New ideas, and what to expect when arranging a photo shoot

It's a bit of a long one this time, so grab a cup of tea and snuggle up and get comfy. Also, this is just how I do things. I've no doubt that other photographers work differently! Enjoy!

*****

Coming up with ideas for fashion and fantasy themes is always fun. It's even better when one jumps out at you and gives you a dose of inspiration so large you end up grinning like an idiot. The most recent idea I've had that I'd like to carry out came to me out of nowhere after seeing a recent photo of one of the models I'm in contact with. I realised in some roundabout way that she'd make a fantastic Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. It actually turns out that she has some stuff we can use for it too, and she's more than up for it. It's great because I've wanted to do another, bigger Alice in Wonderland shoot for a while! Next in line is finding a location and getting down to taking photos. Before I can do that however, it requires some other preparations too.

Fortunately, I love the entire process from start to finish. To begin with, you have your idea. You might want to start sketching your ideas at this point or writing them down, but don't consider them set in stone. More than once I've had ideas for a shoot and come out with something entirely different, whether it be a mood, pose, styling idea or location - you will come up with ideas as you go along, it's all part of working as a team - something I'll get to later. I keep a journal for ideas I get so even if I don't do them straight away, when I'm lacking in inspiration I can go back and look through it to see if anything new strikes me or if there's an idea I could carry out that hasn't been done yet.

After you have your idea, you need your model(s). If you're just starting out, you might be wondering where on earth you're going to find people you can get to model for you. Don't worry about it. Ask your friends if they'd like to model for you, or consider using yourself! If you're in a school, university or college, put up posters for a casting call. People will probably turn up. How do you hold a casting call though? 

It seems daunting, but it's not so bad. First, you make a poster or announce it to the world somehow. Keep it as short as possible without leaving any details out, and let it grab their attention. Type it out in a nice, simple font if you're making a poster to stick up - it's easier to read. I'd recommend doing this at least a week or two before you plan to hold your casting call. It gives just enough time to garner some interest. You don't want to leave it up for too long though, or people will get used to seeing it and might get bored of waiting.

So it's the day of the casting call. What now? First, arrive there long before you've told your potential models to arrive. Set everything up if anything needs setting up. At least make sure everything is working. When your models arrive, get them to fill in a piece of paper with their name, contact details and anything else of use to you. Make sure the entries are numbered. Then give them a sheet of paper with the number on it, photograph them, and then you won't get confused as to who is who when it comes to deciding who to use. Take a full body shot face on, full body shot side on, and a head and shoulders shot from the front and the side to see their features better. Then move on to the next model. Keep an eye on how they react in front of the camera - are they awkward? Shy? Stiff as a board? Or do they act like they were born to be photographed? How do they take instruction from you? How do they look photographed? These are all things you're trying to find out, and is the purpose of the casting call. Keep doing this until you work your way through them all. Review the images in your own time and let the models know if they're needed or not via the contact methods you collected, thank them for their time too. You might come across one or two people who aren't any good for your current idea, but are good models and could be used in future. Let them know this if that's what you think. And that's a casting call. It really is that simple!

As you progress and build a body of work, you'll be able to use sites such as Model Mayhem if you want, which simplifies this process. You'll still probably have to do a casting call every now and then though, so it's worth knowing how to do it. Test shoots are also recommended if you use the Model Mayhem method, so you can see how you get along with different models.

Right, so, by now via some method or other you've found the perfect model(s) for your idea. This next bit is a really fun part. Many models like having a say in what they're participating in, and may have ideas that previously you hadn't thought about. Talk to them either over coffee, via email or the phone, and just discuss various ideas for poses, costumes/outfits, locations, anything! It should be an inspiring and exciting part of the process, so enjoy it and make the most of it. On the plus side, you also get to know your model a little which is something I consider important if you're going to work well as a team.

Now, what about outfits, makeup and hair? Well, you could try and find a makeup artist (often abbreviated to MUA) and a hairstylist, but in the beginning it's often best to keep it simple try and do things yourself until you're used to organising shoots. The model may be able to do a lot of things themselves or be able to recommend somebody they know who can do what you're after, so discuss this with them. Make sure you can get to and from whatever location you choose to use safely.

It's the day of the shoot. Problems will arise in some shape or form, I can almost guarantee it. I've yet to have a shoot where a piece of equipment doesn't have a funny five minutes either down to user error or plain murphy's law. Don't worry about it though. Have confidence in yourself in being able to solve it. Treat it like a puzzle and try and enjoy sorting it out. Most importantly, prepare for it. Take extra batteries if you need them. Take sticky tape, scissors, a torch, pliers, rubber bands - anything you think you might need. Chances are you won't, but if you have them you'll be a lot better off than you would be without them and they don't take up too much space. I can't stress this enough. Also, make sure your phone is charged and you have enough money if you need it (this is all assuming you'll be away from home, but it still doesn't hurt to have these things to hand to save you time hunting for them.) You might want to take a friend who's willing to help with you too, to help you out and to look out for you. Make sure people know where you are and don't put yourself in any danger.

Aside from all this, enjoy yourself! You're doing what you love. Make the most of it, and make sure you take breaks for a cup of tea/coffee and some biscuits every now and then. Your model(s) will thank you! Take care of your models, and they'll be more inclined to work with you again. Not only that, but they'll probably tell other people about you and how great you are to work with. Networking is something you'll want to encourage - as time moves on, you'll find it easier and easier to find people work with because of building contacts, keeping in touch with people you've worked with before and a strong portfolio. You might even have an address book just for people like that! 

Something else worth noting is don't be afraid to tell the models what to do. They rely on you for instructions. Even if it's something as small as moving their left thumb up a little, ask them to do it! Be polite though. Nobody likes an impolite, bossy photographer. Talk to your model(s) and let them know how things are going. Got a good shot? Tell them! Like a particular pose? Let them know, they might come up with more of the same. You're giving them feedback and keeping them in the loop, plus you're making them feel even more involved. Communication is very important, don't underestimate it :)

After you have the images, then comes the editing. Chose the best ones - don't put every single one online! There's a good reason for this. Every photographer takes dud photos every now and then, even the most famous ones. I know, it's hard to believe! But they're human and it happens, you just don't see them. Look at your work with a critical eye. Ask yourself what makes you go wow, and what doesn't seem quite right. If you're not sure, get somebody to look over it with you who's opinion you trust. If on the off chance there aren't many photos you like at all (I hope not!) then learn from it. Don't get put off. It might happen from time to time. It's certainly happened to me, especially when I was starting out. Ask yourself what you could have done to improve. Write it down, make a note of it. This way when it comes to doing another shoot, you'll know exactly what to avoid and how to make things work out even better. Consequently, write about what really worked. As before, this could be anything so don't limit yourself. It could be poses, it could be a model you worked really well with, it could be a location, certain lighting, camera settings. Jot it down, keep it safe.

How you edit your photos is up to you, there's no right or wrong way to do it. There's plenty of tutorials on how to achieve certain looks in photoshop/gimp/etc, so don't be put off by frustration or a lack of technical understanding. A good site to use is Lynda, but you might have to pay for a membership to see some of the tutorials. Personally, I think it's worth the money if you're just learning for the first time or even if you just want to learn a more effective way of doing something. The tutorials there are of a high quality. If you'd rather not pay for tutorials though, good news! There's absolutely loads on the internet available to you for free, you just have to look for them. They're easy to find :) There's even magazines with tutorials and the like - one of the ones I get is Advanced Photoshop.

Anyway, process those photos you thought had the wow factor and give them a little boost if need be. Of course you don't have to do any of this, it's entirely optional. From here though, you should know what to do :) Make sure you let your model(s) and anybody else involved have a finished copy for their portfolio - not only does it mean double the exposure but it's a nice way to say "Thanks!" (It's often good to work on a TFCD/TFP basis to begin with to build up a strong body of work. TFCD = Time for CD, TFP = Time for Prints. It basically means "I'll give you my time and work with you on this in return for a copy of the final outcome") 

So, there you have it. A photoshoot from start to finish. As you can see, taking the photos is only a small part of it, but no less important. 

Now get out there and take some amazing photos!

Transience

I'm a bit spoilt for choice as to what I can write about today, as so much is going on in my life right now it's starting to wear me down a little! Thankfully most things will be out of the way by the end of this week, but the tiny light at the end of the tunnel are the new ideas and projects that I can't wait to get started.

Firstly, today myself and a few other second, third and first years went to Narberth in Pembrokeshire to see an exhibition in the Queens Hall Gallery. There were some lovely photos by rather exotically named photographer Dragos Lumpan. It was all about Transhumance and documenting this ancient tradition that's slowly dying out in many parts of Europe and beyond. One of the main reasons we went there however was as part of our professional practice brief, to get us to learn how to get our work into galleries if we so wish. As it turns out, a few of the second years photos from the cinematography brief are going up in the gallery soon, including one of my own, which I'm rather excited about!

The image in question that's going to the gallery

I started to wonder what else I could do to submit to galleries, what I'd enjoy. My mind wandered back to the days when I was absolutely obsessed with pinhole photography. I couldn't get enough. I'd make my own cameras and experiment with various methods and materials. I even made a matchbox pinhole camera, which turned out pretty well. I'd spend hours developing things in the darkroom with the trays and the enlargers, seeing what worked and what didn't. It got a little lonely at times but I was addicted.

One of the matchbox photos

Shoebox photo

More of my old pinhole images can be found here :)

Anyway, back to the present day. I wondered if I should try it again, only instead of using light sensitive paper, maybe I should use film? I'd used 35mm film before for pinhole photography, but cutting it up into little squares proved difficult to develop (I resorted to putting a load of double sided tape in the tank, sticking the film to it emulsion side facing the centre of the tank and giving it a good shake. Seemed to work, but it was very fiddly!). I was recently re-introduced to 5"x4" cameras and I have to say, I love it.

I was a bit reluctant to try it out at first. I was feeling lazy that day when the tutor said we should give it a go. I didn't fancy spending forever focusing it, least of all on a bunch of bottles as a still life, but when the tutor suggested I do some portraits instead "Since that's what you're into",  my interested was piqued. I loved seeing the image upside down at the back, and having to hide under a black sheet is pretty funny, and the tilt shift effects you can do with it are pretty neat too. Not only that though, the image quality is second to none. Here you have a huge sheet of film, ready to be exposed. The worst part is making sure your subject doesn't move - it's difficult getting the eyes right on the focus plane, because once you've focused you have to close the shutter, put the film in the back, and then release the shutter. In that time the subject may have moved a little. But I think I did ok, all things considered!

Photographed and then inverted, not sure why it's blue but I like it! :D The black dots are my ceiling light.

My idea for this new project was simple. Paper was too limiting - you can't enlarge it unless you scan it in. 35mm film is too fiddly. But what about 5"x4" film? I could easily make a camera big enough to take that size film, and it wouldn't be much bigger (width wise at least) than a regular point and shoot. It being on film means I could enlarge the image to whatever size I like, plus I could scan it in at a high dpi if I really wanted to. Perfect! Why hadn't I thought of it before? I now had this excellent method of capturing an image, but what should I capture?

The beauty of film pinhole photography means you can create very long exposures without worrying about whether the sensor will get too hot, or if the batteries will last. You just open the cardboard shutter and let it go. If the hole is small enough and the film is a low enough ISO, you can get incredibly long exposure times, which is something I plan on taking full advantage of.

This project will cover several different places, usually busy areas, but I'll be using a long exposure. This creates a very eerie image, where nothing but the streets and buildings can be seen. Atta Kim did this too, somebody I discovered as part of my research into the subject as a foundation student, and his photo of 57th street has a strange, almost uncomfortable atmosphere to it. To me, it points out how we're all so busy in our lives that we don't pause for breath - only ghostly colours and figures appear, shadows of life. We're all so busy we hardly see life happen. It whizzes by so quickly we can scarcely take it in - even the camera only captures traces left behind.

This carries on from the project I started on my foundation course that I called (if I recall correctly, I'm going back a couple of years!) Transience. It'll be like falling in love with it all over again.

Tomorrow I'll be telling you about another project I'm working towards, this time more fashion and fantasy orientated!

Ready, steady, edit!

Today will be mostly spent editing, printing research, (hopefully) printing my recently edited photos and scanning in the negatives that I processed yesterday. I used 120 Black and White film, they seem to have turned out really well. I was panicking a little the other day since both studios are now unusable due to the smaller one being filled with tables, chairs and other random things and the bigger studio is being turned into an exhibition space. 2/3 mac suites have also been dismantled and only one remains. There's a definite atmosphere of stress and chaos in the air and I think I'm picking up on that too. I'll be glad when this week is over. I'll be more or less free for 3 months then :)

So far I've edited 5 photos, and I'm about to edit some more. I don't think that's too bad for just over an  hours work. If I keep the pace up I should be able to have some free time tomorrow. It's what I'm aiming for.

I've also recently learnt that I really, really need an external harddrive. A big one. I'm looking into getting a TB or 1.5TB worth of storage. I've got over 10 DVDs full of images. That's easily 30GB+ of images to sort though while hoping they don't end up corrupting. Thankfully I don't have to edit them all, I'm just choosing the best ones. I'll try and print some contact pages though just to show my tutors/markers how much work I did. They like that kind of thing.

I find it strange to think that another academic year has flown by under my nose. At this rate I'll be 30 before I wake up tomorrow. Each year goes by faster, and each year I realise how important it is to grab opportunities with both hands before they slip you by, if you want them. If you don't make an effort to live your life, then nobody will live it for you.

Right, back to work!

UPDATE: I've printed all my research (yay!) and now need to cut it out, stick it in and annotate. Fairly easy. Then I've got to edit some more photos ready for printing tomorrow, thursday and friday. I also have to edit down each photoshoot to include the best from the several images taken to include as a contact sheet, and then choose from those which ones I want to digitally manipulate and tidy up in photoshop. They then get printed out on A3 paper on a special printer in college which is pretty awesome. I'm just thankful that my screen is colour calibrated already, means I can hopefully avoid the repetitive printing out, scrutinising and printing out again cycle that takes hours. To be fair though, that was me panicking trying to get it just right for a customer. I'll be aiming for the same high quality, but it won't be nearly as stressful as last time.

Absence...

It's been a bit quiet here recently, sorry about that. It's just I have no internet at home at the moment. I should have it back sometime next week, all going to plan. As I write this I'm sitting in college listening to tunes on Spotify.

So, what's new? Well as usual I've been taking photos of the firemen on mondays, which has now come to an end. Or has it? I've decided to carry on with the project a little beyond my college brief as I enjoy it so much, so it has life beyond this. I won't be going there this week due to them being away somewhere doing an exercise in some building, and due to health and safety reasons I'm not allowed to be there. However, the week after they're cutting up cars outside, so I'll see if I can go along and have a nosy with my camera. It sounds pretty interesting! I've also started having a go at learning how to make my website. I found a program that comes with iLife that I haven't used yet called iWeb. I'm not going to use it to make the site, but after fiddling around with it and posting the website I made in around 30 mins to a local folder, I could get more of an idea on how things worked. I'm going to have to stock up on sugary things though so I can get tech support from a friend of mine. Sweets are the agreed payment in return for help :D

Also, I had my first driving lesson yesterday! It was awesome. I took things in pretty quickly and he could see I was eager to get the car moving. I went a bit fast around corners to which he told me he could see I wasn't afraid of the accelerator. We went over and over checking the blindspots, starting the car, changing gear, slowing down, turning and stopping. I stalled a couple of times, but I soon learnt how to avoid it. It was a lot to take in in an hour and a half but he's a really good teacher and he's going to take me on a quiet road next week.

I'm going to Birmingham next week to an event called Focus. I have to be in college uber early so I'm gonna have to plan ahead for that. It's only a day trip, but I'll be trying to get some photos for the blog. It's basically a huge gathering of photographic companies trying to sell me stuff. But you do get some good deals and it may be an opportunity to network. I found some good stuff at Vision last November in London. That reminds me, I need to buy the ticket...

On to another topic, I've been using a printing company online for my Friday lecture photographs. They're called Photobox and they're really quick and have good quality 6x4 prints. To give you an idea how quick they are, I ordered my prints on a Tuesday, and they arrived on the Thursday. Very well packaged, and I'm very happy with them overall. You get the option of gloss or matt, with a border or without a border. There are other sizes available but I've only been using 6x4. When you first join you get 40 free prints. The price goes down the more you order. I think you have to reach 500 before it goes down to 5p a print, so if it's value you're after, try Asda. They have 40 free prints available online too, but the price goes down to 5p after you order 200+. I uploaded 240 6x4 photos to Asda (after a bit of hassle) and got 40 free, and since I'd reached 200, it went down to 5p per print, which meant I only paid £10. The postage was around £1.50. Have a look at http://www.freephotoprinting.co.uk/ and you'll find hundreds of free prints available to you. I can't vouch for every company, but I've had no trouble with Photobox and Asda. Have a look at the star rating for a rough idea of how good each company is. I found the page when I was in college one day convinced there was another way around paying loads of money for prints that would be used once.

In more recent news I'm going to something interesting today - since it's Fairtrade fortnight, church are making their annual huge banana split down an arcade. I'll try and get some photos and some banana split goodness. I couldn't go last time but it looks like I can this year!

Colours and printing and mounts, oh my!

So, in my last post I mentioned that the day had been a bit of a disaster. And this is why. In this post, I'm going to give some insight to the world of colour calibration, printing and repeating the procedure. Again and again.

Now, it probably has something to do with my lack of experience, but I have come to rather dislike trying to get prints to match the screen colours. I can adjust the levels to look right on a colour calibrated monitor no problem - I actually enjoy that to an extent. But getting the printer to play ball? Not a chance. It's so time consuming, I've found it's probably much easier to send it away and get it professionally printed. The jury is out on this one however until I actually try that. Based on what I have heard from tutors and other professional photographers though, it seems it's worth a shot.

So, that Monday afternoon. After messing around with the levels and other various settings, I had to make 4 or 5 prints in order to get the colours right coming through the printer. Absolute nightmare, even on the colour calibrated screen (which for some reason likes to make everything look orange). So, if you're a photographer reading this and have considered printing your own work - by all means, if you have the time, the patience, the money and the resources, go for it. If you haven't got a lot of money to waste on paper, ink and printers, consider getting them printed professionally instead. You'll save yourself a lot of hair loss. I'm not frustrated easily, not by any means, but it does try your patience. I got it right in the end, but only after hours of tinkering with the help of a tutor.

On to the mounts. The mounts were far easier to do. I got shown how to do them, so next time I need some I'll be able to do it myself. I got my head bitten off by one of the women in the office however. I got sent to get the mount cutter. One problem though - it was in the room where interviews were taking place. Course it would be. So I asked in the office if I could use it, I even asked after the lady in charge, but she's kinda intimidating to me at the best of times so I didn't go looking for her. This didn't help things.

So I camped outside the room with my laptop waiting for that small window of opportunity to grab the thing. Eventually, Iain came out and I rushed in after asking if I could to get the cutter. The lady in charge of it came in as well and asked quite bluntly what on earth I thought I was doing, and if I minded not throwing it around because I'd knock it out of alignment. It clipped the wall ever so slightly, which is what prompted this. If she hadn't have startled me though I do wonder if that'd have actually happened. Anyway, after a bit of "stop doing xyz you need permission" and retorts of "I'm not doing xyz, I asked, I'm not using it, the tutor is" I managed to get it to where it was needed. The mounts were cut, and I was a happy bunny.

If you have a mount cutter, or are thinking of getting one, I'd say it's worth the investment. Once I have all the other stuff I need to buy, I'll get one. Only because I have access to one in college. Really easy to use, really easy to learn how to use, and saves the stress of trying to get somebody you've never met online to cut them how you want them (been there, done that, got the t-shirt…). Of course, if they have the size you want in stock already, go for it, you can possibly save some money! Ebay seems to be the best place for this :)

Tomorrow, I'll post about my new 50mm lens!