better Product Photography

Object photography — Studio lighting works for product photography - by Thor

Quality product shots can make a big difference on how attractive a product is to potential customers and can greatly improve chances of a sale. Whether you’re taking pictures for a customer or photographing your own stuff, it’s worth the time to get it right.

Cleanliness

Dirt, smudges and fingerprints will not do. I get clean chamois for getting every smudge and fleck of dust off anything small and wear exam gloves to keep from adding my own fingerprints.

When it comes to hair and fiber, your static lens brush works best. Take the same care you’d use cleaning your lens glass.

Background

Instead of opting for professional background paper, I head for the craft store. There you can find fabric by the roll and folding cardboard presentation blanks that come in a variety of colors. It’s also no problem to cut them into different shapes to accommodate odd size objects. Because they have fold out panels, you can layer diffusion material over the top.

I use white backgrounds as much as possible and over-expose them slightly to make them pop and hide any imperfections in the material.

Lighting

Your studio flashes in a softbox or umbrellas will be fine. Space them off to each side at a high angle. The goal is to reduce shadows as much as possible. If it’s a glass object and you’re worried about catch lights, use some fabric cover over the top of the background panels.

Float the object to eliminate shadows – If you can float the object on a piece of glass raised three or four inches, you can eliminate most of the shadows. Pick the angle of shot to eliminate reflections or use a polarizer.

Use a Longer Lens

I use an 85mm in front of an APS-C sensor, slightly longer than you’d use for a portrait.

Take Lots of Photos

Take pictures from different angles, top and bottom views and with any accessories or options attached. Most people will just want the straight in look, but those who are really interested will look at all the pictures you have. My experience with successful eBay sellers indicates those who use the maximum number of pictures sell more items.

The work is in the setup. Once you have the staging, you might as well shoot all the angles.

Rumors Swirl About Nikon Pricing Policy

nikon announces new pricing policy — Nikon announces Unilateral Pricing Policy aka Get Set To Pay More

According to NikonRumors and now other sources as well, it appears Nikon is gearing up to implement a new uniform pricing policy on all DSLR gear among retailers. It’s a move that will surely annoy larger retailers, like B&H and Adorama, and cheer local brick and mortar stores that will no longer have to compete against the greater pricing power of big box retail stores and online stores like Amazon.

According to company communiques obtained by NikonRumors, the pricing is being put into effect so consumers won’t be tempted to shop around for a better deal. What it may do instead is give Canon a competitive edge on pricing.

Any company caught selling cameras below the nationally advertised prices may find themselves unable to buy certain products from Nikon. The Unilateral Pricing Policy, as it’s being called, will take effect on October 16th.

There’s another word in some circles for this kind of behavior, it’s called “price fixing”. How Nikon is getting around the law in the U.S. appears to be a loophole that differentiates between forcing a retailer to sell at a specific price and not selling to them if they do not adhere to pricing guidelines. The end result is the same and the difference seems largely semantic.

The bottom line for photographers in the U.S. it means that it soon won’t matter where you shop for Nikon gear as there won’t be any real price competition. It will be interesting to see whether this move works for Nikon, or drives more customers into the arms of Canon.

Will The New iPhone 4s Kill The Point And Shoot Camera?

Apple affectionados were disappointed that the new iPhone announced last week was the iPhone 4S and not the much anticipated iPhone 5, but the upgrade to the iPhone 4 included some interesting changes to the internal camera.

The improved camera in the iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel sensor, up from the 5-megapixel in the 4, along with an improved f/2.4 aperture lens for better low-light performance. The lens also has an advanced hybrid infrared filter promising more accurate color rendition.

Backing up the camera is the new A5 chip and iOS 5, and Apple brags that the image processing is just as good as those found in bigger DSLRs. Unlikely, though it does give the iPhone 4S features like tap focus and from-the-screen focus control. Apple also claims virtually zero shutter lag and the camera app accessible right from the lock screen.

We’ll wait to see more pictures before commenting on their boasts about the comparison to DSLRs, but the sample photos on Apple’s UK site are impressive.

The iPhone also borrowed face detection capability from digital cameras which detects whether you’re shooting a portrait or group shot and can automatically balance exposure for up to 10 faces.

Like the 4, the 4S also has the LED flash, which kicks in automatically in low light situations.

Despite Apple’s boast on the image quality, the iPhone 4S is not going to threaten DSLR shooters, but it may impact sales of compact cameras. As cell phone cameras improve, there is less incentive to carry a point-and-shoot. The more often those stay at home, the less likely consumers will be to replace them.

Five Things Your Studio Needs You Won’t Find In a Photography Store

Over the years I picked up a few hacks for shooting in a studio you can’t find in a photography store. These are things that are especially handy to have if you’re going to be shooting all day.

Knee Pads

My last studio had a concrete floor and I actually discovered how nice these were as a volunteer firefighter. We would train by crawling around in the station after filling it with theatrical fog. Only took one training session before I started wearing knee pads under my turnouts.

The next day I tried them on a portrait shoot and loved them. I didn’t realize how much time I spent on one knee or the other as a photographer until I got these. Because they’re under you, you don’t have to worry about a green cast on anything you’re working on.

Power Squid

Photography doesn’t draw as much power these days, but everything has a power connector. Not all the connectors will fit right on a regular power strip and you’ll lose outlets to odd size plugs. Not with a power squid, these are made to accommodate odd size connectors.

Some have heavy duty fuses.

Aircraft Cable

I got this tip from a guy who used to design the stage sets for the rock band KISS.

Aircraft cable has boxes and boxes of different types of ends and connectors, available at any big box hardware store. Perfect for hanging backgrounds, especially when you’re working with a higher vertical than a background holder can handle. Some aircraft cable and a box of clamps and you can cover or hang almost anything.

Bungie Cords

Indispensable in a photography studio. You can bungie light stands so they don’t get knocked over, or wrap a couple around the base and anchor them to 1 gallon jug of water for light stand or tripod ballast. I also use bungie cords to bundle light stand bags for easier transport.

Gaffer Tape

Okay, you might find this indispensable tape in photography stores. Invaluable because it holds tight, but doesn’t tear or leave glue residue when it’s time to peel it off. Great for so many uses it’s almost impossible to list them. I used to have a big bungie cord loop of gaffer tape on my step ladder.

On movie sets it’s not unusual to see people with loops of gaffer tape on their belt. I even saw an AD using gaffer tape to hem a pair of slacks one time.