Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

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.

A photographer friend of mine recently came to me very frustrated.  He is very good at shooting lifestyle, commercial, weddings and let’s call it commercial fashion.  On his website he had all these sections up.  He asked for my advice and opinion on what I thought.  I told him to narrow down to two – three categories of photography that you really love.  Don’t think about how much they pay, or how much they don’t pay, just shoot what you love.

I told him this is something we all go through in the beginning of our careers.  He was concerned and insecure because he doesn’t know what he loves the most.  Eventually I told him you will know what you love the most.  It took me three years to finally know in my heart that I love shooting fashion and beauty.  But not just fashion and beauty, fashion and beauty advertising.  It all works out.  When we first start shooting, we literally have to get to know ourselves again, but this time we have to get to know ourselves as a creative.  We go through growing pains, emotional let downs, the highs and the lows.  Trust me, every single photographer out there who is working has gone through this process.  It’s a friggin roller coaster and you know what ?  It sucks !  It really does.  I mean come on, can you really say in your heart that you loved your teen years as a kid ?  Hell no ! But eventually we grow up, well MOST of us do lol.  And we find our way.  The path opens up right before our inner eyes and heart.  Sometimes it takes a road trip all by yourself and just shoot.  Shoot whatever you think is cool, beautiful, weird or whatever !  Just shoot !  Take at least three days and just drive.  No destination in mind, no preconceived notions.  Just drive and stop when you want to and shoot.  If it’s a stupid cactus or a stupid wood fence and you think they look cool, shoot them !  Take your digital camera but also take a film camera.  Yes that’s right a film camera.  It’s time to grow up !  I can guarantee that when you return from your little trip, you will feel totally different.  Will you have found yourself ? I don’t know.  But if you don’t, take another road trip.

The voyage of self discovery is something that every creative goes through and listen to this, you will go through ANOTHER voyage of self discovery again in your career and probably another time too !  That’s ok though.  As creatives we don’t ever want to get stuck in a rut.  We feel stale and useless.  I will mention my very good close friend and celebrity fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim who coined the phrase voyage of self discovery.  He had his own voyage of self discovery early in his photography career.   To this day he still goes through discoveries here and there.  I do, my other colleagues do, actors do, you name it.  If you are a creative you will always continue to develop.

The reason I am talking about this is that as photographers you MUST shoot what you love.  If through your own voyage of self discovery you find that you have changed, then go with it.  Never forget this though; clients will hire you because they love your style.  It could be your lighting style, the way you pose your models, the emotion you evoke from your models or it could be that they don’t even know.  All they do know is that when they look at your portfolio, it grabs them and never lets go !  And that is the photographer they want to shoot their next campaign, look book, catalog or whatever.  Your passion for what you shoot does show in the photo.  The photo that you produce is in some way an extension of you !  Yes !  It’s true !

So as I leave you with these words of wisdom, don’t make growing up complicated.  Trust your own gut.  I will be 41 Dec. 6th and I can tell you that my guy has NEVER ONCE been wrong, NEVER !

I want to know your thoughts on this.  I want to hear all your voyages of self discovery.

This photo by the way was one of my first photos I ever shot with a real model.  It isn’t really fashion but it is by far the most popular photo I have ever taken.  It is a photo that gets me very much work because you FEEL when you look at it !

Beautiful Ballerina

Outdoor fashion lighting can be a problem with some photographers.  We have the elements to deal with, the hot sun, the constantly moving sun, wind etc.  Add the fact that if it is a test you can’t afford to hire an assistant to lug heavy lighting gear around for you.  Most of us don’t own a Profoto 7B pack because they cost around $4,000 to $5,000.  So what does one do ?

Outdoor Lighting With a Speed Light

I shot this fashion photo with one Canon 580EXII and that’s it.  No bounce cards or any attachments to the flash and it was attached to the hot shoe, not off camera.  The time of day was 1:25 pm.

As you can see the sun is facing the model.   Many photographers would think you don’t need a flash, the sun is hitting her.  Well that all depends on the look you are going for.  I like to use flash no matter where the sun is.  In this case the flash brings out the details more and gives the image a crisper look.

So I put my flash on the camera.   I was standing about 6 feet away from the model on a wide lens, 44mm so I could capture the entire scene around her.  I set my flash to hi speed sync mode so I could shoot at 500th shutter speed.  Why shoot at such a high shutter speed ?  So I could capture a nice blue sky and not blow out the background.  My  fstop was 6.3 ISO was 160.  Now when you use such a fast shutter speed you obviously need to demand more power from your flash.  Also using an fstop of 6.3 demands more power.  So I set my flash exposure compensation to plus 3 stops !  I also set my zoom head on the flash to 80mm instead of letting it set itself to 44mm automatically.  As you can imagine I was asking my flash to do alot and demanding a ton of power.  So I had a Quantum battery pack attached to it to give the flash the extra power it needed.  And that is really all I did with this shot.  I didn’t haul out the Profoto 7B with a beauty dish and another light for her hair.  I positioned her so that her hair was lit by the sun and my key light was my flash.

This situation is why I cannot stress enough that you MUST  know your fundamentals.  If I had put the camera on auto then this shot would look nothing like you see now.  ** This and many other photography fundamentals are techniques I teach you in my fashion photography workshop. It’s a two day workshop and you come out knowing MUCH more than you did when you first walk in.  Check out the workshop page for more info and please feel free to call or email me with any questions you have concerning  the workshop.**

If you have any comments or questions about this post, ask away ! 

So you all know that I have NEVER used Photoshop to TOTALLY change my photos.  The only reason Photoshop is ever used is to smooth skin and dust spots.  But a recent shoot I did was in a classic car museum and there was no way in hell that we were going to be able to take these cars out to a location.  The solution was to change the background in Photoshop.  If we didn’t change it then the whole shoot would be a total loss.  I lit these with a ring light and some edge lights.  My digital compositor did an amazing job at creating a classy yet edgy look !  I would love to hear your opinions and thoughts !

You may view more of the series on my site.

Ok so TIP # 2 ➢    Talk to your model before the shoot as he or she is getting their make up and hair done.  Joke around, get to know them, be approachable and friendly.  This is the perfect time to establish some kind of bond.   Even if you can only spend 10 minutes with them, it’s better than nothing.  So how do you start off the conversation ?  Hi my name is Jason and I’m your photographer today.   Or for you guys who have already spoken to the model to set up the shoot but haven’t really spent much time talking, then walk in the make up room and just say hi and tell her how great she looks or how good he looks if it is a male model and then the conversation will just develop on it’s own.

beauty model

I decided to post this photo in the Lighting On Location section because location doesn’t just mean outdoors.  Many times I like to use the available light that is in the room.  In this instance it was a bathroom.  Now  this is something I learned from Helmut Newton.  When he first started shooting he couldn’t afford professional lighting.  He was very poor.  So he used the lamps in his house as his lighting source.  Of course back then he used film and did all his color correcting in the darkroom or used the correct film for such lighting conditions.  But I have come to like the warm color cast that results from NOT white balancing my camera.  This is the original shot.   I was on a tripod using

available indoor photography lighting

a very slow shutter speed and a high ISO.  The model has to keep very still OR even a little blur is ok.  It makes it more artistic.  Again, remember there is no right or wrong UNLESS the client doesn’t like it.  In this case my client, Deliverance Poker did like it.

Now I also wanted to try something else so I made the image black and white in Lightroom.  I also cropped it much tighter.  I like both versions.  I just want to show you how you don’t ALWAYS have to use additional lighting to capture a great shot.

This is the black and white cropped version.

black and white conversion photo

They both look great.  I would love to know your thoughts and opinions.

So last Sunday at 2pm one of my assistants calls to tell me he just got a tip from a make up artist that a model friend of his from Spain is in town for 3 days and asked if I would like to test her.  As soon as I saw a few photos that he emailed me I jumped on it.  This is one of  the shots that I converted to B&W in post.

Ok so why the title of the post ? Because the ONLY light I used was the natural light coming in from the bedroom window.  I metered with my handheld meter and shot my ass off.  It is a little blurry on purpose. I was hand held  standing above her on a matress.  Lens was my 85mm.  Settings were ISO 800, 1/15th shutter speed, F/2.2.  You guys like ?  *QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS WELCOME*

natural lighting for fashion or beauty

This is Taylor with Brand Models.  I just love her eyes and her innocence.  I used one light and that is it. I used my small umbrella that is white inside.  I used my 100 mm lens, my favorite of course. 

Beautiful fashion model

I LOVE this shot. I strive to get into the soul of a person and bring it out in the photograph. Photography is and should be a very intimate experience. If the photographer cannot bring out the soul in the model and let it shine, then the photo is useless in my opinion. You can get the lighting, styling etc. all down perfect, but if the viewer does not connect with the eyes then you have not done your job as a photographer. I don’t care if it is a catalog shoot, an editorial or advertising job, you must connect with your subject. I shot this with my Canon 100mm Macro F/2.8 lens.