I have had the pleasure recently to work with several models of different skill levels, and thought I'd share some things I've learned the hard way.
- Take a moment before taking the first shot to scrutinize the model closely.
- Take a moment before taking the first shot to scrutinize the model closely.
It was so important I put it twice, that's NOT a typo or a mistake. Check the eye liner and mascara, does it need to be touched up? Is it smeared? Are there chips in the nail polish? Does he/ she look as though they've been awake for a week straight? Is his/her hair EXACTLY right? Does he/she need to brush it or comb it? Is it dirty?Are they wearing jewelry that doesn't appear to belong in the images you want to take? Are their clothes wrinkled or dirty?
All of these things are going to cost you hours of retouching in Photoshop and it only takes a minute or two to go over the model's appearance. Also, take a moment before you actually take the first shot to look around the edges of the frame to make sure there's nothing there that doesn't belong, as well as behind the subject for distractions.
Then you ready the first shot. Do they appear afraid or nervous? This will transpose to the images you take as well. Take some time to help them relax and put them at ease, after all, this is a joint effort, affecting both of your careers (possibly). Once they're relaxed and posed, take another minute to look closely. Is there lint on their clothes? Are there unnatural folds in their skin? Even thin people can have skin folds, after all. Once it's as close to perfect as you can get, THEN actuate the shutter. Trust me, you'll still find things to edit in the post processing, but this will save you valuable time (after all, time is money!) later, when you have the time to REALLY scrutinize the images, and you'll have a lot more "keepers".
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