Friday, June 15, 2012

The Headshot || The Model

having conversations with myself is what I do and sometimes when I listen to myself, I get some pretty awesome results! 

"how do I go about getting people to check out my page.... well I gotta promote it first of all....how do I do that?"
*logging on to facebook*
Me- "looking for anyone who would be interested in being photographed! message me on this facebook page for more information!!"

within a half hour I got over 10 people getting in contact with me! what were the chances of it being THAT easy. next thing you know I'm meeting up with one of my close friends and old teammates, Raf, from high school this morning for a promotional photo shoot! 

At first I was pretty nervous because I was concerned.... I was worried that I wasn't gonna be good enough or that my equipment wasn't enough because I didn't have the flashes and soft boxes to assist in the shoot, but after doing research and more and more learning, I stumbled upon this old video I watched about getting the perfect headshot. 

what did I gather from it? 
-its not about the equipment (surprise surprise)
-use your surroundings to your advantage
-put yourself in their shoes, tell them to breathe and stay calm, its a photo, not life or death
-its NOT the models job to create the photo, it's the photographers job! 
-its what I say and do in the situation to get the photo I want
-to get the shot you want, remember to guide the eyes, the shoulders, the eyebrows, and the mouth 
 -have fun

After feeling confident about it, Raf and me set off at 7am to the forest preserve. dressed to impress he was ready to go. After getting the settings right in my camera, we began taking shots and right away I noticed he was nervous, tense, and not comfortable. 


Me- "Raf, Breathe! It's okay, we're just taking some pictures"

Something as simple as that seriously caused a 180 turn for the best. Right away he was breathing, laughing and definitely more calm.

We kept walking and taking photos and guiding him through the motions of the shots I wanted, but a long with that I asked him what he preferred, more natural pictures, one of him smiling or more of a serious look. After agreeing that he was a fan of the serious look and I was a fan of the natural "life style", my goal was to meet both our views, and this is what we ended up with! 







By the time we were finishing up the shoot, Raf was confident, comfortable..... and getting hot (since the sun was coming out more) so we finished up the shoot with one last pose. 

When the pose was developing, everything from the mouth, the eyes, and the shoulders were lined up to his figure. I finally told him to lift one eyebrow slightly. After having him hold the look, I took multiple shots from different angles and this is what we got! 





I don't know about you folks, but I personally noticed a huge difference between the first shot I got of him at the very beginning and the last three of the day. Notice how something as simple as an eyebrow gesture can cause a dramatic photo change.

In the end Raf became a confident model (given that this was his first time) and I give him props for putting up with my goofyness so early in the morning! 

"Calvin Klein has nothing on us"

And that's a rap! 

Until tomorrow, Happy Friday everyone! 



















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