Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

When a fashion model calls me asking to shoot for her model portfolio what does that involve ?  I get this question often and I love to answer my fellow photographer comrades.

ASK QUESTIONS – GAIN INSIGHT – GIVE ANSWERS

The first thing I ask the model is if she is new and has no photos at all or is she a working model and just needs to update her portfolio.  If she tells me that she is  just starting out, doesn’t  have an agency yet and needs to start a portfolio, then I ask her how tall she is, what color hair , measurements etc.   That will lead to her emailing me a couple of snapshots of herself so I can get an idea of what type of modeling she should get into.  If she is 5′ 6″ – 5′ 7″ then I know she is not going in to high fashion.  If she has a beautiful body and great hair and is physically fit then what I would do is:

1. Shoot a beauty shot that emphasizes her beautiful hair and skin.

2. Shoot her in a swimsuit. It can be in studio or on a beach or even the desert.

3. Have her bring a running outfit or a tennis outfit.  Maybe she does yoga.  A fitness shot is important.

4. Shoot  a commercial fashion / Hollister/ Abercrombie type shot.  Commercial fashion is big in Los Angeles and actually it’s big everywhere.  You can’t go wrong with this look.

5. Lingerie is popular and pays good money for a model.   If she doesn’t want to do lingerie then I would change it to something in the look of a catalog “Gap” looking shot.  So that is five different shots.  I shoot in studio and outdoors at a couple different locations that suit the shot.

This is a nice variety of images that show the model in enough situations for the agent to get an idea of where the agency can place her and which castings to send out on.

Now some might not have a home studio and can only shoot outdoors.  That’s ok.  I just shoot both because I have a home studio.  The more variety you can offer the better.  I know what agencies want to see because I have been doing this so long and have seen hundreds and hundreds of model portfolios.

MAKE UP ARTIST

I ALWAYS include a make up/ hair artist and keep the make up simple, not over the top.  Remember that the model is a product to the agency and the agency is selling the product.   When I hold a casting I wanna see what the model looks like and I don’t want to see photos that the photographer has retouched so much that she looks fake.  Do not over do the retouching guys.  Save that for your advertising clients and editorials.

PRINT SIZE

The standard print size for a model portfolio is 9″x12″  Some agencies do use smaller books but the majority use 9″ x 12″ prints.

CLOTHING

As far as clothing is concerned I have the girl bring her own clothes.  I email her examples of the look we will be going for so she can plan.  Always have her bring twice the amount of outfits.  So five looks she should bring ten outfits.  That way I have choices and I can mix and match if need be.

LIGHTING

You DON’T  want to use flat boring lighting, but you also don’t want to light too dramatically either.  Remember as you are going through the day that she is going to try to get an agent and the agent wants to see what she looks like.

Now I want to remind you that this photo HAS NOT been retouched yet and the model did have slight acne, but with the combination of a great make up artist and soft beauty lighting, this image will only need slight retouching.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to light your work so it doesn’t have to go through hours of retouching.  It only creates a bigger budget for the client no matter how small or large the client is.

To sum up, when you get the call to shoot a model portfolio you want to:

1. Ask questions – gain insight – give answers

2. Shoot five different looks.

3. Shoot in studio (if you can) and shoot on location

4. Include a make up/ hair artist

5. Use clean flattering lighting.

Talk to your model during the whole shoot.  Direct the model especially if she is new and never shot before.  You need to help her feel confident and sexy.  You are the one person she is counting on to make her shots great and that those shots get her an agent !

Now get out there and shoot shoot shoot !  Ask me anything you would like and share with everyone ! 

Ahhhh yes photographing a beautiful fashion model on the beach and getting paid for it.  The ultimate dream for most beginning photographers.  I mean come on, you’re at a beautiful beach, warm sun and beautiful women right in front of you.    Well yes that is awesome.  So when I got the call from my client I was stoked UNTIL she said she wants to shoot at night.  My mind raced with every possible problem that I would face which of course the client has no clue about  because that isn’t their job to know what problems could arise.

So we have fourteen swimsuits to photograph and five different locations at Sycamore Cove up in Ventura County.  Call time was 8pm and we would shoot until 3:30am !  Ok so yes it is summer here in Los Angeles but at night especially the later it gets on the beach the temperature drops very low.  I don’t know what the temp was exactly but it was friggin cold !

Yes the model was wearing pretty much nothing, the bikini’s are VERY small but I needed my fingers to work and needed my mind to function lol.  I wore a skull cap to keep my bald head warm and a couple of sweatshirts.

Ok so enough of my bitching.  Shooting on the beach during the day is a challenge but at night it is even more challenging. We had to calculate what night and time low tide would be and schedule the shoot accordingly. We got lucky as it was a full moon so we weren’t working in pitch blackness but it was dark.  Flashlights were a must.  I had two assistants, make up, hair etc. the whole shabang.

Now of course there is no electricity down on the beach so we rented a Profoto 7B pack, two heads and some grids.  My key light had a large 4 x 6 foot Pro Foto soft box coming from camera left and up high angled down a bit. My f stop was f/8.  The light you see on the rocks behind our model  was bare bulb with the standard reflector attached and my first assistant hand held it at just the right spot.  The tide would come in and sometimes the water was too high so we had to sit there and wait until I decided was the perfect time to pull the trigger.  You can’t tell but Morgan our model was freezing her ass off .  To make matters worse this was around 2:30 am !   It was VERY VERY cold.  So here she is not moving a muscle waiting for me to fire the shot.  This shoot was definitely a challenge.  You know what’s cool ? You can’t even tell how difficult it was because the final image looks like it was a breeze.  But that is what separates the men from the boys    I would love to get some questions and comments on this post.  There is much more info I have to offer.  How in the world did I lock focus ?  But I want you guys to ask and I also want you to think about not just the technical aspects of the shoot but the psychology and how as a photographer I had to keep my model feeling beautiful even though she was freezing and wet.

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Had another great private photography workshop last weekend with a super nice guy who came allllllll the way out from Ottawa Canada !  He also signed up for three days not just the two days !

The first day of the workshop I went over portfolio set up, size of prints, how they should be organized etc.  I say “they” because you should have a portfolio for each one of your specialties.  Dave has only been shooting for 4 months and he is very good.  Aside from being creatively talented you must also know the business and how it works.  I explained contracts and what should be included.  We talked about how to get real models to shoot for your portfolio, how to direct them etc.  I also covered tax write offs and most important I taught him about usage !  USAGE USAGE USAGE !    Dave had no idea he should be charging usage fees.  So I really covered many areas on the business side that will increase his business sales.  I then prepped him for the shoot with the model on the second day.

Most photographers these days when they are just starting out will build an in home photography studio which is a great idea.  But many really don’t know how to go about it to make it practical and useful for everyone on the team, make up artist etc.  So instead of renting a studio we shot in my home studio.  We started the day with showing Dave how to direct a make up artist, what looks good with certain outfits.  My make up artist explained about the different foundations etc.  Dave gained a wealth of information seeing how I have set up my studio and how I have made it work for me.  So I shot the model first.  It was a great way for Dave to observe how I direct the model, what I say to the model, and basically how I conduct a fashion shoot.

So now you can see my in home studio.  Obviously for large commercial shoots I rent a very large photography studio in LA, but for workshops, head shots etc. you’re in home studio will work perfectly !

You can see that we used a two light set up.  That light that is facing Dave is for the flare.  And here is the final shot not retouched btw.  Dave did a great job and absorbed everything I taught him.  Stay tuned for the third day !

➢ The closer your light modifier is to your model, the broader/softer your light will be. The farther away, the more direct/harsher your light will be. An umbrella will yield more contrast than a soft box.

Just a quick note to let you all know that the workshops have been going great ! Everyone is really gaining some great knowledge and having a great time. Remember the workshop is private one on one. I have a professional model and make up artist at every workshop. The photographers who have taken my workshop all agree that learning one on one is so much better than attending a group workshop. You can ask any amount of questions and you get them all answered without anyone else interrupting.

So whether you are just starting out in photography or have been shooting for awhile and want to brush up on your skills, my private workshop is a great way to learn and focus on EXACTLY what you want to learn and not what 12 other people want to learn all at the same time.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions !

Thank you !
– Jason 818-889-9559 jason@jasonchristopher.com