File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
/p/, how does one find an attractive female model to shoot sans you know, hiring one? I want to work on portraits but pretty much all my friends are guys.
>> Anonymous
try making friends with girls who are attractive and know it and want to flaunt it?
>> Anonymous
No known solution. Why do you think trains are common subjects?
>> Anonymous
Stop being such a creep and make friends with some good looking chicks.
>> Anonymous
Well, I have one female friend who's pretty cute looking but she's been kinda shady to me of late... And I'm hardly a creep; just don't really know how I can befriend a hot chick just like that since I'm not in school anymore.
>> Anonymous
most hot girls like their photo to be taken. they're attention whores like that. telling them they might become famous helps too.
>> Anonymous
>>87200
i second this


if you're a good photographer... walk around with a portfolio .. and stop random hot females, then ask if you can take their photos.

email it back to em later, if they like it.... > bang, bikini shoot


it works for me :]
>> Anonymous
www.modelmayhem.com/ or craigslist. A lot of girls are looking for head shots for there portfolio.
>> Anonymous
>>87205
you mean profile not portfolio?
>> Anonymous
dont be a fat ugly motherfucker and have some skills in dealing with ladies

its not hard

pimple cream, treadmill, salads and learnign how to talk

PEASY
>> Anonymous
>>87221

idiot
>> Anonyfag of Borneo !bHymOqU5YY
Uh, just ask them? I did just that. Maybe the DSLR helps...
>> Anonymous
>>87224

Not being like this jackass and knowing how to spell helps, too.

Honestly, a portfolio showing that you're legit and not a creeper helps immensely in easing the anxiety of the potential model.
>> Anonymous
At least ask nicely, and if once doesn't want to theres a dozen others who do. I agree with having a portfolio set up, maybe online and you can just hand them business cards or something like that. I currently have 1 model who shoots with me on a regular basis on any subject I want because I helped her out with her portfolio, another friend of hers that I knew her through who wouldn't want to shoot with me at first but after constantly asking her, she caved anyway, and now wants her pictures to be taken on a more constant basis. I got a female friend who would do a bikini shoot with me, with a possibilty of her bringing another one for a normal shoot, but if the bikini shoot goes fine, I can't see why her friend doesn't want to do a bikini shoot as well. And I found a girl on Friendster which mentions she likes modelling, and after rediscovering her again on Facebook, now wants to do a shoot after complaining her previous work was getting old. And of course, ModelMayhem works, but they dont have any models in my area, but I found an Indonesian model through there which I might be shooting this December.

And I can be considered creepy and slightly overweight. But if you play your cards right, and willing to network by shooting less attractive people in the chance they would bring friends along, there's better chance of you having lots of models to choose from.

Have a studio area set aside for when you want to do some intimate portrait shoot so that they can feel at ease no one can see them pose or emote, and always have some locations scouted out before hand so you can always throw around ideas for the looks you want to achieve with them. It would seem like you did your homework rather than some creepy guy coming up to them on the street, and it would seem that you've done shoots before.
>> Anonymous
You need something that resembles a studio (or a good location), a half decent portfolio (a web version is very useful), business cards and some courage. Google 'time for prints'/'tfp', 'time for cd'/'tfcd', 'test shoot' and 'model directory'. There are literally thousands of young women who are looking for a photographer and are perfectly happy to do a three-hour session for a CD of jpegs or a few glossy prints for their modelling portfolio. A great many are willing to do nude shoots. Put a half-decent ad on craigslist or in the local newspaper offering free test shoots and you should be flooded with responses - photography is a competitive business, but modelling immeasurably more so. Put adverts up in beauty salons, arts colleges, dance schools - wherever you see young women with aspirations to fame. You won't get stunning, experienced models, but you will get more attractive young women than you would imagine possible.

Be honest(ish) about your experience, don't go roping people in if you don't think you can send them away with some good shots for their portfolio, make sure you get a photocopy of ID and a model release and borrow or hire some lights if you don't have any. As long as you act in a professional manner and get decent results, you'll have more offers of work than you could possibly cope with.

Bear in mind that as long as you act the part, have a good portfolio, an SLR and some strobes, a layperson can't tell the difference between you and some homo on 'America's Next Top Model'. Think back to before you got into photography and as to what constituted your idea of a professional photographer.
>> Anonymous
stop wanking around and just ask. all women want to be little fashion models
>> Anonymous
OP here. Appreciate the responses.

Alright, well, as advised, I tried the craigslist route and some girl emailed me and basically said she'd really be up for it but she's never modeled before and that I'd have to tell her how to pose, how to look and all that jazz. From looking at her myspace, she's pretty cute.

Now how do I not fuck this up? I've done portraits for my friend before but he's basically the closest guy I know, so I dunno - this has the potential to possibly get weird and I need some advice on how not to come off as a total noob. Oh and as far as equipment, I only have a D40. Obviously, sans a prime, I'm not going to get super amazingly sharp pictures but I guess I'll have to make do. I was thinking maybe doing a shoot at the beach at sunset and have her wear a sundress or something. Good idea? Bad idea? Need some input on doing portraits with strangers, /p/.
>> Anonymous
>>87368
D40. Facepalm.jpg.

Get some decent primes, some Ai-S primes even for not a whole lot of money. And if you're gonna go for sunset shoots, forget it if you don't have any decent light, coz you'd fail miserably. Now, for the part of it getting weird, have someone she knows come along, preferrably a girl. You need to be the alpha guy on location and have control of the shoot, while remembering to keep it professional. Talk with them, have a light conversation. That should go a long way.
>> Anonymous
>>87372
Yeah, I know how a bunch of you feel about the D40 and quite frankly, I'd get another body if I could afford it but I guess I'm going to have to make do with what I have. And AFAIK there's only a single 30mm prime from Sigma that autofocuses on the D40, so yeah...

So the sunset thing is a bad idea? What do you mean by "decent light"? You mean decent natural light or an external flash or some such?
>> Anonymous
>>87430
1. I think a sunset would be fine if you know how to meter properly, and have an eye for light.

2. There's no flaw to the D40 that isn't inherent in it being an entry level SLR. Forget about anyone whining about it.

3. The Sigma 28/1.8 is a great lens, and gives a focal length on a crop sensor just a millimeter shy of the "true normal" of 43mm.

Is there some reason why you're looking for a normal focal length? Medium telephotos are generally preferred for portraiture anyway, and a 50mm prime can be had for under $100.
>> Anonymous
>>87434
Addendum: I assume the 28/1.8 autofocuses. I don't know the exact intricacies of the D40's autofocus ability.

But come on, you're doing portraits. The only thing easier than those to manually focus is static scenes, and manual focusing isn't hard for anything once you learn to do it right. Manually focus.
>> Anonymous
The D40 lacks the screw that turns the autofocusing on the AF lenses. The only ones that will AF are AF-s or HSM lenses. For a lot less monies, long reach AI-s or 50 1.8 can be had for like under a hundred bucks there.

When I said light in>>87372is external flashes. If that beach is retarded and the sunset doesn't go 'into' the sea, then yes you can get some nice light with the sea as the background, but if the sunset is setting into the sea beind the model, you'd need a flash, else she'd turn into a silhoutte. Getting a flash and knowing how to operate it properly, (read up Strobist's lighting 101) would do wonders, even if you have it on cam at the onset.

The thing is light conditions change fast during the 30 minutes of the golden light, so you would need to know how to adjust everything as fast as possible, and if you're fumbling about with the flash levels, your shutter speed or aperture, you're gonna be shit out of luck, and nice pictures too. So, to save you from headache, take her to a park and shoot her there, with nice 3pm light, and from there on you are learning how to photograph HER, not how to fumble about with your camera. I found a PDF of poses running a couple of pages, but I can't find the link at the moment. I'll post it if I can find it.

Oh and if Manual focusing is anything like the D80's or any 35mm camera, you should have a yellow circle indicator that tells you that the selected AF point is in focus. If it does have that, use it. It's a life saver if you have shit eyes.
>> Anonymous
Buy (or borrow) a Nikon 50/1.8 or a recent-model Sigma f2.8 zoom, then don't give a second more thought to lenses. You'll ultimately want the longest, fastest lens you can afford, but that can wait. Buy a couple of reflectors with stands and beg, borrow or steal the biggest flash system you possibly can. If you have to, buy a cheap Novatron or Speedotron kit. Watch professional fashion photographers at work and even on a beach in Hawaii they'll have thousands of watt-seconds of illumination on hand. The brighter the light, the more you need to control it - good reflectors or fill flash are essential when working in bright sunlight, otherwise you'll be struggling all day with ugly, harsh shadow.

Photography. Painting with light. The more light you have control over, the more you can control the results. If you've got a good strobe kit you will never be faced with the embarrassing prospect of having to say 'sorry, the light is no good'.

Forget about the golden hour. Schedule a shoot to end around sunset if you want to have a go at it, but you need good shots in the bank when the light is predictable in case it all goes wrong when you're running out of sun. They expect to get some nice photos out of the bargain.

As regards handling amateur models - everyone can pose if they're happy and relaxed. If you're struggling to maintain rapport then set up your camera on a tripod with focus and exposure set, sit your subject down, grab your cable release and crack out all your worst jokes. Your attention should be on the subject, not your camera.
>> des
>>87446
>>It's a life saver if you have shit eyes.
Amen to that. Although it might have been poor memory, it *seemed* like the D40's viewfinder was a lot brighter and easier for me to focus than the D70. I don't have one, so I can't compare but it seemed that way.
Can that thing trap focus?