Comments on: Swimsuit Photo Shoot-Photographing at Night http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/ Jason Christopher's fashion photography blog is an instructional and informative blog geared towards all levels of photographers. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:15:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jason Christopher http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-631 Jason Christopher Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:57:07 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-631 LOL Laura I am glad the small things make you happy. ;-) You know I have always loved to teach and have been fascinated with human behavior both of which apply to photography. After I got my associates degree I did much thinking about the whole teaching industry and pay cuts and how little they get paid. I must admit that I did not want to work hard at something and not get paid accordingly. That old adage about loving what you do is more important than making alot of money is really a bunch of crap in my opinion especially in today's world lol. Now that doesn't mean I got into fashion photography because I wanted to be wealthy. I actually started a rock band, I'm a drummer, and tried making it as a rock star. Well that didn't work out. But deep down inside since I was 13 I have always loved photography as it says in my bio. So after the rock band thing didn't work, I decided that I really need to do what I love that resides deep in my soul. The rest is history :-) How do I see the fashion photography industry changing in the next 5-10 years ? I don't think about that. What I do hope for is that clients will get it through their ignorant thick skulls that they can't just hire any joe with a digital camera for a low ball price and get the results they seek. Being a great photographer is so much more than pushing a shutter and thinking that if you buy the best camera that you will take great photos. Do you think Mark Twain wrote with an amazing $5,000 pen or pencil ? Hell no. He wrote with a cheap number 2 pencil or a manual type writer. All the great masters, Herb Ritz, Avedon, Penn etc. used all manual cameras, no in meter cameras and $20k worth of lights. But what they did have was fundamentals and they NEVER forgot how to put their fundamentals to use to make a great photo. I can truthfully tell you that I now regret the advent of digital. This is why I encourage you all to take my workshop. I want us all to be equal and be skilled so we can all get our deserved rate. That is what it was like 15-25 years ago. Photographers were respected much much more than they are now. I don't get rich from my <a href="http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/private-photography-workshops/" rel="nofollow">work shops</a>. I do them to help all of you which in turn helps us all. Thank you Laura I am glad I am back too. Remember I never leave, I just gotta pay the bills ;-) You can always post on the blog and suggest topics that I have not covered. Stay up to date and click that RSS button ! :-) LOL Laura I am glad the small things make you happy. ;-)

You know I have always loved to teach and have been fascinated with human behavior both of which apply to photography. After I got my associates degree I did much thinking about the whole teaching industry and pay cuts and how little they get paid. I must admit that I did not want to work hard at something and not get paid accordingly. That old adage about loving what you do is more important than making alot of money is really a bunch of crap in my opinion especially in today’s world lol. Now that doesn’t mean I got into fashion photography because I wanted to be wealthy. I actually started a rock band, I’m a drummer, and tried making it as a rock star. Well that didn’t work out. But deep down inside since I was 13 I have always loved photography as it says in my bio. So after the rock band thing didn’t work, I decided that I really need to do what I love that resides deep in my soul. The rest is history :-)

How do I see the fashion photography industry changing in the next 5-10 years ? I don’t think about that. What I do hope for is that clients will get it through their ignorant thick skulls that they can’t just hire any joe with a digital camera for a low ball price and get the results they seek. Being a great photographer is so much more than pushing a shutter and thinking that if you buy the best camera that you will take great photos. Do you think Mark Twain wrote with an amazing $5,000 pen or pencil ? Hell no. He wrote with a cheap number 2 pencil or a manual type writer. All the great masters, Herb Ritz, Avedon, Penn etc. used all manual cameras, no in meter cameras and $20k worth of lights.
But what they did have was fundamentals and they NEVER forgot how to put their fundamentals to use to make a great photo. I can truthfully tell you that I now regret the advent of digital. This is why I encourage you all to take my workshop. I want us all to be equal and be skilled so we can all get our deserved rate. That is what it was like 15-25 years ago. Photographers were respected much much more than they are now. I don’t get rich from my work shops. I do them to help all of you which in turn helps us all.

Thank you Laura I am glad I am back too. Remember I never leave, I just gotta pay the bills ;-) You can always post on the blog and suggest topics that I have not covered.

Stay up to date and click that RSS button ! :-)

]]> By: Laura Trovillion http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-630 Laura Trovillion Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:41:02 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-630 Yes!!!!I guessed you either used a flashlight or a video light to insure focus lock!( Yes, its the small things that make me happy.) Anyway, now the question that begs to be answered is how did you get from child phsycology/teaching to high fashion photographer? Next question, and I don't know if you feel it as much as I do as a portrait photographer, but how do you see the industry changing in the next 5-10 years? Glad you're back, also glad you got slammed cause that means you are making money and that seems to be tricky in CA these days! thanks Laura T Yes!!!!I guessed you either used a flashlight or a video light to insure focus lock!( Yes, its the small things that make me happy.) Anyway, now the question that begs to be answered is how did you get from child phsycology/teaching to high fashion photographer?
Next question, and I don’t know if you feel it as much as I do as a portrait photographer, but how do you see the industry changing in the next 5-10 years?
Glad you’re back, also glad you got slammed cause that means you are making money and that seems to be tricky in CA these days!
thanks
Laura T

]]> By: Jason Christopher http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-629 Jason Christopher Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:14:07 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-629 Hi Deborah, thank you so much for the compliments ! I actually do not retouch my photos. I have a team of retouchers that each specialize in specific areas of that craft. As far as I know they use a combination of Photoshop and Lightroom. The retouching was very minimal. What you see here and in 99.9% of my photographs is what came out of the camera with the exception of contrast, saturation cropping etc of course. The client didn't want the model to look fake so there was little "smoothing" done with the skin. Let me reinforce though that the model has AMAZING skin to begin with which is key when casting your models. Hi Deborah, thank you so much for the compliments ! I actually do not retouch my photos. I have a team of retouchers that each specialize in specific areas of that craft. As far as I know they use a combination of Photoshop and Lightroom. The retouching was very minimal. What you see here and in 99.9% of my photographs is what came out of the camera with the exception of contrast, saturation cropping etc of course. The client didn’t want the model to look fake so there was little “smoothing” done with the skin. Let me reinforce though that the model has AMAZING skin to begin with which is key when casting your models.

]]> By: Deborah http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-628 Deborah Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:03:48 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-628 I loved your blog and thank you for all your helpful information Photograph looks great! How much did you have to do if anything editing? Do you use LR? I loved your blog and thank you for all your helpful information Photograph looks great! How much did you have to do if anything editing? Do you use LR?

]]> By: Tom http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-627 Tom Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:34:17 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-627 First off...... "thank god" you FINALLY posted something dude.....!! I was about to send you a "Nastygram"!! (loving your posts even though I'm a new reader!) Congratulations on the shot because Morgan certainly looks very comfortable as if the weather is just peachy and the water is warm! Onto the technical questions - I see that you chose to light the background to separate Morgan from the black sheet of night. Why did you decide not to use a grid spot to perhaps hit her hair to produce even more separation? IF you shot for 6 hours, those 8b packs are good for about 200 frames or so... Did you have a backup pack? Why did you not use a small diesel generator? (I'm guessing not a large enough crew to haul this stuff around?) How did the model keep warm? Was she getting in and out of robes or was she just grinning and bearing it? What was the power output of your 7b's..... and what did you set your camera settings to......aperture...... shutter....ISO and white balance? (were you using a custom wb setting?" Sorry for the questions...... but hey..... I think thats why I like your blog....'cause you answer questions! :P tom First off…… “thank god” you FINALLY posted something dude…..!! I was about to send you a “Nastygram”!! (loving your posts even though I’m a new reader!)

Congratulations on the shot because Morgan certainly looks very comfortable as if the weather is just peachy and the water is warm!

Onto the technical questions – I see that you chose to light the background to separate Morgan from the black sheet of night. Why did you decide not to use a grid spot to perhaps hit her hair to produce even more separation?

IF you shot for 6 hours, those 8b packs are good for about 200 frames or so… Did you have a backup pack? Why did you not use a small diesel generator? (I’m guessing not a large enough crew to haul this stuff around?)

How did the model keep warm? Was she getting in and out of robes or was she just grinning and bearing it?

What was the power output of your 7b’s….. and what did you set your camera settings to……aperture…… shutter….ISO and white balance? (were you using a custom wb setting?”

Sorry for the questions…… but hey….. I think thats why I like your blog….’cause you answer questions!
:P
tom

]]> By: Gilbert http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2009/07/15/swimsuit-photo-shoot-photographing-at-night/comment-page-1/#comment-626 Gilbert Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:31:53 +0000 http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/?p=586#comment-626 Interesting post, I like your writing style as well. Maybe it would help if you post a diagram of the lights setup that you used for this photo. More interested in the positioning of the lights rather than the type of equipment...thanks for sharing your technique! Interesting post, I like your writing style as well. Maybe it would help if you post a diagram of the lights setup that you used for this photo. More interested in the positioning of the lights rather than the type of equipment…thanks for sharing your technique!

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