Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

Recently I had the pleasure of giving an interview about my  style of fashion photography and a  recent advertising shoot I finished that was challenging and fun.  Matt Haines, a photographer himself  has a wonderful photography site here, called me and asked me some great questions for his photography blog called Fashion and Light.

You can read the interview about my advertising shoot and the challenges it presented as well as my career and how amazing my fashion photography team is as we work each shoot and plan everything from set design, to make up and hair, lighting etc.  Casey Robinson my make up artist is also interviewed.

Matt shows you some photos from the ad campaign and the great behind the scenes video shot by Drew Maw.  Read all about this great fashion shoot here.

And as always any questions or comments are always welcome !

Thank you everyone for making my blog so special.

For some reason, the guys at Dream Row wrote a big article about me. They are good friends of mine and doing a really cool thing. They offer resources for people trying to make it in the entertainment industry. If you want to know about my bumpy road in fashion photography, check out the write-up here.

Please check it out and make some comments on the article as I’m very excited for this exposure.

This is Elicia from Next Models.  We shot this using just the late afternoon beautiful crisp window light.  Her expression and body language with the necklace make this photo so evocative and maybe even erotic depending on how you as an individual looks at it.  Notice the soft hands that are so important when photographing tight beauty photography. And that is also what makes a photograph great.  If every viewer can take something different from your photo, then it is something special in my book.   Another quality that makes this photo special is that it is all natural with no retouching.

Elicia Perkins : Fashion Model

How does a new photographer who is trying to build their portfolio get quality fashion models to test with ? I have been asked this question many many times.  So I figured I would blog about it.

I will tell you how I did it.  Back in the day there was no internet, well there was but it was all dial up and very very slow.  Not many sites had made their way on the world wide web yet especially actual model agencies.  So the only way to look at models to test with was to literally walk into t he agency tell the first person I saw that I was there to look at model zed cards to shoot for my portfolio.  LOL the receptionist walked me to the woman who handled the “New Faces” board.  Was I nervous ?  Actually no I was not.  I compare it to when a child is faced with a task and has never experienced failure so they don’t know what failure feels like.  I had no reason to be afraid because I had no idea what to expect !

So I explained to the agent that I was a new photographer who needed to step up the quality of my portfolio / book with real models who had that model look.  Now you are probably asking what did I walk into the agency with ?  I had a book.  I had photos of my sister who used to model and still looked good.  They were mostly head shots.  I had photos of her beautiful friends and they introduced me to their friends and so on.  Of course what was missing was the styling, make up and that “fashion look” and I knew that.  I even had some family portraits thrown in with some great portraits of children I had shot.

Now even though I didn’t have a book like Irving Penn, Mario Testino or Sante D Orazio it didn’t matter to them.  What the agent saw was that I knew how to compose and light a shot.  More important, I knew how to take girls that had no modeling experience, except for my sister and make them look pretty damn good.  All that was missing was a good stylist, make up and hair.  But the agent didn’t just hand over a bunch of zed cards and say here ya go take your pick ! She told me to shoot some more and come back in a month to show her more.  It was just paying dues.  She also told me to study fashion magazines.  And this is THE most important part of how to shoot fashion.  As a fashion photographer you MUST know fashion !  Shit, the term fashion photographer has the word fashion in it !!!

So I sat my ass in Barnes and Noble and looked at every fashion magazine that existed.  I shot more and more and went back to that agent and she was impressed.  She gave me one model to test out.  From there the ball kept rolling.  She did have alot of feed back for me and I did make mistakes.

My challenge to you all is to forget Model Mayhem, One Model Place and any of these online “anyone can be a model” sites, grab your balls and walk into an agency just like I did.

If you are interested in the feed back she gave me and find out what mistakes I made, just ask !  I look forward to your questions.  This topic is covered heavily in my private fashion photography workshops where I teach you all you need to know of the ins and outs so you don’t make mistakes and you can walk into a modeling agency with confidence.

Just an update about my private fashion photography workshops for you all.  They are going great !  I just had the pleasure of working with Jeff Corzine.  Jeff is from Malibu and we spent two days with a great model and make up artist.  We went over certain lighting techniques and when I taught him how to properly use the Canon 580EX II he was blown away by all the great features this flash has to offer and the amazing images one can achieve with it.

Jeff also learned how to direct a fashion model to achieve amazing results just by talking to your model and choosing the right words so she can act out a situation and a feeling in her head which translates to film, or in this case the final digital image.

I will post some images from our workshop very soon !  If you would like to know more about my photography workshops please contact me via phone or email  and I will be happy to discuss details with you.

Ok here are a couple images from our workshop. This first shot the model is dressed in a long beautiful form fitting gray dress. I didn’t want to light the whole dress from top to bottom. I wanted her brighter at the top and gradually get darker as the light falls lower. So I feathered the medium soft box. It was raised high above the model and tilted down so that the bottom part of the soft box hits from the middle just barely enough down to the bottom. I didn’t want the bottom of the dress to go totally black. I directed the model to keep her poses towards her key light. And in this case there was only one light anyway. That is also how you see that HER LEFT side goes a bit darker. I placed the light slightly in front of her so that it wraps around her but not too much. If I had put the soft box directly on her right side the left side of her would go completely dark which I didn’t want.  The second photo shows how to use fill flash without getting that harsh look.  I explained how I achieved this in the previous post in the gear review of the Canon 580 EX II.  Again, any questions please ask.

Cheers,

Jason

This weekend I had the pleasure of sharing my knowledge with another attendee of my private workshop. On the second day we went out of the studio to learn how to light at any time of day with minimal gear.
So I attach my favorite speed light, the Canon 580EXII, to the hot shoe of my Canon 5D Mark II.
It was a sunny day under a blue sky scattered with big white puffy clouds and a beautiful model sitting on a white country wood fence.
So I proceed to show Jeff, my workshop attendee, how to set up the 580EXII in order to capture the beauty of our fashion model while still maintaining details in the blue sky, puffy clouds and green grass. The model was facing the harsh sun so I had Jeff scrim her with a 60 inch shoot through umbrella. I then set the flash to ETTL and high speed sync mode, dialed up the flash exposure 3 whole stops and zoomed the flash head to 105mm. I was standing about 8 feet from the model with an 85mm lens on the camera.
Now this is the awesome part! I then set my shutter speed to 1/1250th of a second! My fstop was 4.5 and my ISO was 200. I shot away and this was the beautiful result even under a mid day sun. I LOVE this flash!
The possibilities are endless. The high speed sync mode is my favorite feature. I now am not limited to syncing at only 1/250th of a second! I can capture details in my background and control my contrast by using a very fast shutter speed.
Now, my only warning is have a good amount of double A batteries or use an external battery like a Quantum Turbo 2×2. Also very important is that you can’t shoot fast because you will end up blowing up the flash because of all the power your asking it to pump out by pushing it 3 full stops and zooming the flash head to it’s max at 105mm. Which is another great feature. Being able to zoom the flash head from 24mm all the way to 105mm gives the photographer so much control and room to play with.
The Canon 580EXII is one piece of gear that is always in my bag.

This is a very popular beauty photo of mine that everyone asks how I lit and how I got the cool looking catch lights.   I want to clarify a couple things first though.  Catch lights are the reflection one sees in the pupil of the eye of the actual light modifier that the photographer uses.  How a photographer creates those catch lights is based upon which light modifier he or she uses.

So catch lights can be in the form of an umbrella, a soft box, a beauty dish, a Mola reflector , a bare bulb, a Photoflex or Westcott reflector etc.  And it is where you place those light modifiers that determine where you see the catch light / reflection of your light modifier.  Ok so with that said here is the photo that demonstrates my use of a small umbrella and a round 36″ silver Photoflex reflector.

In this next photo I show you the close up of the eyes so you can actually see the metal splines of the umbrella on top of the pupil and the round silver reflector on the bottom of the pupil.

I created a lighting diagram for you.  In this beauty lighting diagram the background paper is gray in color.  The model is about 9 feet from the background.  The strobe that is behind the model is facing the back of her hair and is placed 3 feet away from the model and is one and a half stops brighter than the main light.  The ratio will vary depending on the lightness or darkness of the hair color.  The strobe is on a stand and the same height as the model’s head.

The umbrella I am using is a Westcott  32″ white satin with the black backing left on it.  I place it right in front of the model and above eye level as you can see in the catch light.  It’s about 4 feet away from the model.  I am standing right under it.

The silver Photoflex umbrella is placed on a Westcott reflector arm at breast level and I angle it until I like the amount of  fill.  This is subjective to each photographer.

Be sure to click the images so you can see them much larger.  Lighting techniques like this are part of what I teach in my private photography workshops.  We learn one on one as you watch me set up the lighting , shoot and direct the model.  Then it is your turn to shoot and direct the model.  Hands on experience is vital to learning.  I welcome your comments, questions and thoughts.

Hi everyone !  I just revamped my personal section on my site.  I uploaded a bunch of lifestyle photos.  Some are posed and some are candid.  The candid lifestyle shots with the mother and children were a challenge to shoot.  You’ve got to watch for everything.  It’s the little moments that are special which also happen so fast that you just cannot miss those moments.  You’re camera and eye have always got to be ready !  Here are some of those photos that capture the special moments.

Being on such a high treacherous cliff I couldn’t bring an assortment of lighting gear so I used by trusty Canon 580 EXII just enough to give them a little fill.  In Photoshop I added a bit of vignette and bumped the saturation a little.  Other than that no other post production was done.   I just told them to forget I’m there, just forget a photographer is even near you and do what you want.  So everything I captured was very natural.  Another good thing about not bringing a bunch of lighting gear is that the less invasive I am, the more natural reactions I will get from my subject.  Imagine having two strobes set up with umbrellas and sand bags right in front of them.  LOL  that would be invasive.

I love this next photo.  It just says so much.  Look at their faces and what they are saying to each other.  What I get from this photo when looking at the mother’s face is how much she loves him and what they have been through just in every day life.  She shows how much she really appreciates him as a son.  THAT is what makes a great photo.  When your subjects are speaking through their emotions.  When I am shooting and I get that from my subjects or models it’s an electricity that just runs through my blood like a flood of energy !

Again, I used my Canon 580 EXII to add a little fill and to over power the sun.  These lifestyle photos and more can be found here which also demonstrate many different lighting techniques.

A fellow photographer friend of mine asked me a question today. She wanted to know what the term branding meant in relation to a photographer’s career. This is a really good question because your career as a fashion photographer, portrait photographer, wedding photographer or any kind of photographer depends on branding yourself. As photographers we are hired for our style and look of our photos.

1. The first part of branding yourself is designing a logo. That doesn’t mean your logo has to be a graphic or initials. Take for example Gucci. When you see the word Gucci you know it’s Gucci by the font style that is used. Same can be said for Quicksilver, Versace, and the list could go on. My logo for example is the font style that is used as well as the spacing between letters. The next thing you want to be aware of is your color scheme of your logo. My colors are gray background and white letters.

2. So now you have your logo and color scheme. You then make your website. Your website should incorporate your color scheme as well. My site is a gray background and white letters. It has been this way for 10 years and hasn’t changed once. People are creatures of habit. When you change up your site and colors every year or every other year that is not a very effective technique to keep your brand in everyone’s minds.
Think of McDonalds. If those golden arches suddenly were green, or blue or red or whatever, what do you think would happen ? LOL

3. Now you make your business cards and letter head for contracts and correspondence. Everything must match.

4. The next MOST important part of branding yourself as a photographer is defining your own style of shooting. Now this takes years. You need to get to know and find yourself as a photographer and shoot what you love as noted in this post.   This will become your signature style in which you will be hired for jobs.  My signature style is the back lit flare look with a little bit of fill shot outdoors.  I do not do this in post.

I really like this look and this is a technique I teach in my private photography workshops. It is a soft look that does not require much gear and you can use a reflector and or an off camera flash to just give a kiss of fill light.  I also execute this look in studio as well.

In conclusion, this is branding yourself as a photographer.  Only YOU can do it.  Only you can find yourself and your style.  Remember that this is the most important part of establishing your name / brand.   Any questions or comments please ask away !

Cheers !

So since the advent of digital photograhy many fashion photographers have asked me why their photos don’t look like film.  Some of the complaints are that everything is too sharp, too much contrast etc.  Well there are many reasons why these things happen, however the main consideration is that they are using too tight of an aperture.  For example they are shooting at f/11 or f/16 or even f/22.

When shooting with a 35mm DSLR, shoot as if you were shooting medium format.  When shooting medium format you lose alot of depth of field.  Consequently your model or subject is very sharp and the background is out of focus and you get very beautiful bokeh.  The best way to achieve this is to use a long lens.  For this photo I used my Canon 200mm 2.8 on sticks and shot it at ISO 200 f/4.5   1/200th.   I also used my Canon 580 EX II on ETTL.  Now here is where my little secret comes into play.  I bumped up the flash power to +3 stops and zoomed the flash head to 105mm.  I was a good 25 yards away from the model.

I got a great smile out of my model by joking with her, complimenting her and not just sitting there clicking the shutter like a robot.  I connected with my model because I took my time and composed and thought about the shot in my mind before I even thought of clicking the shutter.  Very simple make up and no shoes, great smile and a very beautiful girl in nature make this a very marketable stock photo.

In this next photo I told my model to walk along the log and try to balance in bare feet.  I also directed her to look at the camera and smile, laugh and just be silly.  The important thing to remember here is that she can’t just do all this like she NORMALLY would.  Normally one would smile too big and you would lose the eyes, and / or she would laugh so hard that she would get a double chin.  So directing your model and constantly reminding her to keep her chin up and look at the camera and don’t squint the eyes is of utmost importance.  The result is another very marketable photo that the model can also use for her portfolio.

In this photo again I used my Canon 200m 2.8 on sticks about 25 yards away.  Notice the beautiful bokeh again.   I shot this at ISO 200 f/4.5 shutter speed was 1/325th. I also used my Canon 580 EX II on ETTL, bumped the power up +3 stops and zoomed the flash head to 105mm.  What I did different for this shot is set my flash to high speed sync mode. In high speed sync mode this allows you to set your shutter speed to whatever speed you want.  I set it to 1/325th so I could keep my ambient light down.  Remember, you control your flash exposure with your aperture.  Any questions or comments are welcome !