Attention to details!
It took one specific shoot, for me to really start paying attention to details!
I USED to tell people to show up to the studio and we’ll shoot. Attention to details was not unnoticed by me, it was the wrong attention. I was arrogant in the fact that I had said aloud: “There’s NOTHING I can’t shoot!” This of course, is ode to the hundreds of hours spent reverse-engineering photos from people I really liked. I found out soon enough, that I had the uncanny ability to copy lighting in images I saw, but failed to create my own style. Once I started to create my own style, I started interact and have fun with my clients. The one thing I didn’t do STILL, was pay attention to clothing and the person.
The when and why:
Mid 2010, I had these two young ladies contact me for a session via Facebook. They were nice enough, so I figured what the hell? I set up the first shoot and it didn’t work out. The second shoot was with them each one at a time. Shoot one was with the older sister. It was this shoot that I had to really pay attention to what I was doing. I didn’t have a consultation with her prior, just told her to bring some stuff and we’ll put it together at the shoot. The problem with that? her body was no where near acceptable to wear the clothes she had on. Now understand, the reason I’m a glamour photographer is because I love women. I love how they work, move, talk, walk you name it. I think EVERY woman has something amazing to offer the world, it’s our jobs as photographers to discover it. That being said, when you have things that are better left hidden, well..leave them hidden.
I won’t post full on photos as there’s no point, but I want you to see why the “Fix it in photoshop” attitude isn’t always the best;
Photoshop is NOT a crutch and we should be meeting with everyone before the actual session. Why? to avoid having 80 totally useless photos for the day.
Now understand, this isn’t on the “model” as much as it was on me. However, the most important thing I learned at this shoot was the importance of the pre-game. Or pre-planning the shoot. Not leaving it 100% up to the model. Every shoot after this one became better and better as I was more active in the planning of the shoot. This works out for the model and me. You and your model can learn from this.