The Definite Article Photography and Video: creativity

Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts

Friday, December 4, 2015

Model Portfolio Checklist:


A Clear, unmanipulated head shot is at the heart	of a good portfolio

A model’s portfolio is her most important asset, and should be compiled and constantly updated to present the owner as a competent, wholly professional and very employable commodity - a totally respected member of the model photography community.

Model Portfolios have constantly evolved over the years into a very streamlined and universally accepted formula, and every model, whether female or male, should do their utmost to comply with the well accepted conventions of the standard “book”.

Portfolios today can also exist as files on CD’s or DVD, or as pages on a website, but the traditional printed portfolio contained within a presentation folder is still the most valuable and useful possession a model of any experience level can possess.

It might be useful to note carefully, because seemingly many models, and far too many photographers who claim to provide model portfolio photoshoots, seem to misunderstand this important point: the collections of pictures appearing on Model Facebook pages, or on profiles on model social media sites, such as Modelmayhem, and Starnow, are NOT portfolios in the true sense which Industry Professionals expect. They are in fact simply collections of disparate pictures.

A good portfolio should be highly focused, presenting the best of the best.
It should consist of a minimum of eight images, and a maximum of twenty.
It is not unknown for people in the industry to refuse to look at portfolios of more than 20 pictures.
It should also provide the viewer with a strong idea of what the model is good at, and the direction she wishes to take in the future.
It is not a collection of pics to illustrate her past history as a model.

What a Model’s Portfolio Should contain:

Not good photography, but Excellent photography, with excellent lighting, showing superb makeup skills, perfectly exposed and properly processed images, with accurate attention to detail.

Preferably colour images, however if black and white images are included, they should show an excellent tonal range and proper post processing. B and W should not be artsy farstsy crap, which might make the photographer look “creative”, but should first and foremost be about the model.

Colour and B and W versions of the same images should NOT be included.

Having stressed the importance of excellent photographs the whole portfolio is about the model, not the photographer.

Images to include without fail:

A good figure shot is essential

One professionally shot image of the model’s face without makeup.
At least one if not several headshots, the full head showing hair and with nothing lopped off by careless cropping out of frame.
A bust shot, from between the bust and the waist upwards to the top of the head
A three quarter figure shot, from thigh upwards to the top of the head
These pics should be frequently updated, as the model, changes or grows older, changes hairstyles, gets teeth straightened, or other evident tweaks.
Several pictures showing a variety of poses and clothing styles ...from casual to formal, and including beachwear. Bikinis, one piece swimsuits, shorts and blouses, jeans, slacks, dresses, skirts for girls and the equivalent styles for men.

Makeup for all portfolio shoots should be light and designed to enhance rather than disguise, and either professionally or skilfully applied specifically for photography: social or formal evening makeup does not photograph well.

Further pictures should show the type or genre of modeling you wish to concentrate on: for example a fashion model would have images of fashionable clothes complete with suitable accessories, a catalogue or advertising model would be shown presenting or demonstrating products, an aspiring television host would be photographed in a suitable set with broadcast legal clothing colours, etc

As Career Develops:

A model who has been successful enough to get paid work , should where possible include tear sheets from paid jobs she has completed and which have been published. Tear sheets should no longer be torn from magazines or wherever they appear, but high quality photographic copies of the pages should be made for inclusion in your portfolio, and any photographer who provided you with great folio pics, also has the expertise to do these quality copies for you.

If you are lucky, you may also be able to obtain outtake pictures from the campaign shoot to use in your folio, but do not ever expect to be able to use, or even get copies of the actual images used in the campaign, especially before the campaign is entirely completed.

Be aware though that amateur publications, photographs entered or taken as part of competitions
( such as swimsuit, or wet tee shirt comps and similar) are not suitable for use in your portfolio.

Neither are photographs which appear in vanity or exploitation online magazines, due to the very low level of acceptance, the non existent payments to models or any contributors, and the extremely poor overall quality of these “magazines”, they are not recognised by industry professionals as published work.

Remember if it is not PAID work, and it has not been published through normal channels, it is not really worth including in your portfolio. Be guided by photographers and artists when compiling their own portfolios: if it has to be explained it doesn't work.

Should NOT Contain:

Nudity: Topless, full, or even “implied”
Lingerie or sheer: although becoming acceptable in some quarters, the majority of industry professionals still frown on this kind of work in a normal working portfolio
Zombies, sugar skulls, disaster victims or any similar “theme shoot” material where your identity is disguised or obliterated by makeup...your portfolio face should be a “blank canvas” to be considered for its suitability for a job, not a "work of art" advertisement for some “creative” makeup girl.
Theme shoots may or may not be fun, but they are strictly amateur...consider just how many times in a publication or an advertisement you see a girl dressed as an ice-cream sundae pushing washing powder, or a horribly disfigured zombie as a featured cover girl?
Any picture which isn’t quite up to the mark, but was included to make up the numbers.( Go out , do another shoot, and get a better picture)
Bad photography, either or both technically or creatively, and posing which looks posed or forced.
Photo-shopped images: no images should use photoshop tricks, screens, filters, over-saturation, HDR, or any of the multitude of “artistic”plugins. Photoshop correction should be limited to correcting tonal range, colour, and sharpness, and eliminating distracting background elements: skin blemishes, moles, freckles, operation scars should not be removed and figure altering manipulation is especially taboo.

If your photographer/s isist that any of these are "necessary" or "great for your folio". it is time for you to walk out and find a professioonal photographer who actually knows what s/he is doing, and has actually not only seen , but also photographed model portfolios in the past.

You would be surprised just how many have not!

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any photographs and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.
Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Professionalism, other Redundancies, and the New Meaning of Life…

We are told by those who study such things, that the meanings of words, and interpretations of concepts drift and change over time, and our language becomes richer for it.

The realm of photography is no exception becoming richer as it evolves and adapts.

Calm down dirty old men! According to the New world order this IS NOT a photograph containing Implied Nudity! Why?

The model was in fact fully clothed
It is not a full figure nude picture digitally manipulated to eliminate the clothing, or even to create and enhance the girl’s “naughty bits” by retouching.

Remember for example when that otherwise indefinable term coined and used almost exclusively by the amateur fraternity “implied nudity” meant an ambiguously clever camera technique where a photograph of a fully and discretely clothed woman left the viewer wondering wether she was nude or not?

( Camera technique? Wow..ya can do that in the camera? Lot easier after in Photoshop!)

Now though, as I was emphatically told recently by a “widely respected professional” – well he did have a small but efficiently tamed gang of facebook likers to back him up – that he worked to the “accurate and only definition” (?) that implied nude means full figure nudity achieved by removing nipple covers and g string from a model by digital retouching…

It seems therefore that the model does not need to be payed at the nude rate, because she is not nude in the original photo…just g string and falsies (???)

Woops forgot: Pay a model !!! Who is stupid enough to pay a model??? tfp rules right!

Well obviously “accurate definition” wins out over subtlety and art every time in the vast, murky depths that is creative internet photography!

…

But there are three words used on a daily basis which have drifted in meaning so far from their original concept to warrant a review of the “accurate” (?) dictionary definition

NB: If the New World Meaning of Life has not reached your particular neck of the woods, it soon will…it is certainly firmly established in my region.

and more importantly New Meaning of Life definitions do not in any way apply to legitimate, or real world photography.

Definition:

Professionalism:- this is the divine right of those with a modicum of ability, a lack of talent, a tenuous control of their gang of disciples, but a thorough mastery of schoolboy bullying techniques to denigrate, discredit and vilify anyone outside of his immediate gang, who disagrees with his beliefs, or threatens in even the smallest way to expose the fraudulence of his self proclaimed importance , or the pathetic and derivative quality of his “work”

Those with “opinions”( see below) are the obvious natural targets of the “professional”

Definition:

Opinion:- A belief or knowledge of traditional techniques, concepts, ideas and ideals, well proven theories; real knowledge especially when gained from long experience, education, and the ability and willingness to advance learning and skills through reading and research ( as opposed to knowledge gleaned from your mates, and religious worship of “internet experts” on forums and YouTube.); reliance on actual proven facts and the immutable science of light and photography

Definition:

Hater:- anyone who adheres to, holds, believes in or makes the mistake of publically expressing opinion (see above)

anyone who has deliberately opened a camera instruction manual, and …god forbid!…gone to the extreme of actually reading a photography book, irredeemably brands you as a latent hater.

Additional Notes:

Legitimate or “real world” Photography: a phenomenon which it seems is merely an out-dated figment of the imagination and, if it ever really existed, is an historical insignificance when compared with “where true art and creativity is really happening” Nevertheless it’s influence was long ago and long forgotten, having occurred in the real “old days”, of …well…wow…five years or more ago.

Professionalism: has absolutely nothing to do with earning a living from your creativity ,or that “dirty” word used by those who have sold out; money. True professionals not only exude a fuzzy good guy feeling about their “ethical treatment of others and their approach to life in general”, but also far too much “artistic integrity” to have ever earned a cent, or the likelihood of ever doing so: that would not only sully their ”work” drastically reducing their natural to bully, intimidate, exploit and be fully exploited by their “collaborators”

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any photographs and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Conversations and Collaborations…or How to Win Friends and Influence People

Charlotte Rose.

Technorati Tags: MUA,creative,collaboration modle,photography,makeup artist,excellence,learn,humility,humble

Received a message from a make up artist…

MUA: HI! I just finished my makeup course, and I am keen to collaborate with fellow creatives.

That was enough to put an end to it there, but as her Facebook profile had half a dozen , very poor and grainy selfie pics, obviously taken with a phone, of her work , I persevered.

Have you had much experience yet?

MUA: Just a started up my business: done a friend’s wedding and do all my girlfriends nails. What experience have you had?

Agghhh!

Over forty years in freelance photography, specialising in model work, and internationally published.

MUA: Oh wow…cool

So you want to do photographic makeup. Did your course cover it? And have you worked with any photographers yet?

MUA: Yeah my course was three months, and covered everything, but wanna work with photographers and video, and get some experience. Cause that’s where it’s at!

Teeth beginning to grind

Well take a look at the pics on my website, and see if that’s the kind of thing you’d like to do. (URL forwarded)

Thirty second silence from other end.

MUA: Who does your makeup? Those photos are dreadful!. Makeup is all wrong! The models look ugly!…

And wait for it…

MUA: I look forward to working with you in the future, so that I can lift the bar on your photography, and elevate your work to a much needed high standard of quality.

Then followed a pre-prepared advertising screed (no doubt a handout from the makeup Course) about the benefits to photographers and videographers about using a makeup artist “skilled” in the use of fake tans, artificial nails, and a well known very cheap and nasty brand of thick oily foundation.

Needless to say I and most other “creatives”” are being bombarded with this kind of nonsense on almost a daily basis. The conversations with anyone of the legions of so called “models” , proliferating on Facebook and modelling sites are even better.

Whatever happened to humility, humbleness, respect and a willingness to learn…to actually walk before you try to run?

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXIV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any photographs and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

A Modern Chronicle of the Knights of the Creatively Challenged

Sunday, August 3, 2014

10 Ways to Improve your Photography


A wink is as good as a nod.

Increase your Credibility

Appear More Professional

and become trooley awesome!

To be taken with a grain of salt, and a dash of vitriol.

NUMBER 1: stop pilfering other people's works for “inspiration”, because they are so awesome, then announcing to all and sundry that you wish to conspire with other equally imaginative creatives to blatantly copy them, or at least make an awesome derivative work from them, while of course clearing yourself of all the blame by adding the useless disclaimer: “No copyright violation intended.”
Far from using these as inspiration to learn from you will simply be compounding the poor technique and mistakes of the 20 or 30 generations of the awesome brain dead copyright violators since the original image was made, to reach the depth of awesomeness that you have found in the bowels of the Internet.

NUMBER 2: look at some good photography and study good photographers. There are hundreds both from the past and present, and even if all you do is look at the work of Ansel Adams you will still be streets ahead of all the armchair experts who drop the only name they know all over Internet forms.

NUMBER 3: learn about lighting techniques and when and why they are used. A good starting point for portrait photographers are Beauty, Rembrandt, Butterfly, and Loop lighting, although there is a technique coming to prominence called “cheap skank ” lighting which in any of its many variations is guaranteed to affect even the most flawlessly attractive model.

NUMBER 4: study just some of the many more useful elements of composition and open your mind far enough to realise that you will not make your image instantly awesome by superimposing an imaginary tick tack toe gird across it.

NUMBER 5: refrain from trying to make that hugely oversized, ugly, designed-it-yourself logo an essential design element of your image. Better still throw it away completely and use the tried and tested, conventional copyright cut line as a watermark.

NUMBER 6: limit the application of the “Reduce to Mud” Photoshop plug-in to a maximum of three times per image. No don’t Google for it: just learn how to process properly!

NUMBER 7: search out one or two models whose beauty, personality, charisma, self respect and pride in their appearance actually make it worth taking your lens cap off for, rather than any person you come across in your desperation. If a model herself is deluded about her ability or her prospects surely it is the photographer’s professional responsibility to tell her she has not presented acceptably or is possibly not even model material.
Be aware that “Snog, Marry, Avoid” is a satire, not a training film about what to look for in a potential model.

NUMBER 8: pay attention to details: garish, inappropriate makeup; ugly,broken or bitten nails; worn or chipped nail polish; badly fitting clothes; unclean hair; awkward posing; unrelated, badly framed or poorly chosen background; skewed horizons; bony feet in “Minnie Mouse” shoes, etc.

NUMBER 9: show it little professionalism, and a serious approach to your work rather than hoping for the best from a Neanderthal Facebook grunt: “Wanna shoot…make woman look awesome”

NUMBER 10: have some kind of useful concept which some imagination can be applied to, and/or a viable useful purpose for the resulting images in your mind before the shoot. If the best you can come up with is

a ) my Facebook friends will tell me it is awesome and I could be a professional.
b) it will be awesome for your folio.
c) it will be awesome exposure.
Then the iconic phrase from the movie “The Castle” springs to mind: “Tell’im he’s dreamin”
d) “possible magazine submission – no pay” is also a notorious laughter maker these days too.

BONUS NUMBER 10: and possibly the best solution for so many: sell all your photo gear and take up stamp collecting, at least you will then be exposed to some well designed, and maybe even some truly awesome images.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

What Does your Portfolio Say about You?

All creative artists either have or need a portfolio of some sort, so this post does not only apply to models or photographers.

Do you have a printed portfolio?
Do you have a business card, postcards, mailers, brochures, comp card, example portfolio, folio or show reel on CD or DVD, to anything to leave behind for reference?
Do you have a website which showcases your work?
Or does your portfolio only exist on Modelling/photographer sites such as Starnow, or ModelMayhem or any of those similar sites.
Or, better than nothing (almost), are you one of those Facebook only models, photographers, artists?

It seems that portfolios broadly fall into one of four categories:

Full Steam Ahead: those which show of a definite individual style, creative, tightly edited, technically excellent, and highly focused on the artist and future development. The product for sale or hire is you.
Steady as She Goes: those which are varied, and confident, but still showing creativity and untapped potential, professional and competent in tackling all assignments made available.
At Moorings, in Ballast: the general majority which show a limited range , low to average quality, and exhibit a sameness with so many other portfolios: no challenges attitude, just give me more of the same thankyou.
Under Tow to the Breaker’s Yard: those who spring about in all directions, chase trends, follow every piece of poor advice and bad information, worship false gurus, jump at every casting call which promises that “this will be great for your portfolio”

Amongst these broad categories only Category number One shows any understanding of the proper purpose of a portfolio to an artist:
Portfolios are not meant to document the past: they are to represent what you want to achieve in the future.
Family and friends look at a portfolio to feel proud of what has been accomplished: an industry professional looks at a portfolio to ascertain just how well your individuality, personality, creativity,knowledge, ability technique, professionalism and flair will be able to make his future project the best it can be, and to single you out from all the other portfolios he will be looking at in relation to enhancing his own image and reputation.
So take a second look at your portfolio, or when you are assembling your first portfolio, (as the case may be) look objectively at every image you wish to include, not as an artist, not as a photographer, and not as a model but as a prospective client, a future employer of your skills, as a prospective buyer of your services.

Does your portfolio tell prospects what you do – the subjects you cover well and how you do it with effective creativity, technique and individual style?
Do your visuals have marketability? Are they saleable?
Are the images geared to specific markets? Specific clients? Or able to fill an existing or niche need?
Is your book well edited and do the images have a relationship to one another?
Do the images flow well as the viewer progresses through your portfolio?
Does your folio “sell” you, your abilities, your creativity and your individual style?