Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

      When I am shooting a  fashion assignment I am disciplined to the point where I only shoot the amount of images I feel I need to capture my vision or the client’s vision.  There is absolutely no reason to shoot until you fill a card, which these days could mean 400 or more images per card.  I’ve heard of some photographers who will shoot a thousand images for a portfolio shoot!  That is pathetic!  You know what that translates to?  A VERY insecure photographer who has no idea what he or she is doing and has no vision.   The photographer doesn’t have a plan, can’t see his vision unless he shoots it.  Doesn’t know his technical skills or communication skills.  It could be any of these or all of them that is causing this long drawn out shoot as a result from over shooting.

      I used to work in the movie industry behind the camera.  On episodes where we had an inexperienced director we knew the days were going to go in to overtime which was good in a way because more often than not we would go into triple over time……..big paychecks.  But for the production company that meant over budget and the main reason was because the director would over shoot by thousands and thousands of feet of film, which also led to the obvious major over time for the crew !  It’s no different for a still photo shoot.

      Many photographers are shocked when I tell them the size of my CF card I use most often is 2 GB.  That’s because with my 5DMark 2 shooting at 100ISO I get about 72 – 76 frames which gives me two different clothing changes.   When I was shooting 35mm film we got 36 frames per roll. At the end of that roll you had to reload.  Now let me also say that if I am shooting an editorial or an ad campaign I use the same small cards and also have much larger ones on hand just in case the client wants to see more.

      For this post I will use a portfolio shoot as the main example.  So a model would come to me and back then we charged per roll.  And one roll equaled one look.  After the first look / 36 frames we moved to the second look and so on.  If you as a photographer couldn’t capture that great one shot the model needed in 36 frames you had to use another roll at your own expense!  You couldn’t tell the model she had to pay extra because she was paying per roll and it was just expected that you got the shot after one roll.  Everyone worked that way.  All photographers worked this way.  If she bought a 3-roll shoot that meant we shot 3 looks and no more.  If at the end she wanted an extra look she had to pay my fee for an extra roll.  It was that simple!  So someone please tell me why it should be any different now that we are shooting digital.  Just because we have the technology to shoot a thousand frames for a portfolio shoot does not mean we should. Who wants to sit at the computer all day and night editing out the bad shots? I sure don’t. My place is behind the camera, NOT in front of a computer. Sure there are certain little things I need to do in the computer, however, I wanna be shooting more of the time than sitting at the computer.

      I personally feel that many many many photographers of this new generation have not only lost discipline, they haven’t even learned it!   If the shot doesn’t look right then don’t hit the shutter button!  Simple!   If the model isn’t giving you what you want, then you stop, pull her aside and have a short heart to heart just like a catcher does with his pitcher in a baseball game.  The catcher doesn’t let his pitcher just keep throwing pitch after pitch with the same or worse results.  Do you see the comparison?  You don’t just keep shooting and hoping for the model to read your mind as she gets more tired and frustrated.  You use your people skills that you are supposed to possess and constantly fine tune just as you are constantly fine-tuning your photography skills.

      By the way this is also good practice for when you do shoot that ad campaign and HOPEFULLY the client, art director, creative director are not all sitting around getting bored, frustrated and wishing they hadn’t hired you because they’ve realized that each image they saw in your portfolio came about from shoots like this where you had to shoot thousands of images to get a few usable ones!   Portfolio shoots and creative tests are great for training your eye and fine tuning your skills for that day when you do get that big ad campaign and you run your set like a five star general with confidence pouring out of your ears and you are directing your model or models and shooting efficiently, shooting only the amount of images you need because you KNOW when you have gotten that shot you need to satisfy your client.

      I had a model friend who told me that for a large ad campaign he was shot by Horst P Horst.  All the lighting was done, set dressing, make up etc.  it was time to shoot.  The model gets on his mark, strikes a pose, Horst shoots two frames and says  “That’s a wrap!”    And everyone started to wrap as usual thinking nothing more.  That’s because Horst was confident, the client knew it and trusted him.  If Horst says he got it, then he got it.  In the end no one knows how many or how few shots it took to get that campaign shot.  In the end what matters is if you kept your shoot on budget, didn’t stress the model, pleased the client and have a fun relaxed shoot.  This can only happen when you are a disciplined photographer, who does not over shoot, spray and pray and lose control.

I am going to Nashville June 10th to shoot country singer Hannah Bethel for her up coming EP release and some promo photos.  While I am there I have scheduled a fashion / glamor workshop.  The workshop will be a full two days and I will cover my shooting styles and lighting styles as well as how to direct and work with a professional make up artist and how to direct models.   I will also be covering business practices.  The two day workshop will be just like my two day workshop I conduct out here in Los Angeles.

This one is a little different in that I am going to be in Nashville and I am accepting six photographers and offering a much lower discounted price of $650 for two full days. The normal rate is $1,650 for two days for a private workshop.  With a small group of six photographers it will be just the right number so that there aren’t too many so you can fully grasp my techniques and have my full attention.

Day one we will be covering studio lighting for fashion and glamor.

Day two will cover how to light outdoors, especially in difficult lighting conditions.  With the use of different lighting tools like a speed light on camera, to reflectors to using actual strobes and scrims, I will show you that you don’t have to wait until the “golden hour” to make great photographs.

There will be food and drink as well as a whole lotta southern fun !  You can get more information and sign up on this workshop page and you can get the full details of what I cover in  my two day photography workshops that normally run $1,650.00 here.

Check it out and please ask any questions you may have !          

Time is running out !  Reserve your spot today !

Yes that’s right.  I shot this fashion swimwear campaign with just my Canon 580 EX II and a 5 foot tall reflector to fill in some shadows on the opposite side of the model.  I went with this set up because it’s light weight and portable and that flash packs a punch !  With the tide coming in and my assistant and I getting splashed alot with water, having a heavy Profoto portable pack would have been cumbersome and just one big pain literally lol.

The model was a trooper !  Lisa Peake from L.A. Models did a terrific job as the cold and damp weather set in.  At this point the photographer and first assistant need to work fast and work smart.  There is no room for error.  As I’m shooting I’m already thinking of my next shot, call it multitasking .  The sun is going down so fast that if you are not sure of your equipment you will lose that shot and the model will get frustrated and that is when you have lost the momentum and you don’t want that to happen.  Oh and let’s not forget the client standing right in back of you barking off suggestions and of course the client knows everything about photography !  Shooting a real fashion job is not as easy as it looks.  We often look at the final photo and have no idea what was going on at the shoot, what kinds of pressure the photographer was faced with and how many different people and situations he or she had to deal with.

So just don’t forget about that.  Being a successful fashion photographer takes MUCH more talent than pushing a shutter button and shooting a couple of photos of a pretty girl in a studio where it’s just you, the model and the make up artist.  Learn the gear, take time to understand what your model is going through at the shoot, learn how to deal with pushy clients that won’t shut up and take it from there.  You will be surprised at what you can achieve when you take the time to really learn what happens at a professional photo shoot.

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 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.

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 !

I am a true photographer, especially a fashion photographer.  How many of you can HONESTLY say this ?  Think really hard because I am willing to bet that the majority of this new breed of photographers who have never shot film have no clue what the basic fundamentals of photography are .  Now I know you are all out there calling me an asshole and every other name in the book but the proof is in the photos.

I spoke to a photographer today who has only been shooting for about a year.  He told me how much he loves digital. I asked him why.  Get ready to fall back in your seats because his answer made me cringe.  He told me he loves digital photography because he doesn’t know the basic fundamental lighting techniques and he just fixes his photos in Photoshop.  If he needs an extra light he just pops it in where he needs it.  I was so thrown back I couldn’t even gather my thoughts to say anything back. Think about what this person said.  It’s SAD and PATHETIC ! And I am so damn sick of it !  Don’t get me wrong, he is a friend and a good person but it’s guys like this that are hurting the business and hurting true professionals like me and many others.

So now we have the business of photography to be concerned with. If he doesn’t know the basic fundamentals of photography do you think he knows anything about how to run a photography business ?  Hell friggin no he doesn’t !

This brings me to my main reason for writing this post.   Just because we are now shooting digital, does not give you an excuse to lose your discipline which is exactly what has happened with everyone today !  With the advent of digital, photographers have gotten LAZY and don’t even know how to connect with their subject, which is what makes a great photograph.  Richard Avedon was amazing at this.   I highly suggest you all go out and get the DVD Richard Avedon – Darkness and Light by American Masters Productions.   What you will see is he used a Rolleiflex camera.  The Rollei as most call it for short is actually my favorite camera and it only cost me $250 used of course.  They aren’t made anymore.  The camera is medium format, 6×6 cm and can take 120 or 220 film. There is no meter in it, no electronics, no batteries, no auto focus and no zoom lens.  You must crank to advance to the next frame and to achieve focus you line up the diagonal line in the focus prism.  You must hold it very steady and to make it even more challenging the image you see when you look down is reversed !  So lets say you are using 120 film, you have only 12 chances to get the shot you need/ want.  That’s right you heard me, 12 chances ! That’s it !  You don’t get 1,000 chances.  So you must take your time with your subject and this gives you the opportunity to actually connect !  There’s none of this taking the shot, looking at it to see if you got your exposure correct  wile the model sits there thinking about what a moron you are.

Meet the Rolleiflex !  Click the image to make it larger.  I labeled all the elements for you.  I still shoot with this camera on tests to keep my chops up.  It slows me down, relaxes me which relaxes the model.  I have to think about the shot and if I REALLY want to push the shutter, which btw is almost silent.  What I find very ironic is this post really can apply to everyone in any business and even in family life.  We all need to slow down, think, then react.  We need to reconnect with each other and remember why the person you are photographing is so special.  Why is your wife so special when you come home and give her a kiss ?  When you put your kids to bed at night look at them, talk to them, cherish them. Slow down and tell them you love them.  Ask them if they are happy.  Tell them how happy you are.

You could ask the same questions, say the same things to your subject as they sit in front of you letting you inside their soul to see everything.  And because you took the time to really look at them, get to know them, they are going to give you all they have, just lke your wife and kids or girlfriend will give you more and appreciate you more.  Life is all connected.  It’s one big giant circle and everything is interrelated.  Trust me…… try this….. you can’t go wrong.

So who do you think got me to start shooting the Rollei ?  My mentor and great friend celebrity fashion photographer Jerry Avenaim. He has taught me what Avedon taught him, Demarchelier taught him.  The fact that I am following in the footsteps of some of the greatest photographers to ever grace this planet makes me feel so special and I thank the universe everyday for this.

Here is another view of the great Rolleiflex.  You can see the viewing lens and taking lens.  You can also see how to set the shutter speed and aperture.  Look at this camera and think about how much discipline a photographer has to have to use it.  Remember, newspaper photographers  used this, photo journalists who had to be able to get “the shot” !  PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  ! PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  ! PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCIPLINE  !  Please get this in your head and practice it.  You will be a better photographer as well as a better person.

Looking down into the Rolleiflex viewfinder you see the image is reversed.  Yes this is my living room.  The image is reversed  however, your thinking will become so clear and concise.  Your photographs will become breathtaking and you will leave your mark on this world when you leave it.  That is something I am very proud to say I have done many times and it is a feeling that you will always cherish just as you will cherish the memories of the subjects you photographed because you slowed down, stopped, listened, looked and then…….. you reacted.

I wanna hear your thoughts and experiences.

I’ve decided to create a photographic gear review from someone who actually uses the gear.  One thing I don’t like about reading reviews on other sites is that they use the piece of gear for a few days and that’s it.  Well I want to read hands on reviews from a photographer who has been using the camera, flash, light etc. for longer than just a few days.

So recently I purchased the Canon 5DMarkII.  Now, I should mention that I HATE buying new gear.  I don’t look at new gear as a toy or something that I can have fun with.  A camera, light whatever is just a tool to capture what I really love which is fashion.  But because of digital I gotta keep up with the technology and that gets expensive.

The Canon 5DMarkII is a GREAT camera !   The 21 mega pixels is more than enough to shoot anything you need to shoot.   The full frame sensor is totally needed to capture the highlights and shadows, more bit depth, and the camera has the new Digic 4 processor which is FAST !   Use a UDMA CF card and you will not only be able to shoot multiple frames faster but also the images will download to the computer at lightning speeds.   Ok so you already know the technical details.  How does it perform on a job ?  The image below was taken right from the camera.  No post done at all.

I have to admit that coming from a Canon 1DS which is an old camera but still a workhorse that delivers amazing photos, was something I was very apprehensive about making the switch.  What I LOVE  about the 5D2 is that even with the battery grip it is still much lighter than any of the 1DS cameras.  I’m 40 years old now and not a kid anymore so holding a really heavy camera all day is something that my muscles just don’t like lol.

The focus issues I have been hearing about are non existent with this camera.  I haven’t had any problems.  Every shot is tack sharp.  But remember, YOU MUST USE CANON LENSES.  The electronics talk to each other much better than off brand lenses.  The only problem it does have is when I am shooting a model back lit with flair and not much contrast, it does have trouble locking focus.  But what I do is use the center AF point and I am fine.  I want to say to Canon that they should have put cross hair focus marks on all 9 AF points and not just the center AF point. I mean come on, the 50 D has cross hair focusing on all of it’s 9 AF points and it’s a less expensive camera !  What were you thinking Canon ?  But remember, when I first started shooting there was no auto focus and you had one focus prism in the center and you had to line up the two lines to get your focus so I will stop complaining lol.  When I am shooting in a normal situation with no back light and nice contrast, all 9 focus points work perfect.

I like the way the buttons are all laid out, easy to get to without having to look away from the viewfinder.  I can change my focus point with my right thumb.  One thing I must say I don’t like is that the dial on the left that changes your different shooting modes should have a lock.  I notice at times I’m on auto, or portrait etc. when I should be on manual.

The LCD screen is awesome and very accurate. The menus are easy to navigate and very self explanatory.  I like the way it feels in my hand WITH the battery grip.  Without the grip I must admit the camera feels small but then again, I shot just as great photos with my Canon AE-1 which is MUCH smaller than this camera.   We’ve all gotten spoiled.

The camera is very solid and I don’t have to worry about knocking it around a bit.  The material on the body makes it easy to hold and handle.  I actually only use the one battery that came with it and I get through  a whole 10 hour shoot day without having to recharge it.

The quality of the images of course is AMAZING.  With the new full frame sensor and 21 mega pixels you can make a friggin billboard.   The color tones are very accurate and even the white balance is accurate.  I ALWAYS shoot  a color card but never seem to need it.  The camera does everything but wipe your …………… well you know  lol.

Would I recommend the Canon 5DMark II ?  You bet your ass I would.   You can’t go wrong.