CamAbs

An archeologist is born

2009-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

I like to try something new here. Normally, when I get a new idea, I sit on it for months and tell no one about it. It needs time to grow and ripen. I often make small adjustments to it over time, or leave it as is for weeks and then change it dramatically. It all depends on so many things: Moods, models and MUA's I meet or work from others that I happen to see. It may even depend on things I read in the paper or see on tv. Or on the street for that matter.

This time, I'll do it a bit different. I will not just sit on the idea, I will share the developments with you, my readers. I will call the new idea 'the archeologist'. In fact, it is anything but new. Some time ago, I developed a whole series of shoots, called Earth people. For this series, I constructed a table where models could stand in, that would be covered with earth. I started the series, but I did only one of the shoots I designed, the Gardener. That shoot, featuring Nicky, worked out well, but I found that the static nature of the table did not work out well. So I abbandonned the idea.

A couple of days ago, I was taking a shower, and somehow thought back of one of the themes of Earth people; the archeologist. Okay, the static table did not work out, but why abbandon the entire idea? If I find a nice backdrop and a couple of props, this would still be a great theme for a studio shoot. And think of a lighting plan of course. Think of how light falls inside a pyramid! Not that I've ever been in one, but we're talking clihces here, not realism.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted on the developments in the coming weeks.

Forbidden love

2009-11-12T03:32:00.000-08:00

It is a classic, maybe even the classic, drama theme of all times. My former co-author at this blog devoted some of her deeper thoughts to the theme. I have been wanting to do a shoot inspired by the theme for a long time. But somehow, something held me back for no apparent reason. Silly? I guess so. But then I finally did the shoot, about a month ago, with ice and fire taking the role of two lovers that can´t be together. Cessy -by no means a cold person- was a convincing ice princess and Terence acted as a great fire prince. Awesome make up by Christine and colored strobes finished the picture.

The picture in this article is the final shot from the shoot. The lighting is more dramatic in this shot than in the other picture from the shoot, marking the innevitable end of two lovers who will never be together. For ice will melt from fire and the melting water will put out the fire.

To me, this shoot marks the end of an era. Maybe that’s why it took me so long to actually shoot it. I will turn towards a different style of model photography in the near future. Curious? So am I. I’m not nearly sure what it will look like, but there is change in the air. Just wait and see.

See more from this shoot in my deviantArt gallery.

Ada & Eve

2009-09-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

disclaimer 1: if you are easily insulted, stop reading now. This is just a story I made up. It ain't true, and there is no need to live by the rules of the story. The story by no means attacks your religions or beliefs, it's just a story. Neither is it anti-male or anti-female. If it has any mesage at all, the message is not to take internet blogs so seriously. ;)

disclaimer 2: the pitcure is inspired by the story and the ladies in the pictue are models. Any resemblence between the people in the story and the ladies in the picture is due to coincidence or careful castings and does not imply any thing about the private life of the models.

This may come as a shock to you, but the story of how men fell from grace with God is not true. It was made up by people who are ashamed of the truth. Yes, we lived in Paradise, and yes, we were chased out. Metaphorically, that is. True, the story involves an apple, but the apple didn’t have anything to do with anything. Neither did the snake. This, you see, was paradise. And in paradise, snakes are nice and friendly creatures. No poison, no strangling, no lies nor deceit. Yes, it has a forked tongue, but who are we to judge an animal by its looks? We have no one to blame but ourselves.

On the sixth day, God created men. Not a man, but men. Two women actually, Ada and Eve. Why women? Silly question. This is paradise. Who needs guys in paradise? Ada and Eve lived in paradise for many, many years and they were happy. They loved the flowers and the birds and all the other animals and they loved each other. Were thy lesbians, you ask? What a typical post-paradise thing to ask. Ada and Eve never wondered whether they were lesbian. They just loved each other. Period. Every now and then, Ada and Eve ate an apple or two. Not every day, as there weren’t any doctors in paradise anyway. And so many other fruits too choose from. But that’s not the point here.

Ada and Eve were perfectly happy. Well, not perfectly, something seemed to be missing. So they started looking for whatever it was they were missing. And one day, Eve found a picture of a guy on some obscure website. Not knowing what that was, she called Ada: “Look! This is what we need. Let’s ask God a favor.”

God, in all her wisdom, said no. But you know how women are. Ada and Eve kept nagging and nagging and nagging, until God finally gave in. She put Ada to sleep, removed her breasts and 80% of her brain and added some hairs and a penis. And that’s about it. No angels with flaming swords or anything. When Ada, now Adam, woke up, the place hadn’t changed a bit. But it wasn’t paradise anymore. Paradise was lost…

Finally: something new on CamerA AbsurdA

2009-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've been busy. You can tell that by the frequency of my postings here. You can tell that by my utter silence at most of the communities I visit and by the lack of new things on my main web site. I picked up shooting models again. Did a shoot in February, but that didn't work out. Not the right theme, not the right combination of people. Results were okay, but nothing spectacular. That's fine, these things happen.

I had a large shoot planned, mid March. I had already found a location, the female model and the Make up artist. About a week before the shoot, I felt that the communication between me and the model wasn't great. I had to tell her no and find a new one on short notice. And I did. And a damned good one too! Ofcourse, we'll never know how it would have turned out with the other model, but working with Nadine was just great! She hardly needs directions, knows rightaway what to do and has great expressions available.

The shoot, labelled "Queen of the Reich" after the epic metal song, shows the contrast between the traditional horror view, with the damsel in distress, and the alternative approach, where the Queen rules the Realm of darkness. I like a little twist, you know. Both versions are online now, go check 'm out. Enjoy!

more:
Some fun facts about the song

Modeling tips: feedback

2009-03-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

Look up feedback in wikipedia, and you´ll find a rather technical and abstract story. This blog article is not technical or abstract. It looks at feedback you might want to recieve as a model, discussing why, how and where to get feedback, and how to receive it.

Why?
This is the simplest question. Feedback, if used right, can help you improve your performance. It is a very quick way to learn and greatly directed to your specific needs. If feedback is so great, you might ask, how come it is used so little in the modeling industry? That's because feedback does not come naturally, you'll have to organize it. Some agents do that, but not all of them do. Free lance models hardly ever do it. Why not start now?

Where to get it?
Who do you want feedback from? I would think you'dd like feedback from someone with experience in the business, who has seen many good and not-so-good models. Your agent? Yes, that's one person that fits the description. But there are more; every photographer, every make up artist and every styling artist fits that description. That means that potential feedback is all around you! You only need to get it.

Internet communities are also a place to get good feedback, based on the pictures you post in the community. Do note though that some people tend to forget about nettiquette and some feedback may be very harsh. Don't let it get to you. Ignore the blunt ones and learn from the good ones.

How?
There is a catch though. Photographers are not very likely to give you feedback during the shoot. Right or wrong, they fear that feedback will influence the result of the shoot. So try to get feedback after the shoot, but tell the photographer in advance that you want feedback. That way, he (and the styling artist and the make-up artist) can look at you with different eyes and give you constructive feedback. In fact, he might even improve his directions as he looks different. When recieving feedback, be open to it. Sometimes, feedback may hit you hard at first and some people are a bit cruel in communicating feedback. Let's face it, photographers are not in the business because they are great communicators; their talent is photography. In any case, don't go all defensive (see links below for more tips), but listen, remember and use whatever you can use. I'm sure you'll get some great tips.

More resources:
Giving and receiving feedback
Giving and receiving feedback for academics, with practical implications for non-academics too (pdf)

Photography tips: Bad weather

2009-01-24T05:38:00.000-08:00

Photographers are heavily biased towards nice weather. If we were to judge the word by pictures alone, we would be inclined to believe that we live under a clear blue sky for 90% of the time. Of course, we don't. Photographers just don't like getting wet, so they only go out when the weather is nice. Such a shame, since bad weather can be a very interesting subject.

Bad weather means bad light

Unfortunately, that is true. You won't have much light and the light is pretty flat. But there are ways around that. You will probably still have enough light if you use a fast lense, and high ISO-values are not much of a problem for cloudy skies. Nevertheless, pick your weather carefully. Mixed weather (clouds with showers and some sunny spells) is best. It will give you better light and more spectacular clouds, with more depth in your pictures. If you're photographing a subject rather than just clouds, try to keep the sun behind you. Heavy clouds and backlight are not a good lighting combination for anything other than silhouettes.

Post processing

The flat light of a cloudy day implies a little extra work on post processing your pictures. The most important issue here is contrast. Look at the two versiona of the same picture to the left (click for larger versions). The picture is taken with a lens that renders good contrast. Nevertheless, the unedited (upper) pic is a bit flat. That's because of the flat light.

All I did in post processing was adding three layers of level adjustments, creating more contrast, as well as the slight color change, that adds somewhat to the spookyness of the weather. Obviously, the very dark tones are applied to clouds rather than the foreground.

It's okay if your pics are a little darker than what would normally be considered correct exposure. After all, the message you are trying to convey is that of bad weather. This implies a little darkness. You can either do this in post processing or use exposure correction while shooting.

Photography tips: repetitions

2009-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Pretty much like the previous photography tip, this is an encouragement to go out and try rather than a tip. This time, I want to you to go out (or stay in) and look for anything repeating. Could be architecture, could be household equipment, could be anything.

Repetitions are everywhere, you only have to recognize them. Looking for them and photographing them is a great practice and helps you train your mind and eye. Like with the previous tip, you don't need any specific gear. Any camera will do.

Walk and watch

The best vehicle for this type of photography is by foot. Just walk around and look around. Chances are you´ll see a reptition in no time. If you see one, shoot it. But wait. Don´t move on yet. Walk around the object, or move it about if it´s small enough. Try different viewpoints, get closer, get further away. Don´t just zoom if you have a zoom lens. This is not about focal length. Moving closer or further away changes your point of view. A flight of stairs looks entirely different from 10 meters away than from right beneath it. Explore this differences. The object will probably retain its repetitions, but their nature will change, and so will your picture. Have fun!

Modeling tips: Hands!

2009-01-09T03:46:00.000-08:00

This article is not about hand posing. Hand posing is an art in itself. This article is about posing in general and the position of the hand when you pose. Awkward? Maybe. Trivial? No way! Many models focus on so many things when they’re posing that they forget about their hands. That’s a petty. A misplaced hand can ruin a good picture, whereas a well-placed hand can make a picture work. Obviously, this is the photographers task, but why wouldn’t you look after your hands too?

Principles
The simplest principle is that the hand should not disturb the way you look. It should either be out of sight or nicely aligned with your arm (see picture to the left). For most shot, this principle is sufficient. Sometimes however, your hand needs to add to the emotion you’re expressing. This is the time to over-act. Dramatic poses can really be enhanced by large and even more dramatic gestures with one or both hands. Spread your fingers to draw attention to your hand. If the pose is more subtle, adjust the pose of your hand likewise, keeping your hands small and close to the body.

Hold it!
If you are using props, you have an entirely different use for your hands. For inexperienced models, this is a great help. Holding a prop often helps you to put your hand in a natural position. But do keep in mind that this requires your attention as well. Hold the prop the way you would in real life. And practice in front of a mirror. That will make you understand the link between what you feel and hopw you look.

#100

2009-01-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I wish you all a very good 2009.

But that's not the only joyful event today. This very article is artile #100 of this blog. Started in March, that boils down to an average of about 10 articles a month. Not quite the three articles a week I planned, but not too much below that target either. I hope you enjoy reading them and I do hope you keep coming back.

To celebrate this milestone, I send this picture to the free section of Dreamstime. Registered Dreamstime-users can download the hi-res version without a watermark for free. Note that registration at Dreamstime is free as well. Go to the free picture directly by clicking on the thumbnail in this article.

Photography tips: puzzle macro

2008-12-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

This is not so much a photography tip as it is an encouragement to have fun with your camera. Puzzle macros are very rewarding and you learn a lot from them at te same time. The concept is simple: take a picture so close that the viewer is unable to tell what the subject is. You don't need professional equipment to do it, just a macro function on your lens or camera and some creativity. And a subject ofcourse, but you'll find out that the world is full of subjects that you can use for this type of photography.

Think lines and curves

Puzzle macros are essentially abstract pictures. So forget about the function of your subject and look at it in terms of shapes. Try all kinds of angles and distances and watch your image change. Discover all the hidden lines and paterns. Change the direction of light if you can and watch your image change again. Experiment as much as you like, see how many different pictures you can get out of one single subject.

Learn while you have fun

Puzzle macros are fun to do, but you'll learn from them too. You look through your lens at a very different way than you normally would and you see the effect of small changes. This will help you develop your skills and experience, no matter what your level is.

more resources:

Results from DPChallenge on Puzzle macro

What were Nintendo thinking?

2008-12-27T00:32:00.000-08:00

I am the proud owner of a Nintendo Wii. In fact, I own a balance board as well. For those who don't know: the balance board is a board you stand on. It measures the force coming from both feet (i.e. your balance) and it enables you to do all kinds of games and sports (well, kind off).

One of the sports you can practice on a Wii balance board is skiing. I was really excited about this option, because I like skiing a lot. So I tried the slalom run. At a slow pace, all went well, but as soon as speeds wen up, I kept steering the wrong direction. Why? Because the guy that developed the program doesn't know anything about skiing. How do I know? Well, it's simple. If you are on a ski slope and you put all your weight on your right leg, what direction will you go? Left, anyone who has ever skied knows that. On the Wii Skii, you'll go right if you put your weight on your right leg. Exactly the other way around! At slow speeds, my mind can think around that, but at higher speeds, muscle memory takes over, and I start steering the right (wrong) way.

Okay, I know it's not as big a problem as climte change or world poverty, but what were Nintendo thinking? Does gravity work the other way around in Japan? Why on earth does a company invest millions in developing software without taking the tiny trouble to check whether the directions are correct? They even sell a separate disc containing ski-related games only. Who's going to buy that? Right, ski-fanatics. But they will get frustrated, since their muscle memory will send them the right (wrong) way.

Modeling tips: look sexy

2008-12-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

Sex sells. No need to be shy about that. Advertisers use models that look sexy to sell their products. If a model wants work, she (and he too) will need to be able to look sexy. And it has to show from the model's portfolio as well.

Who needs nudity?
Don't go filling up your porfolio with naked pictures of yourself, that's not how it works. Nothing wrong whith nudity, but being naked and looking sexy is not the same thing. In fact, most of the good nudity photos are not even erotic, they are figurative. And you can look sexy with your clothes on, probably even sexier than you look naked. The suggestion of nudity can arouse more than actual nudity. Likewise, a seductive look can even make a close portrait look sexy.

Color code
There is ample annecdotical and scientific evidence that men associate the color red with sexy. So, red clothes and red lipstick will help you look sexy. Blushing cheeks help as well. Psychological tests have shown that even a red background adds to the sexieness of the person pictured. For male viewers that is, women tend to be less sensitive to this particular color association.

Feel sexy = look sexy
It sounds simple and it is. If you feel sexy, you will look sexy. I will make your looks more seductive and send natural blushes to your cheeks. So, forget about that photographer and anyone else in the studio and start thinking about the last time you felt particularly sexy. No matter what it is, as long as it works for you. DOn´t get carried away though.

Let mother nature help you
Did you know that mother nature has a simple trick to help people reproduce? Women look sexier in the days after thier ovulation. That's when they are fertile, so that's when moter nature wants them to breed. So mother nature makes subtle changes to your looks during that fertile stage. They are hard to notice by themselves, but they do make you look sexy. So if you can, plan a sexy shoot halfway your period. sorry, this one is useless for male models.

Calendar Girls

2008-12-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Meet calendar girls Luka and Olivia from the nearby city farm. They are girls (sisters, in fact) and they are on a calendar. The calendar is sold by a Brittish publisher called Avonside. This particular picture was on a 2008 calendar on pigs.

Of course it´s pretty cool if people use your pics to put it on a calendar that is actually sold. Some people had 'my' pigs on their walls for an entire month! But there was a catch here. Avonside bought the picture (and many others) from Shutterstock at the lowest available rate. These rates are very low, but they do not allow for reselling. Which is basically what you do when you put a picture on a calendar and sell the calendar. So Shutterstock send out their legal people to defend the rights of their submitters (and their own of course, microstock is no charity). Shutterstock and Avonside setteld the case and each photographer was paid properly for the use of their pictures.

That's what I like about microstock agencies, such as Shutterstock. Yes, they get a substantial percentage of sales, but they take care of all the hassle. They provide the marketing so their subscribers get a much larger audience than they would through their own website. And if something goes wrong, they provide the legal support. Thanks guys!

Photography tips: exif data

2008-12-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

The pics on my site contain so-called exif-data. In fact, they contain only a small part of the actual exif-data, but its the part most people seem to be interested in. Among photographers, the word exif means information on camera type, lense type, focal length, ISO, aperture and shuttertime. Why do the pics on my site contain these data? Well, because people want that information. Why do they want to know? I haven't got a clue.

Mmmm, that's not entirely true. I do have some sort of clue here, it just doesn't convince me. The point is, if you see something you like, you want to know how it's made. Well, some people do. We have two ways to find out. First: think, how you would make it. This approach will not give an exact reproduction, but you'll have fun doing it, learn a lot from it and develop a style of your own.

The second method is to copy the process. Hardly as much fun, no style of your own (but by mistake) and not too much learning either. But it will give a perfect reproduction? Of course not, silly. The exif information tells you only so much. The shuttertime and aperture reveal that I used a flash for this picture. But how many flashes? And at what lighting ratio? How were they placed? No way you can tell that from the exif data, but it's the lighting that brings out the texture, which in turn is essential for this pic. But even for daylight shots, the direction, intensity and hue of the avalaible light are not in the exif data.

Technical information only tells a small part of the story of the picture, and it's never the interesting part. Set-up, lighting, composition and timing are all far more important than shuttertime and aperture. Even postprocessing is more important. The only interesting thing about exif data is why on earth people think it's important enough to use the right mouse button.

Who’s getting old?

2008-11-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

Human age keeps puzzling me, you know. Told you before that kids take a full cat’s life to stand on their own feet. But adults are strange too. They do have an age, but it makes no sense. Some guy are –say- 20 and leave the impression of an old man. Others are going on 40 and are young and playful like a one-year-old. Cat, that is. It made me wonder, you know? And again, I chose the philosophical approach.

Have you ever noted how a baby only recognizes the 20 cm around it? One year later, it recognizes an entire room and at 4, a kid has some knowledge of the street it lives in. At 16, a kid uses its entire city or region to live in. Adults spread their activities more and more, some travel around the world as if distances don’t exist. And then, by the end of their lives, they start retreating. In their villages at first, then in their nursing homes. At last, they will stay in their room, and even hardly get out of bed.

It’s similar with friends. A baby has no friends, a toddler may have a couple, and a kid has a classroom full. In college and university, new friends are made easily and some working adults have so-called social networks. Then comes the parenting stage, again meeting new people, parents to other kids, and so on and so on. But then, let’s look at the elderly again. Their old friends die one by one, and they hardly ever make any new ones. The number reduces, call it countdown if you want to.

The pattern is clear. Both in space and in number of friends. People start with nothing. And they end up with next to nothing too. In between, people have lots of space and friends. Low at one end, low at the other end, high in the middle. Doesn’t that sound like some kind of parabola? And parabola’s have a top bit, right? At this point, the increase turns into a decrease. And that, rather than your age, defines whether you’re getting old or not.

Let me give you the bottom line: As long as the size of your world and your social network increase, you’re young. Once they start stabilizing, start to worry. You’re heading towards the downward sloping part. Your world gets smaller, the number of friends decreases: you are getting old, no matter what your age is.

It’s just a matter of logic.

Modeling tips: Be confident

2008-11-22T23:57:00.000-08:00

Confidence. If anything is important for models, confidence is. Without it, you won’t get far, no matter how pretty or talented you are. True, most people that are talented, become confident because of their talent. But this is not always true. For some, it’s easier than for others. Luckily, confidence can be trained, and this article may help you training it.

Kill that parrot
Did you know you have a parrot on your shoulder? The silly bird keeps telling you what other people think about you and he does so in a very negative voice. And you know what? The parrot is wrong 99% of the time. If your hair is a little bit out of shape for instance, the parrot will tell you that people think you look ridiculous. Wrong. Most people are far too busy with their own little problems to notice the minor things about your hair. Other people may notice it, but still think you look good, and yet other people might even like your new hairdo. Get rid of that parrot, stop worrying about what other people might think.

Fool yourself
Your mind does not know the difference between imagination and real things. You can use that. Act as-if you were confident. Ask yourself how you would walk if you were confident, ask yourself how you would talk if you were confident. Act like that and you will become confident. Keep telling yourself you can do it. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But it works, try it, you’ll be surprised.

Stand tall and smile
You can do the same in body language. Stand with your feet slightly apart, take a deep breath and keep that position, straighten your back and neck. Now you look confident. And if you look confident, you’ll feel confident. People will treat you as if you were confident, thus building your confidence even further. Stop thinking this looks silly, it doesn’t. That’s just the parrot talking. Once you stand tall, put a smile on your face. Not a frozen one, just smile to people you pass by every now and then. Smiling people look better and get smiles in return, making you feel even better. And remember, smiles are free.

Face your fears
Are you nervous about something in particular? Ask yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?”. Just go out and do it. Overcoming fear is the ultimate boost for your confidence. Defeat your fears, and you’ll feel inconvincible.

Photography tips: self portraits

2008-11-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Self portraits are among the most difficult and most rewarding types of photography. It provides you with an extremely patient model, capable of understanding all your problems and prepared to try all kinds of lighting setups and crazy ideas. He or she may not be particularly pretty or very experienced in posing, but will make up for it with flexibility, perseverance and dedication. And all of that for free, your model won’t even ask for prints. It does however require some skills and a lot of practice to get decent results from self portraits.

The basics are the same as in the case of standard portraiture. Lighting, composition and expressions work out similar as in the case of photographing someone else. Likewise, self portraits require the same post processing steps as normal portraits, provided they are the same type of portraits.

Use a tripod
Here’s a pretty obvious tip: use a tripod. Yes, you can hold your camera at arm’s length and in some cases, this will yield a great self portrait. In most cases, it will only limit your possibilities. If you don’t have a tripod, put it on top of your wish list. It will open up a new world for you. In the meantime use something that’s sturdy and horizontal and has the required height.

Use a dummy
Once you’ve put your camera on the tripod, put a dummy in the place where you will be when shooting the portrait. Autofocus on the dummy, the set your camera or lens to manual focus and don’t move the camera. When ready, replace the dummy by yourself. Use a timer or a remote to trigger the shutter.

Make it a little easier on yourself
Getting decent self portraits is hard enough as it is, so why not make it a little easier on yourself. First of all, frame the picture a little wider than you normally would. This gives you room to crop the picture afterwards if you weren’t in the exact position you should be. Likewise, do not use very wide apertures. If you do, your depth of field becomes small, and your exact position will become a very critical factor. Using a smaller aperture (higher f) will literally give you some breathing space.

Minor update of CamerA AbsurdA

2008-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

I recently did a major rehaul of my online portfolio CamerA AbsurdA, but didn´t add a `about`-section at that time. Now I did. The section also includes a couple of self portraits, including a brand new one, 'Loud Guy'. So, go check it out comments welcome.

Modeling tips: care for your lips

2008-11-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Lips are important to models. Well-shaped and well-groomed lips can make a lasting impression and add to your sex-appeal. At the same time, lips are among the most exposed areas of your skin and very vulnerable at the same time. Your lips need good care, and it’s you who should provide it. The good thing is, it does not have to be expensive to be good.

Protect them
Lips need protection from the world around them, especially from heat, cold, sunburn and dry air. Petroleum jelly or Vaseline is a great and inexpensive protector and healer of dry skin in general and lips in particular. Use an old toothbrush to gently rub in the Vaseline a couple of times a day if you want to heal dried lips. You may want to mix the Vaseline with one or two tablespoons of a tasty (sweet or fresh) sauce, to enhance the flavor. For summer holidays or winter sports, use a lip balm with a high sun protection factor, as lips tend to burn badly in the sun.

Caress them
Want to give your lips a good time? Mash a quarter of a ripe papaya to a juicy paste. Lie down on a towel and apply a generous amount to the lips and the skin around the lips. Leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes. Next rinse the paste off and apply Vaseline or lip balm. The exfoliating enzymes in papaya help to soften and refine lip lines.

Make them work for you
When applying lipstick, use a brush. It provides a more even distribution and will reduce the amount of lipstick used. Before applying your lipstick, apply foundation on the lips or use a lip liner. This prevents the lipstick from 'bleeding'.

If you have big lips, colors like purple, brown and bronze will look good on you. If you want to make them look smaller, make use of deep colors. They make the lips recede. Shiny lipstick on the other hand will accentuate the size of your lips. If your lips are small, apply a bit of lip gloss or Vaseline on the middle part of the bottom lip, and use light colors. This make your lips look bigger.

More tips

On monogamy

2008-11-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Okay. I'm keeping an old promise here. And it's my pleasure. Monogamy and people is one of the most exciting philosophical issues I can think of. Sit down and make yourself comfortable, this is going to be a long article. You seated? Mmmmkay, let's go then.

Some animals are monogamous, and some are not. Some birdies live together till death (or a cat) do them part. Other species, such as cats, don’t give a rat’s ass and mate whenever they feel the need, with whoever is around. Needless to say, that’s the evolutionary successful strategy, as sexual diversity prevents inbreeding. But then again, swans and the like are still on this earth, so there must be something right about monogamy too.

But now for humans. Humans have a very ambiguous attitude towards monogamy. They do practice it, well most of them do, but they are hardly consistent. And I know why. Let’s first state the obvious: people cubs are awfully weak creatures. It takes them more than a year to even learn to walk. Well, more or less, wiggle would be a more appropriate description. What kind of evolutionary strategy is that? More than a year of immobility! I had a litter of eleven at my first birthday.

Hmmmm, well, that may not be a very good example, but you get my point, right? It takes humans a full cat’s life to even become an independent being. That’s where the human male comes in. I mean, raising a litter in, say, 8 weeks is easy. A female will have no trouble doing that on her own, right? But 18 years is a different cup-a-tea. A woman needs a day off every now and then. And protection for her helpless cubs. So, human females need the human male to stay around. And that requires monogamy, since human males can not stay around at two families at the same time.

Now that we have explained why humans are monogamous, let’s see why they deviate from their evolutionary successful behavior. Here’s why. The evolutionary successful behavior does not require the male (or the female) to be around all of the time. As long as a human does not have two full families, it’s okay. And then you guys invented birth control. With birth control, humans can lead the family life of a swan, and have the sex life of a cat at the same time. Or even that of a rabbit for that matter. And that’s where it all comes together. Humans are monogamous because they have to and inconsistent because they can.

It's just a matter of logic.

Photography tips: skiing

2008-11-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Once the calendar turns to November, my heart starts beating faster. The skiing season is about to arrive. Most Europeans postpone their skiing trip to February or even March, when the sun is stronger and the days are longer. Nevertheless, the skiing season opens (if it ever closes) mid-November in high stations, such as Tux, Tignes and Val Thorens. That’s why November makes my heart beat faster, though this year I will have to wait ‘till mid-December to actually go there.

If you ever went on a skiing trip and took your camera, you might know how frustrating it can be. These majestic mountains, the steep slope you just managed to ski down from. They scream to be photographed, but once you get home, the magic’s gone. In fact, the magic is left behind in the mountains, not on the pictures. The mountains do not look so majestic, that slope does not look half as steep as it actually was and your superb skiing technique never shows on the pictures. Why? Because photographing snowy mountains is not as easy as it seems. These tips might help though.

White balance
First of all, get your white balance right. That’s the easiest tip, and you can actually do it in post processing if you shoot in RAW. If you don’t, the snow will look blueish, not white. Other things will look off too and you'll loose contrast.

Time of day

Like with any type of photography, choose the right time of day, which is either early morning or late afternoon. Don't try shooting at midday, the high sun will flatten all detail, especially since things are all white anyway.

Reference
This is a general tip for landscape photography. Try to have some points of reference in the picture, prefereably in the front and the back. This makes it easier for the viewer to relate. This picture (click it for a larger version on Flickr)shows some loose snow in the front and rocks in the back, as well as the boundary of the slope. The latter gives the viewer a clear indication of how steep the slope really is.

Timing

Skiing is a sport and in sport photography, timing is everything. And to time right at sports, you have to know the sport. Shooting exactly in the middle of turn is not going to give a great skiing picture, nor is shooting at a straight end. Breaking and finishing a turn are nice moments in term of spectacular snow clouds, whereas the body position is great at the start of a turn. Obviously, jumps are also great moments to shoot, not matter if they go right or wrong.

Get down!
Choose a low angle, both for skiers and for mountains. Low angles will make slopes look steeper, will make mountains look higher and will make jumps and other actions much more impressive. It will also allow you more often to get some sky in your picture, providing the much wanted contrast of the bright blue against the clear white, especially if you use a polarizer.

Modelling tips: plan your career (3)

2008-11-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Part 1 of this series was about making plans, part 2 about checking on them. Part 3 of planning your career is about deviating from your plans. This happens more often than not. In fact, plans sometimes seem to be made to be able to deviate from them. Why? Because plans involve the future, and the future is intrinsically unpredictable. Things can happen. Good things, bad things, things you never thought of. And if they happen, it may be wise to deviate from your plans.

Say you planned to start your career on the catwalk. Maybe later, you were thinking, you were going to switch to magazines. Then a magazine comes along, wanting to hire you for an editorial. Will you refuse because it doesn’t fit your plan? No you won’t. Assess the offer, and if it is any good, forget about the plan: deviate! If this happens once or twice, it’s okay to deviate, while in the meantime following the plan as, well, planned. If it occurs more often, you’ll have to think about changing the plan. You just might be more fit for magazines than for catwalks. Or maybe you are not, but coincidence has granted you a head start in magazines and you should grab the opportunity.

How will you know when to deviate from your plans and when to change them? You won’t. There is no such thing as a golden rule here. You can ask other models and photographers around you what they think, but remember that they will give you opinions rather than facts. On the other hand, if five or six experienced people share the same opinion, it might as well be a good one. If you’re with an agency, go ask them. They know a lot, and your interest is their interest. Unless of course, you are with a catwalk-specialized agency. After collecting the opinions, make a choice. It may not be the right choice, but you’ll have to make one. It’s no use waiting for the ‘right’ information to come by, because you’ll never have enough information. Besides, the ‘right’ information has the peculiarity of coming buy after you made your decision. It always does.

A couple of common-sense issues should be kept in mind though. If you’ve invested heavily in a catwalk career and it hasn’t paid off, ask yourself why. Is catwalk the right choice for you? Is it just too early for pay offs? Do you expect pay offs in the near future? Do they outweigh the benefits of switching to magazines? No easy answers here, I’m sorry. When in doubt, it’s okay to follow two tracks for say two, three months. If your catwalk pay efforts do not pay off in these months, or if magazines keep approaching you, you’ll know what to do. Don’t stay on two tracks for too long though, dividing your attention may distort your focus.

to have and not hold

2008-10-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

"Sadder still to watch it die than never to have known it..." That's a line from a song I heard recently, and it instantly turned on my phylosophical instinct. Is this true? Does it hold for all people and all 'its'? Having given birth to eleven kittens at the age of 1, I can tell you I do not at all miss my fertillity. But I can't compare to never having had it, now can I?

If I were to ask it to an economist -like the Camabs guy-, he'dd rattle on about time preference of consumption. He would totally loose me and ten come to the conclusion that it's not true. If having something yields utility, having had it yields more utility than never ever having it. Sounds simple, that's how economists think. But now for actual people.

What if one has a talent and looses it? Say a painter gets arthritis and can no longer paint. Sad, yes, but the paintings remain. Would it be different for an artist that has no materialized work? Say a musician that never recorded her work. True, that's pretty sad allright. But what about the memories and all the people recieving joy from that music in the past?

And how about love? What if you have love and loose it? Would it be better than to never have known love at all? Damn sure it wouldn't! Yes, it hurts when it's over. For a while. Then it fades. But the memory remains (now isn't that some song too?) and the good things lasted a lot longer than the grief. For most loves that is, some peeps just can't do anything right.

Now hold on, lets get real serious. No, I mean it. A real tough one. What about loosing a kid versus never having had one. Which one is worse? No doubt about it, loosing someone dear is tough. Loosing your kid is about as tough as it gets. That's what I think, I am lucky enough not to know for sure. But it's damn hard to imagine anything tougher than that, y'all agree. So, is this the case were it is sadder to have had than never ever had? No, wait. What does it imply? It implies that the life of the deceased kid did not have any positive value whatsoever. That can not be true. If its life, however short it was, is less important then the loss of that same life, then it was worth nothing. That's simply not right, and inconsistent on top of it. Therefore, logic tells us that it is never sadder to have had than to never had at all.

A bit too heavy for you, this one? Go here to cheer up, and I'll promise a lighter blog next week.

Photography tips: still life photography, a primer

2008-10-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

Still life photography is a genre by itself. Derived from the old masters and their paintings, photographers collect stuff to photograph it. The still life has no fixed rules of right and wrong and gives an incredible freedom in lighting and composition. Some things should however be kept in mind when trying to make a still life that stands out.

A theme
A still life should be more than just a collection of thingies. The vast majority of great still lifes has a theme. It could be anything: a profession, a season, any activity. a song title, a color, the list is endless. The main point is, that the items in the still life should be presented in a theme, and be consistent within the theme. Cornucopia still lifes for instance implement abundance, so they require a lot of items. ICT still lifes would become inconsistent if done against a very natural or classical background.

Table shots
Most good still lifes are table shots. That is, the camera is at the same height as the scene is, or just a little higher. This camera standpoint provides a natural looking perspective, altough in real life, we would not look at most of these things horizontally. I do know of a couple of successful exceptions to this rule, so it's no fixed rule. Like always, deviating from the rules provides an extra handycap, but it can work out great.

Composition, background and lighting
The freedom in composing a still life is endless. One can use any composition rule, combine a couple of them or ignore them all together. Combinations of the rule of thirds with other rules are often used, but again, feel free to break the rules as you go.

Background and lighting are free too, but they should not attract too much attention and be consistent with the theme. Neutral backgrounds are okay, but if the still life has a nautical theme, why not use a nautical map as a background? If it is too distracting, use a shallow depth of field to tune down it's presence. White backgrounds are fine too.

Still lifes often use light tents are a single light source that suggests natural light through a window (often using fill lights or reflectors as well). But if you feel backlight works better, why not give it a try? As long as all the relevant details are revealed properly and the lighting does not distract from the the, it's fine.

What a Relief!

2008-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I've been kinda quiet recently. I hope you have. 'cos it means you've missed me. Thank you, I love you too. The thing is, I've been kinda busy. Well, worried sick is a better word I guess. I've been worrying so hard, I couldn't find the time for philosophy. Not a single original thought has crossed my mind last week.

Why, you say? Here's why. The little camabs cub is why. Funny little fella, pretty dominant type too. Told you 'bout him earlier, remember? He's got a running nose. Not just this week, but, like, forever. No wonder, human kids are weak. I'll tell you about that some day. So, the big camabs-guy took his son to the doctor. Sounds like a joke, right? It's not. It's the beginning of a nightmare. The doctor used the A-word: Allergy. Big deal you say? Not if you're a cat. Humans are overprotective of their kids, you know. If they are allergic, we have to go. And now the camabs cub was up for a blood test for kitty-allergy.

This morning, the camabs guy called the doctor. You know cats have fabulous ears, don't you? I could not believe mine. The kid is not allergic to cats! I get to stay at the camabs residence. Can't tell you how happy I am. Too excited to think right now, but once I get myself together, I'll devote my attention to philosophy again. See you then!

Photography tips: Print Size

2008-10-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

A question I hear quite often is "I have a camera of such-and-so-much megapixels, how large can I print?" The question is in fact fairly easy to answer, but the problem is that many people tend to loose themself in the worship of figures that are only meant to suggest quality.

Resolution: Pixels per inch

The resolution of a picture is defined by the number of pixels per inch (ppi), often also referred to as dots per inch (dpi). The latter term is incorrect, but used so often that you can safely assume that ppi is meant. The industry standard for high quality printing (glossy magazines, art books) is 300 ppi. That is allready a high number, but still you can hear people in discussion forums state that 500 or 600 is better. That is plain bullshit. You will need a magnifying glass to spot the difference between 240 and 300 ppi, so it will take a microscope to recognize any difference beyond 300 ppi. For pictures that are closely inspected, 200 to 300 ppi is the range you should be looking for.

Viewing distance

But wait. Most people posing the question from the intro pose the question because they want to make a large print. Will the large print be up for close inspection? No, large prints are looked at from a larger distance. At arms length, 100 to 150 ppi is allready fine, and if the viewer is 5-6 feet away, 70 or 80 ppi might even be okay, provided the picture itself is sharp and you use decent paper and a good printer.

Start calculating

Once you know for what purpose you will be calculating and have choosen the correct ppi, the calculation is easy. Simply divide the length and width of you picture in pixels by the ppi number you've picked, and you find the size in inches. For centimeters, multiply by 2.5. Let's say you have a 3072 x 2048 (=6 MP) picture, and you have decided to print it at 100 dpi. You print size is then 3072/100=30.72 x 2048/100=20.48 inch or 75 by 50 cm.

More resources:

PPI and Print Size

DPI in Wikipedia

Ken Rockwell: The Megapixel Myth

For Joeri

2008-10-13T11:39:00.001-07:00

Today I heard that my former colleague and friend Joeri Gorter was killed in an accident last Friday. Joeri (Dutch spelling for Yuri) was on a bicycle trip through the US when he was hit by a truck. This is a sad loss. I have always known Joeri as an energetic and enthusiastic guy and that's how I will remember him.

Despite the fact that Joeri's death comes way too early, I find comfort in the way he died. If you have to die, why not die doing something you love to do? This knowledge does not fill the gap Joeri leaves behind; it just softens the pain for those who remember Joeri. He left life the way he lived it: energetic and enthusiastic.

Modeling tips: plan your career (2)

2008-10-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Last week's article was about setting goals, defining steps and taking action. This week, I'll discuss the evaluation of your plans and actions. Normally, you wouldn't evaluate after a week of course, so read the article now and bookmark for later use.

When?

Many people seem to wonder when they should evaluate their goals. In fact, it is pretty obvious. Remember what the "T" in S.M.A.R.T. means? Right, timely. It means that the definition of your goals include a deadline. And when the deadline is there, the moment of evaluation has come as well. Of course, if your reach a goal before the deadline, don't hesitate to evaluate before that deadline. Since all your goals are measurable, it won't be hard to note if you've reached one.

What?

Evaluation. It sounds like something very complicated for high-educated people. It's not. In fact, you do it all the time in daily life. Did I like that meal? How do I look in that dress? How much money do I have left? Was that movie any good? Answering these questions means you're evaluating. Evaluation is nothing more than posing the right questions and answering them as good as you can. It's the same with goals: Did I reach them? Why(not)? Did I follow the steps? Did I take the actions I defined? Did I take other actions instead because an opportunity came by? And so on.

Note that there are no right and wrong answers. Also note that you are not on trial. There is only one person you are evaluating for, and that is you. So be honest and serious. No socially desirable answers, you'll be fooling yourself and yourself alone.

Then what?

So, okay, I've answered the questions, now what? First of all, be happy and proud of every goal you reached. Great work, well done. Now go find new, higher, goals to follow up on your success. Second, learn from the goals you didn't reach? Why didn't you? Were they set too high? Adjust them. Were the steps insufficient? Add more steps. Didn't you work hard enough? Work harder. Was it bad luck? Are you sure? Hope for more luck next time and think of how you can increase your luck.

In short: every time you reach a goal or deadline, evaluate, learn and adjust your planning. Plans are dynamic in nature, because they involve progression. Don't be afraid to adjust your plans, be worried if there is no need to.

Photography tips: Vanishing point

2008-10-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

One of the main challenges in photography is trying to capture three dimensions in a two-dimensional frame. A picture, either on paper, on canvas, or an screen, has no depth. It is up to the photographer to suggest depth. Last week’s article, on shallow depth of field, showed you one way to suggest depth. This week’s article is about a composition technique called vanishing point.

I don’t know about you, but the very first thing I learned when drawing perspective, is to place a point on the horizon. All the horizontal lines in the drawing should the lead to this point. This technique creates the suggestion of perspective and hence depth. Photography is not the same as drawing obviously, but photographers use many tricks that drawers thought of first. This is one of them. The difference is that the photographer does not have to place a point on the horizon. The point is already there, the photographer only has to recognize it. How? By following horizontal lines. All horizontal lines pointing into the photo seem to lead to one point. That point is the vanishing point.

Having multiple lines aiming at a single point gives a picture depth in the exact same way as it is done in drawings. Buildings are always glad to provide horizontal lines leading to a vanishing point. The picture of the Parthenon clearly shows how it works. Similar powerful lines toward the vanishing point may be found in rails and railroads. Note that the point itself does not have to be visible. It doesn’t even have to be in the picture. The mere suggestion of the point is sufficient to give depth to your picture.

More resources
DPChallenge Vanishing point Challenge (lots of examples)

Forbidden Love

2008-10-08T04:25:00.000-07:00

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?". Human literature is full of forbidden love. And that's just literature. I am guessing that about three quarters of all romance novels is about this subject. Not to mentions songs. And if you guys love to read and hear about it, that's probably because you recognize your own life in it.

I tried to figure out why humans care so much about forbidden love. I can guess why you care about love, but if you care, why forbid it? And even if it's forbidden, why bother? People don't care 'bout speed limits, why care 'bout love prohibition?

Here's what I found: In the early days -The Romeo and Juliet days-, love was forbidden because of class differences. Had to do with inheriting power. Well, I guess you guys found out by now how silly a reason that is. But some taboos are still left: love between coworkers, love between neighbors, love between people who are married. Not to each other that is. I will discuss the monogamy issue in a future blog article, For now, let me tell you I have not found a valid reason why two consulting adults who fall in love with each other, should not be allowed to be together.

phew, need a little rest here. Philosophy is heavy stuff and these sentences with double negations are just exhausting.

Where was I going? Oh right, just wrapping up I guess. I wanted to note that falling in love is a natural thing. Since (Spinoza) nature is God and (any religion) God should be obeyed, people should stop resisting falling in love. Didn't I already tell you to listen to your heart?

It's just a matter of logic.

Modeling tips: plan your career (1)

2008-10-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that most models just hope for a brilliant career, but don't have a firm plan to realize their dreams? Some models do work hard and grab any chance that comes along, but models that actually set out to reach specified goals are rare. In many types of careers, planning is common, so why not in modeling? It is a serious profession, you know? And what's more, competition is tough in the modeling world. So why not make the difference? And it's not as hard as you might think

Set goals
The first thing to do is to tell yourself where you want to be in a year, in two years and so on. Be ambitious but realistic. If you aim too low, you won't reach high. If you aim too high, you might get frustrated. Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, see the link below for more information) and write them down.

Define steps
Setting goals is step one, but how do you reach them? Think. For most goals you can find out for yourself what steps are needed to reach them. If you can't, find help. Ask your agent or ask a model that has already reached a similar goal. Define your steps as actions and set deadlines for them. Note that some steps have to be carried out in a particulair order. The order and the deadlines together create something that looks like a scheme. This is your path to success, now you'll just have to follow it.

Take action
This is the hardest part for some, and the easiest for others. At some point, you will gain nothing in further planning. It's time to act. Call that agent or photographer you planned to work with. Register that url for your own website. Select the pictures for your comp card. Once you finished a step or reached a goal, mark it on your list. It's very rewarding to see the number of marked items on your list grow.

Obviously, you should not stick to your planning too tight. If an opportunity comes by that's not on your list, forget the list. Grab that opportunity! Keep in mind that planning is a tool, not a goal in itself.

Next week: part 2...

more resources:
about S.M.A.R.T.

Photography tip: Shallow depth of field

2008-10-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

It is my experience that the use of shallow depth of field (dof) is one of the easiest ways to impress people with your photography skills. Obviously, we're not here to impress people with our photography skills, so it's good to note that shallow dof is also a great way to isolate your subject from busy backgrounds.

The picture to the left clearly shows this latter function. Despite the fact that the background is a pretty girl with fresh-colored clothing, there is no doubt where your eyes want to go. The orange draws the attention away from the face, which would be the natural focus point in such a picture. It is the narrow dof that creates this effect. The sharpness is carefully laid in only one place in the picture. That's the 'why', now for the 'how'.

Aperture

The obvious way to create shallow dof is using a wide aperture (i.e. a small f-number). The example picture was shot at f/1.8, which obviously requires a lens capable of such a wide aperture. Do not despair if you do not have such a lens however, the effect can be reached at f/4 or f/5 as well.

Focussing distance

Your depth of field is also narrowed if you approach your subject closer. If your lens or camera is not capable of wide apertures, just move in a little closer. In macro-photography, this is even considered a disadvantage, as the extreme close focussing distances do not leave room for sufficient depth of field in the picture. I allready explained that, remember?

Focal length

Finally, focal length also influences the depth of field. The longer (more tele) the focal length of your lens is, the narrower the depth of field will be. Of course, there is a rade off between focal length and focussing distance. You can calculate the your depth of field from the website given in the link below.

Don't overdo

Some people are so impressed with the wide aperture of their lens that they use it wide open all the time. Next thing you know they start complaining about lack of sharpness in user reviews. Let's face it, using a 50 mm lens at f/1.8 at 1 meter shooting distance, leaves you a depth of field of 3 cm. Nice for an orange, but hardly suited for anything bigger. Use a dof-calculator or your good judgement to choose the aperture that keeps the larger part of your subject in focus.

More resources:

Depth of Field Calculator

CamerA AbsurdA refurbished

2008-09-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

CamerA AbsurdA, my online portfolio, is now completely refurbished. I've changed the site from plain and simple to even plainer and simpler. No big stories, just the pics and the facts. It's an online portfolio, not a place for silly talks. I can use this blog for that if I want to. Although none of the pics are actually new, many of them are new to the site. You may have seen some of them on this blog or in some of the many other places where my pics hang out. Just take a look and enjoy!

Photography tips: Join a community

2008-09-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

This week's photography tip is very non-technical, yet useful for photographers of all levels: join a community. Communities help you develop your skills, as other members comment on your pics and tell you how they made theirs. These are great places to gather new ideas, learn new techniques and sharpen your skills by engaging in photo contests. And you can have fun while you're at it. For any community, the golden rule is that you recieve more when you give more. Just dumping your pics without ever commenting on the pics of others will not earn you respect. Communities can only thrive if members participate.

In the pre-internet era, the local photography club was the only option. Today, that option is still open, and many many are added. The world wide web is full of communities, many of which are dedicated to photography. In fact, the web is so full of these communities, that you'll have a hard time picking one. I'll mention a couple of the options, by no means suggesting that the others are not worth a try.

DPChallenge

Contests (or challenges) are the backbone of this community. You can either become a registered user (free) or a member ($ 25/year, check out the differences here). Apart from challenges, DPChallenge has a forum with some very experienced and helpful members.

FredMiranda

The site is famous for its extensive user reviews of photo gear, but it also has a nice forum with mostly very friendly and helpful members. The forum features a weekly and a monthly assignment with an oddly flexible deadline. Membership is free, but you can buy extra features as well as post processing software and gear.

Trekearth

Trekearth is all about travel photography. You can put your travel photo's online and hope for comments that either praise your photo or help you increase your skills. Sometimes, a member takes the trouble of re-processing your pic if he or she thinks it can be improved in post processing. Membership is free.

Flickr groups

Flickr is a well known place to put your pictures online. Flickr is simply too large to be a community. Instead, it houses thousands of so-called groups. Some groups are very closed or hardly active, but others are thriving communities, often highly specialized in a specific type or aspect of photography. Some just collect pictures by theme, others have discussions and contests to go with the pics.

Local communities

The web may be world wide, but you can use it to join a local community as well. Why would you? Well, beacuse the members are near, that's why. In a local community, get-togethers are easy to organize, so you can go on field trips with other photographers and learn (and have fun)even more. Local members also know a lot about local things, such as dealers, photo locations, studios, models, make up artists and so on. And they are a nice place to trade second hand gear.

Heart or mind?

2008-09-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

Hi. It's me again. The silly-named philosopher cat. Okay, I'll stop complaining about my name by now. In fact, the silly name helped me come up with a new philosophical issue. It made me think about the battle between heart and mind.

Before we go to the heart and mind matter, let me tell you the difference between wishing and wanting. I can wish about anything, but wanting it means I´m prepaired to acept the consequences. These could be anything, like going through effort, taking chances or loosing something else. The heart is in charge of the wishing department, but the mind keeps repating these bloody consequences. If mind and heart agree, wishing becomes wanting and you should go for it right away! But what if they don´t?

There are no compromises in the conflict between heart and mind. One of them has to win. You will have to choose whom to listen to. As long as you haven´t chosen, you´ll be torn apart. I can´t tell you which one to choose. I can give you a guide though.

The basic choice is the choice between regretting your actions and regretting not having acted. Your mind knows damn well what you'll loose if you do and your heart keeps telling you what you won't gain if you don't. No easy cost benefit analysis here, as both heart and mind exagerate the losses and fear is a bad advisor. Complicated? Well, that's why I'm a philosopher and you are not.

I'll simplify it for you: it is the choice between gaining what you wish (heart) and keeping what you have (mind). The latter is clear: You know what you got. You might not be entirely satisfied with it, but it works okay. That's safe and comforting. You don't know the thing you wish for though. Could be as great as your heart tells you, but you can´t be sure untill you tried. It's got RISK and EXCITEMENT written all over it. So if you´re the adventurous type, listen to your heart. If you´re just plain boring, listen to the mind.

It's just a matter of logic.

More resources:
by Roxette
by Saga
by Tröckener Kecks (in Dutch)

Photography tips: The (non)sense of high fps numbers

2008-09-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

The number of frames per second (fps) seems to be one of the main selling points Single Lens Reflex camera's (SLRs). I have to admit that I was happy with the increase from 2.5 to 5 fps when I switched from my old 300D to the 20D. Why? I'll try to explain below.

Increase your chances
The main reason to want to increase your fps is that it increases the chance of shooting the lucky shot. The more shots you can fire, the greater is the chance of an accidental hit. Does this sound silly? It might, and most of the time it is. Luck can never beat timing and insight. If you are shooting at 7 fps (which is considered fast), using a shuttertime of 1/100s, You are not capturing the moment for 93% percent of the time. Careful timing will always yield better results. But sometimes you'll need careful timing and luck. Consider shooting sports for instance. You can see the decisive moment coming, but shooting at the exact moment requires some luck. In those cases increasing your chances helps, although you'll have to realize that fps alone won't get you anywhere.

The sound factor
And then there's sound. Firing a range of shots from an SLR sounds pretty professional. It has no inluence on the quality of your pictures whatsoever, but to some it may increase their pleasure in photography. It's pretty similar to a biker enjoying the sound of a V-twin.

Alpha male (?)

2008-09-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

The camabs guy confuses me, you know. At first sight, it's pretty clear, he's a typical alpha male. His body language spells pride and sovereignty like no other. His strong and decisive voice points in the same direction. So, like I said before, I knew right away when I entered the house.

But then I started to wonder. I never see him biting females. He allows other males in his territory without even the slightest groan or roar. What kind of an alpha male is that? He even allows other males to pet me. C'mon!

But then I realized, he has to be a real alpha male. How do I know? Simply, by looking at his youngest cub. The little fella knows no fear. He takes on kids twice his age. Did I say little? I meant young. No little about that kid. Typical son-of-an-alpha-male. Noisy and nosy and extremely cheeky too. And he gets away with it. Only alpha cubs can do that. And if the kid's an alpha cub, dad's got to be an alpha male.

It's just a matter of logic.

modeling tips: Have you got what it takes?

2008-09-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered whether you've got what it takes to become a good model? Sure, anyone can stand in front of a camera and have a picture taken. Technically, that makes you a model. But you know damn well that there's more to it than that. I am talking a modeling career here.

Many models never think about their abilities. They just dream. Getting famous, getting rich, having your picture in a magazine. Nothing wrong with dreaming, but wouldn't you like to know about the reality level of your dreams? Here's a simple test. Five statements. All you have to do is judging whether they are true or false.

1. I only work hard if absolutely necessary

2. The only thing a model needs is a pretty face and a nice body
3. Running a business is not my piece of cake
4. I do business with people because I like them
5. I can’t stand extreme circumstances (heat, cold, fear etc)

Did you state 'true' to either of these statements? Start worrying, you may have an unrealistic view of the world of modeling or you might not have the skills. Not all is lost though. Perceptions can be changed and skills can be learned. But be aware there is extra work involved.

If you entered 'false' at all statements, you're on the right track. No guarantees for a splendid career though, but at least you're up to it. Now all you need to do is put your mind to it, start working (hard, real hard) and pray for luck. Go get 'em!

Modeling tips: hold on to your props

2008-09-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

Some photographers like to use props. They might use them for a specific theme, to create a natural looking image or just because it increases posing possibilities. Props can really add something to a picture, if used properly. On the other hand, it’s pretty embarrassing to be pictured holding a guitar in a way you simply can not play it.

Today’s modeling tip is a very simple one: practice. If you’re planning a themed shoot, ask the photographer what props will be used and practice holding them. Use a mirror to check how you look. If you are not sure how to (hold a guitar, for instance), go look for images in magazines and on the web. Better still, ask someone who does know how to hold the specific prop.

For non-themed shoots, make sure that you know how to hold props in general. Below is a top ten (in no particular order) of items you might want to practice on. You might not have all of the items available at home, but that’s not the issue. You can practice your poses on anything of similar size. In fact, if your guitar-act is convincing on a broom, it will surely be convincing on a guitar

Stool or chair
cigarettes
flowers
food (fruit or candy)
a glass (wine, champagne, cocktail)
guitar
tools
studio equipment
sports equipment
weapons

Photography tips: night photography

2008-09-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Night photography can be very rewarding, especially for romantic subjects and for nicely lit architecture. Famous landmarks may often get an extra dimension on night photos, as do fountains. This article discusses some issues that might be helpful in improving your night pictures.

The obvious thing about night photography is that it comes at low light levels. This can be overcome by higher ISO, larger apertures or longer shutter times. After dusk, you will probably have to rely on all three of them. The most common thing to do with longer shutter times is to use a tripod, but you do not always have to. I shot the picture to the left handheld, while leaning against a sturdy fence. Of course, using a fast (and lightweight) prime makes quite a difference. The links below the article provide some useful alternatives to tripods, that may be very useful when traveling.

I have one tip that may sound silly because it’s so simple. But I know I forgot a couple of times and at those times I can really curse myself for being such a dumbass. So do keep in mind to clean you lens surface. If it is only a bit greasy, all the lights in the picture will become nice glamorous star shapes. However great this effect may be when you are looking for it, it might not be what you want in a night picture.

The moon
And then we have the moon. Be careful with the moon. It depends on the weather and the availability of other light sources whether you want the moon in your picture. If it is only slightly hazy, the moon will become blurry. If the moon is the only noteworthy light source around, it will burn your highlights. In both cases, don’t shoot directly at the moon. In other cases, you can, provided that you manage to strike a balance between the light sources. You may also use the moon as a source of backlight for a well-lit building, or play around with the differences in color temperature between moonlight and artificial light.

Post processing
In post processing, do not adjust your white balance, or at least not too much. The warm colors of artificial light and the cool color of moonlight provide the typical night atmosphere you may be looking for. You might want to darken the blacks in post processing though. The darker parts in your picture may pick up some noise because of the high ISO and/or long shutter time. You can easily reduce this by squeezing the left (dark) end of your histogram a little, while keeping the middle constant. This increase contrast and darkens out most of the noise.

More resources:
String stabilizer (video tutorial)
Other alternatives for tripods

The perfect way to loose weight

2008-09-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

Look who's here again. The kitty with the silly name, remember? And have I got some news for you! I noted how people always try to loose weight. Torturing themselves in the gym, starving themselves with way too small diets, ordering expensive pills that promise weight loss without trouble. Yeah, right. Why the torture? Why the pain? Sure, even I can see people feel better not having to carry all that weight. But hey, there's an easy way, you know? And it's free too. Better still, it's fun.

Now I got your attention, right? Loosing weight, easy, free and fun, who wouldn't like that? Well, here's how. Fall in love. When people are in love, they loose their appetite, reducing the food-intake substantially without ever feeling hungry. At the same time, their hart starts racing like mad. That'll have to burn some fat, won't it? And people in love are also much more energetic, increasing the fat burn even further. On top of all that, being in love is just plain fun. Not to mention the extra excercise (and fun) you get if the loved one loves you back. Oops, being a naughty kitty there.

See, life's easy, as long as you think logically. No need to thank me though, all my pleasure.

Modeling tips: Photographer types (7)

2008-09-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The intuitive type

The intuitive photographer is more or less the opposite of the technical type. He knows nothing about sweet points, composition rules or lighting ratios. He just takes pictures. And somehow, these pictures turn out just fine. The intuitive photographer's mind is a black box. Not only to outsiders, but to himself as well. He'll look through the viewfinder to get the picture he wants, adjusting the camera's settings as if he knew exactly what he's doing. In fact, he hasn't got a clue, but he does get the picture he's looking for.

I admit, these guys (I know a couple of lady photographers of this type too) drive me crazy with jealousy. I study and experiment my ass off to get a decent picture, while they just click away and perform at least as good, and often better.

Dos and don’ts

To make things worse (for my jealousy, that is) intuitive photographers are easy to handle for models. Since they don't have to think about what they are doing, the can devote all their attention to the model. Not to posing, they don't have to think about that either. They simply chat and interact as if a photoshoot is a piece of cake. For you, as a model, it makes life a lot easier, as long as you keep in mind that modeling does require some effort.

You have to keep in mind though that the intuitive photographer is not extremely flexible. If you want something specific, just ask. It might fit within his intuition and he'll perform effortlessly. If it lies outside his intuition, you might as well give up right away. There is no way he can reason how to get to the result you're looking for. Don't try to push him at this point, it will only lead to mutual frustration.

Other types

The artist

The ex-model
The arrogant type
The shy type
The flamboyant type
The technical type

Photography tips: macro photography and lighting

2008-09-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone who has ever tried shooting macro shots knows that close-focussing distance comes with a huge loss of depth of field. Even at fairly small apertures like f/8 or f/11 it is hard to get an entire bug in focus. Yet if we look at 'professional' macro-shots, we see crisp and clear images. How on earth do they do that?

The answer is simple: use a flash and narrow your aperture even further. Macro lenses often go up to f/32, so that's not the problem. The problem is the direction of light. On-board flashes come from the wrong direction. Your lens gets in the way and casts a shadow over your subject. So, don't use an onboard flash, use a separate one.

Ring flashes
Flash manufacters make so-called ring flashes. They are to be mounted on your lens, and provide light from the exact same angle as your lens. This implies a total lack of shadow. It also implies that light is pretty flat, which may be desirable for some types of portraits, but not for macro photography. The very expensive types have the option of balancing (even aiming) left and right lights to solve this problem, but they come at a price. Apart from that, a ringflash might simply get in the way while trying to shoot bugs.

Off-camera flashes
The other option is to use an off-camera flash. You can either hand-hold it (very flexible), hand-hold it on a monopod (for more reach and stability), put it on an extension arm mounted to the camera (follows the camera wherever you point it) or put it on a tripod (stable, and you have both hands available for the camera). I use either of these options, depending on the situation. The main disadvantage of using an off-camera flash is the shadows it casts. This is not always a problem, but if it is, it may be softened by using a fill flash or a reflector. I have a nice small ring reflector that fits on my lense. It fills just like a ringflash would, and since it is not my main light source, I do not have the problem of flat lighting.

Cat-Philosopher

2008-09-02T04:19:00.001-07:00

Hi, it's me again. The kitty with the silly name. Told you the Camabs guy is lazy, didn't I? Last week, he went abroad for a conference, using it as an excuse to write not one single blog-entry for an entire week. I am pretty sure they have internet in the UK. Pure laziness I tell you. So, allow me to kickstart the entire thing again, see if the Camabs guy is gonna pick it up.

Did you know I'm a great philosopher? It's quite convenient for a philosopher to be a cat. You get to sit and lay down all day, looking out the window. Gives you time to think you know? The main problem is, I keep falling asleep, and when I wake, I've forgotten al my brilliant thoughts. I franticly search my brean for the ideas, and once I refound them, I'm so tired, my eyes get heavy....

Need to get a grip at that issue, it's getting in the way of my philosophic development.

Here's one I remember. It answers one of the most important philosophical questions of all times and has not been solved yet. Untill now, that is. I have found out why people wear shoes. Shoes are in fact silly things. You're born without them and everyone can walk without them. Once you wear them, you'll loose direct contact with planet earth and you will not feel where you're walking. This implies you will have to devote other senses to the process of walking (e.g. look where you are walking), and that's just plain silly. The other senses have better things to do. Finding prey, duh. But people are different. They have allready halved their contact with planet Earth by walking on two feet, and now they´re reducing it even further. Why?

Here's why. Cats are why. We like to play at night, whereas humans want to sleep (silly guys, why don't they use daytime for that?). That's not a very good fit, now is it? We can still play of course, but I want the Camabs guy near me to increase the fun. That's where his shoes come in. They're great toys, and they have this great smell, giving a clear remembrance to the human that had them on. The smell can of course only be had if the human wears these shoes all day. So that's why. Problem solved. Next!

New kitty on the blog

2008-08-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

Hi there. I'm Heart. Silly name you say? Sure. I didn't pick it, one of the little Camabses did. She got it from a bedtime story. But it's fine, I'll manage. Better than my old name. Too many memories attached. Bad stuff, teenage mum, ended up in the gutter. Life at the Camabs residence is better though. Food, attention, two kids to scare every now and then. Nothing serious, no heavy bleeding involved. A soft bite is sufficient to make 'm cry. Young humans are such weak creatures.

Not the Camabs-guy though. Typical alpha male that one. Huge guy, strong voice. But such gentle hands. Prrrrrr. He's lazy though. Thinks it's too much trouble to write three blog articles a week. Wants me to write one every now and then. Oh well. He feeds me, how can I refuse him anything? So, you'll see more of me here. Time for my nap now, see you 'round.

Photography tips: the sweet spot

2008-08-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Sweet spot, you may have heard that word before. You may even have been checking some of your pictures for it. You didn't findt it, did you? Sweet spot is not in the picture. It relates to the optimal aperture of a lens.

Optimal?

The term 'optimal' is a bit misleading here, because the optimal aperture depends on the type of picture you are trying to make. If you want a shallow depth-of-field, your aperture has to be larger than in the case you want a deep field. In low light situations, a large aperture (small f-number) is often the only option. But apart from these considerations, you may be looking for the maximum resolution (i.e. sharpness) of your lens. The aperture where the overall resolution reaches its maximum value is called the sweet spot. It is nice to know the sweet spot of your lens by heart, so that you can use it if you end up in a situation where you can. Shooting landscape photos in broad daylight would be such a situation.

Finding the sweet spot

But how do you find the sweet spot? It is not in the manual of the lens. It is actually quite simple. Find a review of your lens that contains a laboratory resolution test at different apertures. Photozone has them for all the lenses they have reviewed. Then check the resolution graph (or table) for the highest value and find the aperture that produces it. You have now found the sweet spot. Note that some lenses have different sweet spots for centre and border, and zoom lenses may have different sweet spots for different focal lengths. Then it takes some common decide to decide.

An example

Here's a quick example from one of my favorite lenses, the Canon EF 35/2. The figure (click on it to see it in it's context) shows that center sharpness is maximum at f/5.6, and border sharpness at f/8. That is not a clear verdict as to what the sweet spot is, but since border sharpness is below centre sharpness, I would say overall sharpness is best at f/8.

Modeling tips: Duo Shoot

2008-08-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

A Duo shoot involves two models. That sounds simple and it is simple. It does however imply a lot more than that. For a good duo shoot, one plus one is greater than two. The magic word here is interaction. A duo shoot benefits from the interaction between the persons involved. It may however also benefit from the explicit and intended lack of interaction. Much of this is up to the photographer, but the models can make an impact too.

Check the intention

The photographer or client that initiates the duo shoot probably has a certain idea behind the interaction in the shoot. They want to attach a certain feel to the pics. For commercial shoots, this will probably be either soft-sensual or shiny-happy-people kind of feel. For artistic shoots, these may also be appropriate, but the photographer may also have allienation in mind or want to adjust to a certain theme. Make sure you have the intention clear before the shoot, allowing you to practice poses and experession and look at examples.

Who's your partner?

If you can, meet the other model prior to the shoot. No need to engage in extensive pre-shoot practice, but it helps if you know each other and you might want to discuss your interpretations of the shoot. Having met is especially helpful if the shoot has a sensual feel to it. Do note that 'a sensual feel' does not have to depict sex or nudity. The sensual feel is often limited to suggestion. This still requires convincing interaction between the models, probably even more than in the case where nudity would be inolved.

Be an actor

Knowing the intended feel and knowing your partner, it all comes down to your acting abilities. If you have no acting experience, use your imagination. Pretend to be in love if that's the theme, and imagine how you would act. Copying the examples you have looked at in advance may also help. Make sure you make eye contact with the other model (unless the photographer explictly asks you not to). If the other model is more experienced, let him or her lead you and try to follow. You can copy parts of what he/she does, but don't copy all of it. The photographer hired two models, not a model and a mirror.

Midlife crisis

2008-08-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

I think I need your help here, dear readers. In a little less than five months, I will turn 40. So it is about time I picked my peculiarity for my midlife crisis. I already ride a motorbike, so that's no option, and I won't consider a convertible untill my mid-50s or so. I thought of dating younger women, but my wife told me that's very much out of fashion these days. No idea where she got that from, but I'll follow her advise, 'cause that's what I allways do.

That still leaves me without a clue where to devote my midlife crisis. I started loosing weight as a kind of no-regret-policy. This gives me the opportunity to switch to some kind of extreme sport once the midlife crisis kicks in, or go after the younger... oh no, that was not an option.

But then what? Say I reach my 40th birthday at a kind-of-healthy weight? What's next? Becoming annorexic is not my kind of thing and I know nothing about all these extreme sports or anything. Please advise me, help me find a typical midlife crisis type of hobby. Thanks!

Photography tips: Fire!

2008-08-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Fire depicts warmth, coziness, maybe even a romantic evening in front of the fireplace. It may also depict danger and destruction, as fire has destructive powers. Plenty of reasons to want to photograph fire. But how?

Fire is a light source
Apart from warmth, fire provides light. It is important to note that the light that fire provides is weak and has a pretty high color temperature. Lighting a room with just fire provides a dimly lit room in an orange flow. The amount of light a normal fire provides is so weak that you can even look or photograph right into it. This obviously depends on the type of fire, since the sun is in fact nothing less than fire, and you would not want to look directly into it, even if it is thousands of miles away. But we are talking burning wood here.

Cozy or blazing?
Like I said, fire has two faces, the warm and kind one and the destructive one. If you look closely at both types of fire, you’ll note that the cozy fire burns much slower. You can use this knowledge to make a blazing fire pic out of a cozy fire. Using a fairly long exposure (try 1/3 sec for starters, and use a tripod) will create motion blur out of the slow movement of the flames, thus suggesting that the flames burn much faster.

Shorter exposures (say 1/100 sec) will freeze the motion, thus suggesting a cozy fire. However, fire provides insufficient light to make a decent picture at such a shutter speed. This implies that you will either have to raise our ISO or use a flash. In the latter case, make sure to bounce your flash and set your shutter time to balance flashlight and the light from the fire. See my earlier articles on bouncing and flashing by daylight for more details. Too much flash will result in a dull picture without the warm fire glow, so make sure to balance your light sources.

More resources:
Photoshop fire tutorials

Modeling tips: get an agent (what?)

2008-08-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

So, there you are. You've followed trough everything I told you last week and now you have 5, maybe 6 agencies offering you a deal. What to do?

Exclusive or not?
The first question is whether you want to be with one single agency, or several. There is no easy answer to this question. Logic tells us that more agencies mean more work, and more of a hassle as well. If you are represented by 3 agents, you will have to update schedules and coordinate portfolio shoots. So if you wanted an agency to get rid of the hassle, exclusivity may be the answer. If you are trying to maximize the number of shoots (and income), then you might want to have more agencies out there trying to find work for you. Unless of course you get a great deal from an internationally renowned agent to sign an exclusive contract.

Avoid scams
Make sure you check your agencies before signing up. Check BBB, look for blacklists and check out thier reputation on modeling discussion forums in your region. Contact models and photographers you know and ask them if they know the agency. Like with photographers, you can check in advance for not-ok signs (see my earlier article):

The agency requires advance payments;
The agent has no office;
Agency commissions over 25%;
The agency promises you the world;
The agency does not comply to local regulations;
Advertisements (most reputable agencies don't advertise. They simply don't have to).

Like with photographers, seeing these signs does not mean these guys are crooks by definition, but be extra careful if you see such a sign.

Aspects to base your choice on
When picking an agency, take a closer look at the work of their photographers. Are they any good? Do they publish in magazines? Similarly, look at the models of the agency. Their achievements tell you a lot about what to expect for yourself. And obviously, look at the offer. How will they help you? Will they help you building a portfolio for instance? What's in the small print of the contract? What contract duration do they offer? It is generally not a very good idea for starting models to sign contracts with duration of more than 2 years.

More resources:
Exclusive vs non-exclusive, the arguments
about scams
BBB
why to get an agent
how to get an agent

Photography tips: 5 tips for better holiday pics

2008-07-31T01:36:00.000-07:00

Dear tourist,

I am sorry I insulted you by calling your pictures crappy (last weeks’ article). That wasn’t very nice of me. Let me make it up to you by giving you five tips to improve your holiday pictures. You may already know one or two of them, but that still leaves the other ones to improve your shooting.

Un-center your composition
Whatever it is, you are photographing, try not to put it in the middle of the picture. It yields boring pictures. Instead, use the rule of thirds: put your main object @1/3 or 2/3 of the width or height of your picture. This gives a natural feel to your pictures. Act likewise with landscapes: the horizon should be at 1/3 (for spectacular skies) or 2/3 (if there is a lot to see in the landscape) of your picture, not exactly halfway.

Shallow dof for famous shapes
So, you’re visiting the Eiffel Tower / Acropolis / Coliseum / Golden Gate Bridge / whatever famous landmark you can think of. We’ve seen zillions of pictures of these landmarks, how will yours be better? Well, since you are going to photograph your fellow travelers in front of the landmark anyway (that’s what tourists do, they seem to need some proof that they were actually there), photograph them using a shallow depth of field (dof). How? Make sure you are fairly close to John / Mary / whoever you are photographing and set a large aperture (low f-number, or use the camera's portraiture mode). Then focus on John / Mary / whoever and shoot. The landmark will now be slightly vague in the background, but still recognizable because of its famous features.

Use a polarizer
If you are going anywhere sunny and want to capture those clear blue skies, invest in a polarizer. See the earlier article on how to use it and what to expect.

Avoid crowds
This one is a real challenge. Since you’re a tourist at a tourist attraction, you are part of the problem. If you’re at a top attraction during the top season, there will always be crowds. But you can limit the effect. Check for camera positions where crowds are less visible. Wait for big crowds to pass. If you just have a little patience, you’ll note that crowds tend to come in waves. Shoot between these waves. Zooming in on the subject may also help, and shooting at a slightly higher angle (especially for buildings) can be useful too. Don’t forget to picture the crowds as well, to show the folks at home just how packed the place was.

Time your visit
You may also avoid crowds by timing your visit at not-so-popular times, e.g. in the early morning or around dinner time (check the opening hours though). Timing will also help you get better light. Generally, and especially in sunny conditions, the light is much softer in the early morning or late afternoon. The hour before sunset provides the best light, and is therefore also known as ‘the golden hour’.

I sincerely hope you are not mad anymore and I wish you a great holiday.

Kind regards,

CamAbs

Camabs: A truly global blog

2008-07-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I considered writing it in my own language, Dutch. It is of course somewhat easier for me to write in my mother tongue and it would have saved me a couple of awkward phrases. But then again, the internet is a world wide web, and Dutch is such a small language (spoken in Holland, Surinam, The Netherlands Antilles and the Northern part of Belgium. Minorities in South Africa and Indonesia use languages that are fairly similar to Dutch) and the world is so big.

I was right. Ooh, that sounds good, let's do that again:

I was right. My blog has become a truly gobal blog, with visitors from 27 countries, from every single continent. The Netherlands and the US together provide 75% of my readers, so the distribution is a bit out of balance. But hey, how can I complain when I have readers all over the world?

Thanks y'all and do keep reading.

modeling tips: Get an agent (how?)

2008-07-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Finding an agent is much like finding a job: you check out what jobs are available, check on the companies you consider working for, make contact, have an interview, receive an offer and make a selection. It’s as simple as 1-2-3. Not convinced? Check the steps below.

Google is your friend
It seems ages ago that we had to bring out the printed yellow pages if we wanted to look up a company. Of course, you can still use this book, most firms keep updating their presence in the yellow pages. But you can also type ‘modeling agency’ and the name of your city or region in Google and you’ll find a large amount of firms to choose from. Note that not all these firms are actual modeling agencies. Some are, but some others offer ‘other services’ involving pretty ladies and some are just scams. You’ll pick out the first type pretty easily, the second is a little harder to recognize. If you’re in the US or Canada, check the BBB (see link below). Next week’s blog article will tell you more about things to look for and not to look for in an agency.

Contact them
This is very basic knowledge, but so many models don’t get it. Don’t wait at home (or in the mall) for some talent scout to find you. Go find them! Pick up the phone and tell them you want to meet them. Once you have the interview, make sure you are in time, bring a couple of good pictures and a Z-card (provided you have sufficient usable pics). You don’t need a completed portfolio yet, these guys know how to base their opinion on a couple of pictures, provided they are not shaken holiday snapshots of course.

During the interview, be you. There is no need to act as if you are someone else. They’re interested in you, not in someone else. More important, make it a two-way interview. This is not only about what you can offer them, you’re also there to find out what they can offer. How are their (former) models doing in the business? Can they show samples of the work of their photographers? Does the type of work they provide fit your wishes and character? Obviously, you will also want to know about payment and such practical stuff.

Be selective

Visit several agencies and await their propositions. Compare what they have to offer, and be critical about extremely positive promises. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Next week’s article will also give you a couple of things in mind when choosing an agency.

More resources:
BBB
do’s and don’ts

why get an agent? (last weeks' article)

choosing an agent

Photography tips: See your hometown through the eyes of a tourist

2008-07-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered why most tourists take crappy pictures? There’s loads of reasons, like lack of experience, lack of photographic talent and so on. One reason in particular I would like to address here, and that is timing.

Tourists are bad timers. They arrive at a location in the holiday season, when the location is packed with tourists and the harsh light blows out the skies on many holiday pictures. Why can’t they just wait ‘till the light is better and all the tourists are gone? Simple, they are the tourists, and when the tourists go, they go. By definition. Period.

Sure, some tourists are lucky enough to catch a day with a nice sky, and some are even wise enough to visit hotspots on not-so-hot times of day. But most of them get there on a guided tour, and bring their own obstacles (i.e. their fellow travelers) with them.

You won’t do that, you’re a local, right? You will probably not even visit the hotspots. At least I didn’t. I visited all the hotspots in the cities I once lived in after or before I lived in that city. Not while I lived there. I even passed some of these hotspots dozens of times without even noticing them.

Silly isn’t it? People coming from over the planet to gaze at the beauty of your city, while you don’t even notice. Even sillier when you realize you take better pictures than they do. You probably feel where I’m going by now? Right, go out there, and be a tourist in your hometown. Shoot the pictures they would liked to have shot but couldn’t because of the light or the crowds. You can go there anytime, right? You can wait for months to get that landmark against the background of a spectacular sunset or with the moon behind it on a cloudless night. You can take your pictures when no one else is around. And you are a better photographer, remember? So you are the one to make (and sell?) the top shot of that hotspot.

All you need to do, is go out there. Go by foot or by bike. And see your hometown through different eyes. Don’t look at your place like a local heading for the shops. Be amazed by the beauty of it, like the tourists are. And picture the beauty. With your better skills and better conditions, you will very likely end up with gorgeous pictures.

I'm on the menu

2008-07-19T01:17:00.001-07:00

Photographers that sell their pics on microstock sites know that their pics are being used. Most of the time, we do not know how and where though. At iStock, they have the so-called designer spotlight. Designers can show how they used pictures they bought from iStock. I think designer spotlights are pretty cool. Not only do they tell the photographer how the pic was used, they also tell you in a more general way how stock photos are used and give a clue of what designers want.

One of my pictures recently made it into the Design Spotlight. Designer Ruth Cepero from Publicus Integrated Marketing used my bell pepper slices in a menu for Flamers Charbroiled. Click on the picture to see the Menu. The bell pepper slices only play a minor role in the rich decoration of the border, but that's fine with me. It's always nice to know how my pics are being used.

Photography tips: shooting in RAW

2008-07-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, memory capacity shortage was a big issue on consumer cameras. The following quote is less than two years old: “The easiest way to sound like a professional when you talk about photography these days is to grumble about the deficiencies of RAW file converters. The ability to save pictures in RAW format rather than JPEG or TIFF is what distinguishes a "pro level" camera from a consumer device.” Consumers used the JPEG file-format, since it is much more efficient and requires a lot less space. These days are gone however (and I even wonder if they were still there in 2006), as all dSLRs and an increasing number of smaller cameras have the ability to store whatever their sensor picks up in the RAW-format.

RAW means just that, raw. It is not an abbreviation; it refers to the uncooked nature of the data. For those interested in all the technical stuff that can be said about RAW-files, please refer to the wiki link provided below. I am not into technicalities, I care only for practical use.

Oh no! What have I done?
Recognize that? Post processing a large number of pics, getting into routine mode and finding out a little too late that that single precious picture should have been processed a tad different? No problem if your workflow is right, but what if you do this while taking the picture? Still had your white balance set to ‘cloudy’? Was your exposure correction still set to –1? No problem if you shoot in RAW. The great thing about using RAW is that it stores all the data that the sensor picks up. It does have its limits –a burnt highlight is a burnt highlight, detail that is not there, can not be stored- but its limits are much wider than that of a jpeg-file, leaving you far more room to compensate for your own stupidity during shooting.

Once you use RAW, you’ll start counting on it. I never bother to check the white balance on my camera, as it can simply be restored. I mostly use a grey card while shooting, but I have to say that Photoshop often does a great job at automatic conversions from RAW. True, white balance can be altered in any file type, but it works better with RAW-files, since all the data are there. This way, the quality loss is smaller (or even zero) than in the case of, say, a jpeg file.

If a pic is underexposed, you can save it in post processing at the cost of substantial noise. The same thing can be done in RAW, but at lower noise levels and with greater recovered detail in the dark areas. No wonder RAW files are far more suited for High Dynamic Range (HDR) applications. Most modern HDR-software even allows for HDR files from one single RAW-file. Try that with a jpeg-file!

The bottom line is that RAW files can help you save some of your result if you made a mistake or if the situation did not allow you to take a perfect picture. If your camera allows you to shoot RAW-files, start doing it now. If your camera doesn’t, take that ability into account when deciding on your next camera.

More resources

Wiki on RAW
Raw-workflow-links
Correcting your white balance using a grey card
Tutorial for a HDR-picture from 1 RAW-file

modeling tips: Get an agent (why?)

2008-07-17T03:17:00.000-07:00

Some models simply make it on their own. Some models simply have the business skills an talents to make it as a freelance model. Other models need an agency to get their things done. But even if you have the talent to be a great freelance model, you might want to consider signing up with an agency. Here’s why.

No hassle
Let me guess. You want to focus on modeling, not on paperwork, sending bills, calling photographers to send your TFP-pictures, finding clients and so on and so on. That’s where the agent comes in. He (more often: they) takes care of this stuff you don’t want to loose your time on. The employees of the agency are your employees; they support you, allowing you to focus on what you do best: modeling.

But there is more. A good agent will not only take care of the hassle, they will do things you can not do yourself. They will help you build a portfolio, a reputation and even your skills. The bottom line is that they will earn money if you earn money, so they turn their efforts toward you earning money. It is in their interest that you have a great portfolio, that you get loads of exposure and that you get to work with photographers that you can learn from.

Clients
Let’s pretend you’re a client, looking for a model. Where would you go? Would you spend your precious time searching the web for someone specific or rather pay a modeling agency to do it for you? Clients go to modeling agencies. So if you want clients, go there too.

Better still, agencies work as a selection mechanism. Clients that go to booking agencies are the ones that are willing to pay for quality. So these are most likely to be professional clients; they will probably hire a good photographer as well, and a good make-up artist. They are also likely to be safe clients (check my earlier article on safety).

More resources:
Whats the big deal about being a signed model?
how to get an agent
choosing an agent

Silly rules

2008-07-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to Athens recently to visit a conference. On my way back, at Athens airport, a security lady asked me whether I had any liquids in my hand luggage. Yes I did. On short trips, I only carry hand luggage to avoid having to wait for my luggage (or worse), so everything was in my hand luggage. And since I tend to shave myself, brush my teeth and use deodorant, yes, I had liquids in my hand luggage.

That in itself is not the problem, carrying liquids on an airplane is not forbidden. You have to put them in a sealed bag and each item must not exceed 100 ml. All my items did. Here’s a list of my liquids: Toothpaste (125ml), shaving cream (150ml) and deodorant (150ml). A grand total of 425ml, which would have fitted easily into the sealed bag (maximum content 1 liter).

The security lady confiscated all three items, since every single container could hold more than 100ml. I am not mad at the lady, she was just doing her job. It is her job to make people obey the rules, not to think about these rules. Should she have thought about them, she might have realized that I could bring the exact same stuff on board the plane if only I had used more containers, each 100ml or smaller.

Suppose I was a terrorist planning to blow up a plane. And suppose I would need 425ml of fluids to do so. Would I be so stupid as to hide them in three large containers? No way! I would have used 5 smaller ones, each containing 100ml or less. I would have put those in a single plastic bag and sealed it. Once in the air, would you think that the seal on the plastic bag would have stopped me from blowing the plane? Think again.

Here’s the bottom line: it is okay to try to stop terrorists. It is however not okay to come up with silly rules that do nothing to stop terrorists, but that are a nuisance to travelers. And it makes you think. If this is how smart our terrorist-fighters are, how in the world will they stop even one terrorist that had taken a minute to think?

Photography tips: Don't wait for full frame

2008-07-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

Digital SLRs come in two types, full frames and crop cameras. The distinction between the two is that the full frame has a sensor the same size as 35mm film, whereas crop cameras have a smaller (cropped) sensor, also labeled APS-C. Since picture quality (at least the part that the camera can influence) is positively related to sensor size, full frame sensors deliver better pics. Moreover, manufacturers tend to put full frame sensors in better cameras, hence full frame cameras are likely to produce better results. No wonder full frame cameras are major wannahaves

Some lenses out on the market are designed specifically for APS-C cameras. They won’t fit on full frames and if they fit, they’ll cause heavy vignetting. Someone who owns a full frame camera will not buy such a lens. That makes sense. People who plan to buy a full frame camera in the future don’t buy these lenses either, which makes a whole lot less sense.

Let’s face it, most people who plan on going full frame one day, in fact only dream of going full frame one day. Even if they do buy one, ‘one day’ might be months or even years from now. All this time, they’re missing out on the good lens. Some people even buy the wrong focal length, since they are going to switch ‘one day’. Why not just have all the fun you can have with the right lens on your APS-C and resell it once you switch to full frame? The second hand market for lenses is pretty good.

And then there is technical progress. Every new generation camera is better than the previous one. If the APS-C camera is a couple of generations newer than a full frame one (as is the case with Canon’s 40D versus 5D), it might be as good and in some respects even better. Of course, you can wait for the next generation full frame. And put up with the wrong lens even longer.

More resources
Advantages of ful frame
A comparison between full frame and APS-C

What's in a name?

2008-07-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

The world of photography contains all kinds of cameras, and even if we limit the 'world' to amateur photography, the variety is still huge. Sometimes, I get the impression that people are afraid of diversity and feel the urge to tame diversity through classification. There is nothing against classification. In fact, classification can be very useful. If you do it right, that is. And that's where the shit hits the fan.

Some people seem to think that they can divide cameras into the cattegory of Single Lens Reflex cameras (SLR's) and 'point-and-shoots'. I think this is a silly distinction. 'Point-and-shoot' refers to the way one uses the camera rather than the type of camera.

In the very early days of digital photography, point and shoot was all that you could do with a non-slr camera. But times have changed. Many of the non-slr type cameras have a range of possibillities and their use can go way beyond pointing and shooting. Sure, you can still point and shoot with these cameras, but you can do that with an SLR as well.

But wait. There is more. The people that use the term 'point-and-shoot' often use it in a condescending fashion. They seem to think that people using those cameras are low quality photographers. They make the classic mistake of thinking that it's the camera that makes a picture. It's not, it's the photographer. In fact, pointing and shooting are the two things that the photographer can not leave to the camera. Exposure and focus can be automated pretty easilly, but picking a subject, composing a picture and timinig the shot can not. Those (and not the price of the camera) are the core elements that make a great photo. Pointing and shooting form the shere essence of photography.

Modeling tips: Photographer types (6)

2008-07-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The artist
Photography is art. That is, some photographers use the reproduction technique ‘photography’ as a means of artistic expression. What was that again? Art. Uh, right, mmm’kay. Artist photographers have a very clear view of what they want. They work from a concept and stick to it. It is a petty that some artist photographers have trouble communicating their very clear view. They know exactly what picture they are looking for, but their main mean of communication is through images, not words. And of course, the things they are trying to put in the picture may seem a bit weird sometimes. But hey, that’s why it’s art.

Dos and don’ts
You really should work with one or two photographers of this type. It broadens your portfolio without taking the direction out of it. Working with art photographers is a great way to show your posing, acting and expression skills. These guys are typically beyond the everyday pics that anyone has in their portfolio. When I say one or two, take that literally. These pics tend to be pretty visible in your portfolio; don’t let them become too dominant. Unless you’re totally into this type of photography of course.

Since some of these artists have a hard time expressing themselves in words, make sure you study their work. This may help you understand their twisted minds and predict what it might be they are aiming at. Don’t be too sure though, artists tend to be pretty unpredictable. Like in finance, results from the past do not hold any guarantee for future outcomes.

Keep in mind that artistic photos sometimes derive a value from shocking viewers. Or from deviating from expectations. So if you think the shoot is weird, don´t worry, it is supposed to be weird. Although you obviously have to be clear about your limits well ahead of the shoot.

Other types
The intuitive type
The ex-model
The arrogant type
The shy type
The flamboyant type
The technical type

Chicks!

2008-06-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Mr Peacock? I was totally wrong about him. To be more precise, I was totally wrong about his two ladies. I was pretty sure they were in no way impressed by his loud and showy behavior. But at least one of them must have been playing hard to get. On my visit to the city farm yesterday, I saw one of the lady peacocks wandering around with four cute pea-chicks. Mr Peacock got what he wanted: offspring.

Congratulations Mr and Ms Peacock. May your four lovely children grow up to become as good looking as their daddy.

Photography tips: Get down!

2008-06-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I’ve got to get this of my chest. This morning, I visited the nearby city farm with my two year old son. There was this little boy petting a rabbit. And then there was this boy’s granddad taking pictures. His camera was a small sized Canon dSLR, probably a recent Rebel-version. It had a zoom lens with a red stripe, I think it was the 24-70L. (not that It matters though) Granddad was obviously very proud of his grandson and he was taking dozens of pictures of the little boy having fun at the farm. And although granddad was apparently not very old or crippled, he did not bend his knees once.

“What’s, the problem?”, you might ask. Well, the problem is that this guy spends an awful lot of money on gear and still fails to get a decent pic of his grandson. He is photographing the top of his grandson’s head, rather than the boy’s face. I see this happen a lot, people taking pictures of the top side of their dearly beloved child/grandchild/pet. It has to stop!

No matter the size or price of your camera, remember to get down to the level of the subject you are shooting. Pet or kid, you are picturing their world, and they live it at their level. Let the camera enter their world and lower it to their level as well. Don’t bother about getting dirty, a good picture is worth washing your trousers.

Really, if you weren’t already doing this, start doing it today. You’ll be amazed with the results. If you take only one lesson from this entire blog, let it be this one. Get down. Please!

Photography tips: Bounce!

2008-06-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Bounce lighting is a simple way to create a natural feel to your pictures. The base form of bounce lighting is aiming the head of your on-camera flash unit to the ceiling and bounce the light back from there. But why stop there? You can bounce light off about everything: a ceiling, a wall, a body of water, the list is endless, just use your imagination.

Color temperature
When you bounce, keep in mind that the surface you use to bounce off may not be perfectly white, but has a color of itself. White ceilings are often off-white, as are walls. Many objects that the human eye perceives as white have a yellowish or blueish cast. This will affect the color temperature, especially if the bounced light is your main or only light source. You can use this to your advantage as well. Using colored surfaces to bounce the light off can be used in artistic photography to create intended color casts.

Why not bounce the sun?
Bounce lighting is often associated with strobes and flashes, but there is no problem in bouncing other light sources as well. How about the sun? It is obviously impossible to aim the sun, but your subject may be moved, or the object you use to bounce the light off.

Reflectors
If you like bouncing, why not carry a bouncing surface with you? A simple foldable reflector, normally used to fill shadows in a portrait, can be used as a bouncing surface. These reflectors often come in different colors, such as white, gold (warm color portrait) and silver (high contrast lighting). Again, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Sheets of paper (or cardboard) are also lightweight and foldable and can easily be carried around. You can use a small cardboard as a bouncecard. Simply attach it on the back of your flash unit. The either fold the paper in a 45 degree angle, or put your flash in that angle (try both, and notice the difference between them). The disadvantage of this very simple method is that you loose the larger part of the light. With a little more effort (see links below), you can make a more effective bounce card.

More resources

A brief explanation
Strobist 101 on bouncing
lengthy, but very clear video on bouncecards
A DIY bounce card

CamerA AbsurdA updated

2008-06-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have added a new serie of pictures from a recent shoot to my online portfolio @ CamerA Absurda. This serie, featuring male model Nicky, is called The Gardener. The Gardener is the first shoot in a series of five within the Earth People-theme, featuring different male models. Other shoots still have to be planned, so it may take a while. I´ll keep you posted though.

Modeling tips: Don’t count on the photographer

2008-06-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

When you plan a shoot with a photographer, a couple of things should be arranged. In most cases, the photographer takes care of those, since he is the one responsible for the final result. But wait, photographers are people too. Some photographers may forget things, and some are simply sloppy planners. Being good at taking pictures is no guarantee for organizational talent, is it? So take a couple of measures, just in case the photographer forgets.

Contact the make up artist
I am assuming you or the photographer have arranged for a make up artist at the shoot. Maybe even a styling artist and a hairdresser. Contact them a couple of days before the shoot. Nothing special, just briefly discuss their plans and how it fits into the theme of the shoot. If you have any special wishes, discuss them too. Don’t try to take over the organization here, you are just calling out of curiosity. And to remind them that they need to contact the photographer if there are some details left that need coordination. But you won’t tell that of course, you are just curious and enthusiastic. Your call will make them think of those details though.

Bring stuff
No, you don’t have to bring a camera, I am pretty confident the photographer will not forget this item. I’m less sure about some other stuff though. First of all, bring plenty of clothes. Both within and outside the theme of the shoot. Even if the photographer or styling artist promised to bring clothes or if you are doing a nude shoot, your clothes may come in handy. What if you got some studio time left after the shoot or if something goes terribly wrong with the clothes provided? You’ll be more than happy to have brought that lovely dress. For similar reasons, you should bring your own make-up. This comes in handy if the make-up artist is stuck in traffic or does not show up at all (this does happen, sadly enough).

Also bring some food and drinks. If the shoot is in the photographers own studio, drinks are likely to be present, but you never know. Besides, it gives you the advantage of drinking whatever you want to drink and the gesture is often well appreciated by the other people participating in the sho

Meet Mr. Peacock

2008-06-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

There is a small city farm fairly close to where I live. I take my kids there quite often, to give them some sense of where food comes from. And it's fun too. The farm has quite a number of pets and small livestock, such as rabits, chicken, sheep and goats, and even two large pigs.

The farm also houses a male peacock with two females. When spring comes, his feathers are marvelous and one can hear his loud screaming a couple of blocks away. This fellow does all he can to impress both females. They hardly seem interested though. Last year, after several careful approaches, he allowed me to come close enough to use my 35 and 50mm primes on him. This year, my two year old son is too loud and too fast and way too interested in this loud and colorful bird. There is no way to get near the peacock without my son chasing it away, so I'll stick to the 90mm instead.

Photography tips: find a model

2008-06-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

So you want to be a model photographer? The first thing you’ll need to do is build a portfolio. But how will you build a portfolio without models? And how will you find models without a portfolio? Seems like there is no way out, but there is.

1st step: stay close
You probably know someone with a pretty face, who is willing to pose for you. Could be anyone; your sister, an uncle, someone from school, a colleague, your neighbor. If you think hard enough, you can think of someone. It does not have to be a professional model, you just need a couple of portraits that go beyond the snapshot-of-a-family-party level. Likewise, don’t use your holiday snapshots (unless they are great pics of course)

2nd step: Join a community
Once you have three or four decent pictures, join a web community for photographers and models. Well known US-examples are ModelMayhem.com and Onemodelplace.com. For my Dutch readers I recommend Dutchheaven.nl. In these communities, photographers and models (often make-up artists and stylists too) find a platform to connect to each other. Don’t just sign up and wait for things to happen. The best thing to do is approach models yourself, and arrange TFP (Time for Print) or TFCD (Time for CD) shoots. Try to aim at models slightly above your own level. Aiming lower will not get you the pictures you need to improve, whereas aiming too high is likely to lead to disappointment.

By participating in a community, you will get to work with people you don’t know. That’s a nice thing, but it is also a risk. That’s why I prefer internet communities that require photo ID to sign up. This simple threshold scares away the real idiots, but it is no guarantee.
Once you have worked with four or five different models, think about creating your own website as an online portfolio. This will give you more room for exposure and make you look more like a professional photographer. You can link from your community account to the website, and may want to put the url on your comp card as well. Meanwhile, keep working on your portfolio through TFP/TFCD shoots, gradually aiming for better models.

The alternative approach: Quickstart your career
There is a faster way to start. Instead of working your way up through TFP/TFCD shoots, you may want to invest in one or two shoots with very good models and make-up artists. This will give you a headstart when joining a community, allowing you to find better models willing to work with you on a TFP/TFCD basis. This strategy may work for photographers that are very talented or already have a broad experience in other fields of photography. For inexperienced photographers, it contains the risk that their inexperience shows in the pictures and the investment will be partly wasted. But then again, who is to reach anything without taking a risk or two?

pssst, you think this looks familiar? Very good, it means you read both modeling and photography tips. Which is wise, whether you're a model or a photographer.

Modeling tips: find a photographer

2008-06-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

So you want to be a model? The first thing you’ll need to do is build a portfolio. But how will you build a portfolio without photographers? And how will you find photographers without a portfolio? Seems like there is no way out, but there is.

1st step: stay close
You probably know someone with a decent camera, who is able to take a decent picture. Could be anyone; your dad, an uncle, someone from school, a colleague, your neighbor. If you think hard enough, you can think of someone. It does not have to be a professional photographer, you just need a couple of portraits that go beyond a picture of yourself in the bathroom mirror or one made by your boyfriend with his cell phone. Likewise, don’t use your holiday snapshots (unless they are great pics of course)

2nd step: Join a community
Once you have three or four decent pictures, join a web community for photographers and models. Well known US-examples are ModelMayhem.com and Onemodelplace.com. For my Dutch readers I recommend Dutchheaven.nl. In these communities, photographers and models (often make-up artists and stylists too) find a platform to connect to each other. Don’t just sign up and wait for things to happen. The best thing to do is approach photographers yourself, and arrange TFP (Time for Print) or TFCD (Time for CD) shoots. Try to aim at photographers slightly above your own level. Aiming lower will not get you the pictures you need to improve, whereas aiming too high is likely to lead to disappointment.

By participating in a community, you will get to work with people you don’t know. That’s a nice thing, but it is also a risk. That’s why I prefer internet communities that require photo ID to sign up. This simple threshold scares away the real idiots, but it is no guarantee. See the earlier article on this subject for tips on how to stay out of trouble.

Once you have worked with four or five different photographers, think about creating your own website as an online portfolio. This will give you more room for exposure and make you look more like a professional model. You can link from your community account to the website, and may want to put the url on your comp card as well. Meanwhile, keep working on your portfolio through TFP/TFCD shoots, gradually aiming for better photographers. If you think of going professional, this is about the time when you should start to contact agencies. Don’t wait until they come and discover you, go out and discover them. Check the forums of the community you joined to find out which agencies are any good.

The alternative approach: Quickstart your career
There is a faster way to start. Instead of working your way up through TFP/TFCD shoots, you may want to invest in one or two shoots with very good photographers and make-up artists. This will give you a headstart when joining a community, allowing you to find better photographers willing to work with you on a TFP/TFCD basis. Once you join the community, start expanding your portfolio as fast as you can, so you’ll reach the point where you’ll start contacting agencies much sooner. This strategy may work for models that are very talented or already have some acting experience. For inexperienced models, it contains the risk that their inexperience shows in the pictures and the investment will be partly wasted. But then again, who is to reach anything without taking a risk or two?

Modeling tips: Photographer types (5)

2008-06-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The Ex-model
More and more models switch to photography once they turn old, fat and ugly. No. Wrong. Let’s try that again. More and more models discover the fun of being on the other side of the camera. Some of them turn out to be excellent photographers. The ex-model has a huge advantage. She (I do not know a single male model who turned photographer) knows the drill. She knows what it’s like to model and she might know some people in the business too. She knows what a good picture should look like. She also knows what you are going through doing a bikini shoot in February. Yet she’ll show no mercy putting you trough it. She knows it’s all part of being a model. She had her fair share of professional misery, so why should she save you?

Dos and don’ts
First of all, approach her as the photographer. She may talk about her modeling career for 90% of the time, and you may feel like you are working with a fellow model, but you are not. Keep the roles clear at all times. You are the model, she is the photographer. There is no problem in asking her advice of talking about her modeling experience, as long as you keep realizing that you are doing a photo shoot here.

Try to find out how long it’s been since she was a model. If it was quite some time ago, her memory may have faded and some of her advice may be outdated. Keep in mind that time heals all wounds, so her faded memory will tell her that she did not complain during her February bikini shoot. So why should you?

Whatever you do, don’t speak bad about her modeling capabilities. It is highly unproductive, plain rude and totally irrelevant. She is the photographer, remember? Her modeling capabilities don’t matter. No matter how she brags and no matter how well you know her actual qualities, do not judge her as a model. She is a photographer.

It’s okay to talk about people you both worked with (keep it polite though). It will probably bring back good memories and put you both in a good mood. Even if you share a bad experience, the fact that you both experienced it may strengthen your connection.

Other types
The intuitive type
The artist
The arrogant type
The shy type
The flamboyant type
The technical type

Pinkpop 2008

2008-06-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last week, I went to the Pinkpop festival. This is an annual rockfestival in the South of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from ‘Pinksteren’, the Dutch word for Pentecost. The festival is normally held during the Pentecost-weekend, except for this year because Pentecost was so early. Dating back to 1970, Pinkpop is the oldest annual festival in the world.

I brought my Holga to the festival, rather than my ‘normal’ camera. My main target at the festival was music, not photography. When carrying my ‘normal’ camera, I have to be careful, as it is an expensive piece of equipment. With the $20 Holga, that’s a bit different. If it breaks, it breaks. Big deal. I actually lost my Holga while Rage Against the Machine were playing, but someone noticed me loosing it and handed it back to me. It is in fact a small miracle that the Holga survived the jumping crowds during an RATM-gig.

I loaded a 35mm film into my Holga, which is one of my favourite Holgamods (modifications for the Holga, more on this in an upcoming article). It delivers panorama-like pictures, with the sprocket holes inside the pic. I just shot people visiting the festival rather than the bands, as the Holga is much more suited for street photography than concert photography. Since the weather was much better than I expected, my initial guess to use a 400 ASA film was a bit off, leading to burnt highlights now and then. But who cares, Holgas are not meant to produce technically perfect pictures anyway.

Photography tips: Photographers shouldn't do sports

2008-06-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Lately, many of my photographing friends tell me they go to the gym to work out. Sure, sure, obesity is a big problem world wide, and exercise is one way to loose weight. I know all that, and yes, I could do with a couple of pounds less myself. Fair is fair.

But hey, come on! Summer’s here! Who needs the gym? There is a world out there, you know? And this world wants you. And it wants your camera. We all know that the normal world hides pretty pictures. It’s up to you to go out and find them. Leave your car at home. Yes, you can do that, don’t be afraid, your car won’t blame you. Take the bike. Bicycle that is, not your motorbike! Or go by foot. Slow travel gives you time to actually look at the world. That is the way to discover these hidden pretty pictures.

By the way, did you know that burning body fat is done by long exercise at not too high a pace? Yup, walking or cycling will do the trick better than exercising at the gym. And you won’t waste your time. You are doing the thing you like best: taking pics.

So photographers, get out instead of loosing your precious time at the gym. But should you still decide to go, bring your camera and do what you do best.

Roman Bridge

2008-05-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

I went to Rimini last April to hold a talk at a workshop. Rimini is known to most people as a beach resort, but the weather wasn´t that good and I am not the beachy type anyway. In terms of historical things to see, Rimini is not realy a big tourist attraction, most certainly not if compared to some other Italian towns. But still, since I was there anyway, I went out for a nice little walk. Fair is fair, Rimini does have a couple of historical highlights.

One of them is Tiberius' bridge. It dates from the first century A.D. and used to cross an important river(Ariminus today, Marecchia). Since then, the course of the river was changed and the bridge only crosses a dead end canal. The bridge is just broad enough to let one car pass the pedestrians on the bridge. The picture is a long exposure at dusk, hence the 'frozen' water.

Modeling tips: 7 mascara tips

2008-05-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mascara is a nice and simple way to make your lashes look longer make your eyes stand out. The ideal situation is that you have a great make-up artist for every shoot you do, and you don’t have to worry about mascara. But we all know, the world is not perfect, and sometimes you will have to do your own make-up. Then it’s good to know what you’re doing.

1) Practice first
Imagine you are at a shoot with the photographer you have been wanting to work with for quite some time. Now the make up artist does not show up and you have to apply mascara yourself. How happy would you be to find out that the great shots from this photo shoot are ruined by your lack of mascara skills? Don’t let that happen to you. Practice ‘till you drop. Make sure you can apply your mascara under any condition.

2) Apply powder before mascara
If you apply a powder before you apply your mascara, you will have less problems removing bits that fell off and prevent your mascara from running down.

3) Curl your eyelashes
Use an eyelash curler to curl your eyelashes before applying mascara. Different sources say different things about curling again after you applied the mascara. Try it at home first and see if it works for you.

4) Top to bottom
Apply mascara to the top side of your lashes, then the bottom side. This holds for both lashes. It is no important which one you do first

5) Tired?
If you are tired, you might want to use a brown mascara to create a warm effect. You may also want to put mascara on your upper lashes only to keep the view light.

6) Use fresh mascara
The stuff lasts for about three months, then it dries out. Don’t be cheap, replace your mascara in time. Make sure not to pump your mascara tube as it brings in air, which speeds up the drying. Instead, rotate the wand inside the tube.

7) Waterproof?
Limit the use of waterproof mascara. It comes of harder, which is bad for the soft skin around your eyes.

More references:
How to apply mascara, tutorial and video
Mascara guide (more tips)

Photography tips: dSLR or high end compact?

2008-05-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Many people literally grow into photography. They have a simple point-and-shoot camera for holidays, kids and so on. Gradually, they find out photography is fun, and they want to go a step further. Now they have the choice of switching to a high end compact or a low end digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex camera). This article lists the pros and cons of both, which might help to take this decision.

Sensor size
The most important difference between a dSLR and a high end compact is sensor size. Compacts, it may be no surprise, have a smaller sensor than dSLRs. The thing you will note in everyday use is that large sensors are less prone to noise at higher ISO-levels. This means that the dSLR will perform better in low light. Sensor size has several other aspects, as you may find when reading the ‘further resources’ below.

Value for money
The high end compact is clearly a winner in terms of value for money. You’ll get a great zoom range, a macro function and sometimes image stabilization as well. If you want these functions on a dSLR, you will pay twice to three times as much, and that is without the image stabilization. Sure, you’ll have a higher image quality, but under normal light conditions, the difference will hardly be noticeable, until you start buying high quality lenses. But then the price difference will obviously explode.

Change that lens!
The great thing about a dSLR is that you can change lenses. This allows for endless possibilities (and endless expenses as well). You can equip your dSLR with high quality lenses, special interest lenses, etcetera, etcetera. This is going to cost you, both in money terms and in terms of having to carry all those lenses with you and changing lenses every time. With a compact, you have an all-in-one lens, but expansion is hardly possible.

Big is beautiful (?)
Compacts are smaller than dSLRs. Period. That implies that they are easier to carry and easier to tuck away. They are also less intrusive, making it easier to photograph in social situations. Size, small or big, is also important for how the camera feels in your hands. That’s very personal, depending on your hands and preferences.

A big dSLR makes you look like a genuine photographer, especially with an oversized telezoom lens. I am not being sarcastic here. Size does matter in how people see you. I know models that refuse to work with a photographer with a compact camera, no matter the quality of his work. And I have even seen models throwing awkward looks at my Holga and at my 35/2 prime, even though is was mounted on a dSLR. And apart from that, status is important to most people. That´s okay, it´s as valid a reason to buy a camera the any other reason.

Further resources
Making (some) sense out of sensor sizes
Extensive article on sensor size

Modeling tips: Photographer Types (4)

2008-05-25T02:46:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The arrogant type
The arrogant photographer thinks he’s the center of the world. You should be happy that he is prepared to devote some of his precious time to you. At least that’s what he thinks. He is likely to become unfriendly if you do not pose exactly how he wants you to, even if he is not able to explain it clearly.

Dos and don’ts
This is one of the hardest types to work with. Your natural reaction to such a p***k would be to get mad, right? But what good would that do to your pictures? For the same reason, don’t let him get you down either. He may treat you like he does not need you, but in fact he does. If the photographer is not going to tell you you’re doing great, you’ll have to tell yourself you are.

Here’s the bottom line: Don’t get mad, get even. Be arrogant too. I don’t mean you should act the same way though. Your arrogance is far more subtle than his. By not letting his misbehavior get to you, you are actually ignoring his oversized ego. His arrogance means nothing to you. You won’t get mad or become discouraged. Your personality is so superior that his has no influence whatsoever.

You think that’s hard? It’s not, because it’s fun. Practice it a couple of times in a role-play with a friend. You’ll soon get the hang of it. And the nice bonus is, you’ll be playing with the guy and he’ll respect you for it. And since you’re shining with self confidence, you’ll shoot great pictures, which is to your mutual benefit.

Other types
The intuitive type
The artist
The shy type
The flamboyant type
The technical type
The ex-model

CamerA AbsurdA updated

2008-05-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

I updated my online portfolio. Here's an overview of the changes:

A new series called 'Silence of the Lamps' is added to the site, featuring Elize and Pascal. It replaces the stock section which is no longer accessible from the front page (it's still out there though)
Updated the 'other models' section with pictures of Pascal, Marijke and Rachel
'Minor of fence' was added to the selfportraits-section

That's all for now, enjoy!

Photography tips: Surface reflections

2008-05-21T02:04:00.000-07:00

Reflections are a great way to give some depth to your pictures. This is obviously true for a reflection of a boat on a lake, but it also holds for studio shots. I will focus on the latter, as these are the type of pics where you actually make the reflection. On the lake, it’s already there, you just need to capture it. Obviously, reflections can be created in post processing if you like, but it’s much more fun doing it yourself.

What surface to use?
Obviously, we need a reflecting surface. Mirrors are reflective, and they can be used, but the result is often disappointing. Reflections become too clear, giving your picture an awkward look. But hey, you can try it and might like the result. Plain glass is a good alternative, and some types of transparent plastic may work well too. A high finish wooden board with shiny black paint is okay, but sensitive to scratches.

If you use glass, use a dark surface below it for perfect reflections. If it has a pattern, it might shine through. On the other hand, this might be want you want. In the second pic in this article, I used a striped surface to have it conflict with the round shapes of the subject and background. Whatever surface you use, make sure it is clean from dust, scratches and fingerprints. It is a big pain to remove those in post processing.

The back-light method
The back-light method uses light from the back to create the reflection. The light does not really have to come from behind, it can be a well-lit background as well. In fact, this option is used more often. The light from the back bounces on the glass towards your lens. Note that the reflecting surface will take on the color and pattern of the background. This provides unlimited creative possibilities.

Back-lighting the scene would of course imply that the front remains underexposed, so you will probably want to use a fill flash as well. Just play around a little to find the right position and lighting ratio to light the front without disturbing the reflection. You will see it’s not that hard.

The top light method
You might not be surprised: the top light method uses light from the top to bring out the reflection. It is very suitable for abstract shapes. The reflecting surface will be black unless you put your background so close that it catches some light. By moving your background further and closer, you may vary the amount of reflection it generates. Likewise, aiming an extra light source at your background will increase its presence in the reflection. You may want to use a fill flash, but you don’t need to. The pic to the left was made with a single light source. The light coming from the top accentuates the shape of the subject. You can click on the pic to see a set up of the picture.

More resources:

Wikipedia on the physics of reflections

Tutorial for reflections in Photoshop

May is okay!

2008-05-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

My Shutterstock earnings suddenly spiked by the end of April and beginning of May. Earnings on a normal weekday were about three times their normal levels. A nice suprise, but why? Turned out the guys at Shutterstock put two of my pics in the Mother's Day lightbox on the front page. One of them was very popular and skyrocketed to the #3 position on my all-time downloads list and sold an enhanced licence. Somehow, my overall sales where so kind as to follow the lead an keep doing so after Mother's Day.

The funny thing is, I shot this picture with Valentine's Day in mind.

Modeling tips: Photographer Types (3)

2008-05-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The technical type
Does your photographer use a light meter? Does it take him an hour to take the first shot? And does he get it right at his first try, in manual mode? Chances are, you just met a technical photographer. This person knows exactly what he’s doing. He can calculate the correct aperture and shutter speed straight from the head. You can count on loads of knowledge about photography, and he uses it too! He may be very strict in giving directions: “No, your finger should be half an inch further to the left”. But he is more likely to be so occupied with technicalities that he leaves the posing to you. This is also the type of photographer that is most likely to use a film camera on the side (apart from the artist, that is).

Dos and don’ts
You are lucky. You found a photographer that will create perfect photos. All you have to do is strike the right poses. If you can do that without directions, count on a great result. Sorry, no chatting this shoot. He is not going to come loose, he’s busy. And for your sake, let him be.

Unless you are really interested in the subject, don’t ask him any technical questions. Before you know, he will answer them. Thoroughly. It’s okay if you’re not interested in technicalities, he counts on you not to be interested. But if you start him and loose interest after a couple of minutes, you’ll hurt his feelings.

The main problem for you is that he might devote half or more of his time to the lights rather than the model. You will just have to wait. Bring a magazine or find something else to kill the time. Don’t get annoyed, unless ‘annoyed’ is the look you want for your portfolio. Be patient, he is working on the perfect result for your pictures.

The same holds for post processing. He is going to take his time to get it right. And he will get it right. Give him time. If you are on a TFP/TFCD shoot, you might want to tell him in advance to limit the number of pictures you want. This speeds up the process without harming quality. After all, who uses more than 5 pics from one shoot in a portfolio?

If you are going to a shoot with a technical photographer, be prepared. Make sure you have practiced a number of poses, so you can strike them without directions. The same holds for facial expressions. And bring something to read.

Other types
The intuitive type
The artist
The shy type
The flamboyant type
The arrogant type
The Ex-model

Photography tips: cropping and aspect ratio

2008-05-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Cropping, or cutting the edge from a picture in post processing, may sometimes come as a useful trick to improve your composition or to remove unwanted elements from your picture. Cropping may also be used to change the aspect ratio of your pic, and hence change its impact. The aspect ratio is defined as the ratio between the longest and the shortest side of your pic. Changing your aspect ratio has implications for the composition of your pic. Some combinations work better than others.

1:1
The square format is often used in medium format cameras as well as in many Lomo (often using medium format film cameras. This gives a picture a traditional feel. Depending on the pic, a professional or experimental look that the picture already had, may be enhanced by the square crop. If some site or contest prescribes a maximum size for the longest side, you may want to maximize total pic size by using the square crop. Likewise, the visibility of a square thumbnail in a large group of thumbnails is better. Square pics work well with centered compositions, spirals and portraits. For portraits, center the pic at the vertical axle, and put the eyes on 2/3rd.

3:2
The 3:2 (or 6:4) aspect ratio is commonly used for 35mm film and for some medium formats. Magazines very often use this format as well, as do many books and postcards. People will immediately recognize 3:2 as a photograph, and it will make your pic look as if it was taken with a SLR-camera. (which doesn’t mean a thing, but some people tend to equate SLR to ‘professional’). Pictures with an aspect ratio of 3:2 work great with the rule of thirds and with all composition rules using diagonals (leading lines, S-curve, vanishing point, etc).

4:3
Most modern digital compact cameras use the 4:3 aspect ratio. This ratio is also very common for TV- and computer screens. Some people have the feeling that the 4:3 landscape looks more familiar than a 4:3 portrait. This does make sense, as TVs and computer screens are hardly ever in the portrait position. Some books and magazine use the 4:3 aspect ratio in portrait though. The 4:3 aspect ratio seems to fit almost any composition.

16:9
The 16:9 aspect ratio is derived from wide screen televisions and –before that- from movie theatres. No wonder it has a somewhat luxurious impact and no wonder it looks so weird in portrait. This aspect ratio goes very well with landscape shots and with shots that could have been movie stills.

More resources:

Wikipedia on aspect ratios
DPChallenge Square crop challenge results (2006)

A Ghost in Gent?

2008-05-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, I went to the beautiful Belgian city Gent for a meet with models and other photographers from Holland and Belgium. Apart from my normal camera, I carried my Holga, loaded with a heavily overaged film (Kodak Vericolor II (C-41) 100 ASA). The fun with overaged film is that you have no idea what the outcome will look like. It may be totally normal, extremely washed out, nothing at all, anything can happen. I had never before used film that was so heavily overaged as this one: its expiry date was October 1982, more than 25 years ago

The funny outcome was that there was quite a difference between the pics after developing them. Some had a blue cast, others red or yellow. They all had a red/purple flair at the bottom and lost contrast as well as sharpness. Not very good pics by any technical standards, but that’s not why one uses overaged film.

One of the pics was a double exposure of a model shot and an architecture shot, that I made by accident. It turned out quite nice because of the placing of the hand and the question mark billboards on the building. The pic as you see it here comes almost straight from the scanner. The only post processing I did was some minor dust removal and sharpen after resize. All colour casts and weird things you see are either caused by the age of the film, the double exposure, or the twist in your mind. You can check out a larger version at my Flickr portfolio by clicking on the picture.

Great hobbies for models

2008-05-07T07:23:00.001-07:00

Stop! Do you think your hobby or hobbies should be tailored to your modeling career? If so, you are nuts. Pick a hobby you like, not one that suits your career. Hobbies are supposed to be nice pastimes, not work. However, should one or more of the hobbies below appeal to you, give them a try. As a nice side effect, they might enhance your modeling career. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a career that’s even more fun than modeling.

Join a theatre group
Become an actor. Take acting lessons if you feel the need, but joining a group is at least as important, as you will learn from your fellow actors. Acting and modeling are basically the same thing, but in a different context. For actors, striking a pose or a facial expression is a natural thing to do. It is my personal experience that many models would be better models if they only knew how to reproduce a certain emotion by facial expression and body language. Likewise, technical aspects like breathing techniques and posture are important for both acting and modeling.

Besides, being in a theatre group is a great way to expand your network. You might meet other models, photographers and clients that you would normally not have met. Having theatre experience is an asset on your model resume too. Photographers are more likely to hire you, since they know you trained yourself to strike a pose or reproduce emotions.

Dance!
Dancing is also great for models, and I don’t mean dancing in a strip club (although for some types of models…). Whether you like classical ballet, Jazz, Hiphop, modern dance, streetdance or even tap dance, dancing is good for a model. It is obviously a great workout. And since it’s more fun than fitness (to most people, that is), it’s easier to keep up. Like acting, dancing will enhance your posture and breathing and you will learn to visualize the effect of certain poses and movements.

Dancers, models and actors are often in the same talent competitions and sometimes even represented by the same agencies. Doing both will therefore increase your visibility to scouts and agents. So do make sure to bring your comp card to a dance contest and let the organizers know that you are also a model, so in case someone does not show up, they can stop searching for a replacement right away. They found you.

Be a make-up artist
It’s pretty obvious that being able to do your own make-up is an asset for models. If that were all, just get a base course for those events where the make-up artist does not show up. But there is more. If you are anything more than a base-level make-up artist, your skills become a big plus. Portfolio shoots will double in value as they can be used for both your portfolios. Keep working with other make-up artists and other models as well, to keep some diversity in your portfolios.

Being a make-up artist obviously helps you to expand your network in the modeling scene. You will get to meet other models, photographers, agencies and clients. You may also learn as a model from a shoot that you are attending as a make-up artist and vice versa.

Why don’t you design your own fashion?
True, fashion design is a bit more specific than the hobbies mentioned above. But why wouldn’t you? As a model, you’ve seen a lot of fashion. You probably met a lot of designers too. It is time consuming, but that is what hobbies are supposed to be, remember? If you like creating things, this is a great hobby.

Think about it, your closet being filled with all kinds of great stuff, and you will even know which ones to combine. All the advantages mentioned under make-up artists hold for fashion design too: your ability is an asset, both your portfolios will benefit from a shoot and your network expands greatly. Furthermore, you will be able to understand a designer’s needs and develop your modeling skills likewise and vice versa, making you both a better model and a better designer.

More resources:

Models who also act
How NOT to combine modeling and dancing

Photography tips: basic post processing

2008-05-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

I know that some photographers are very reluctant to do any post processing. I am not going to tell them they are wrong. I am not going to explain that post processing is exactly what the photo lab did when they developed your film in the old days. I am not going to tell them it’s okay to correct for the minor imperfections of their gear. It’s a waste of time and energy, they will most certainly not listen. Somehow, these people got the silly idea that the 0’s and 1’s on their chip are the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and that post processing implies that the truth is altered. They will stick to this idea, and they are entitled to their mistake.

Too bad for them, they are missing out on an easy opportunity to enhance the quality of their pictures. This article describes some basic tips that help improving pictures. Nothing big, no great secrets revealed here, no magic way to recover a bad picture. In fact, post processing can hardly ever be used to make a bad pic into a good one. But you can make your nice picture pop, and have it draw attention. The article draws on the use of Photoshop Elements, but the same techniques may be used in Photoshop CS, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp and many other programs. The terms used may be slightly different though.

Increase contrast
Most lenses (except the very good ones) loose some contrast on the way from the actual thing to the picture on your chip. You will have to bring it back in post processing. Simply create a levels adjustment layer (using curves is fine too, but they require an add-on in Elements). You will now see a histogram. Check if there is some ‘empty room’ to the sides of the histogram and slide the white and black point towards the ends of the histogram. You can slide both sides up to 20 points further, depending on the steepness of the outer slopes of the histogram. The higher contrast will make the pic look stronger and sharper. Make sure to check your highlights. If they get burned, slide the white point a little further to the right or use a grey brush on the mask to apply the levels selectively.

Increase saturation
Like in the case of contrast, some lenses loose some of the color in your original. Again, you can use post processing to bring it back. You may even want to exaggerate a little, provided you have your white balance correct. Increasing saturation by 10 to 20 percent should do the trick. Like before, check your highlights. Increasing saturation may cause burning highlights as well.

Sharpen
Finally, sharpen your picture, either using USM or the simple sharpen tool. There is no fundamental difference between them. USM gives you a little more control, but I find the sharpen tool to be accurate most of the time. If you use a prime or a very good zoom, there will be no need to sharpen at full size. As soon as you resize the pic however, some sharpness may be lost, and you need to reintroduce it. You can sharpen more than once, but forget about saving a pic that is blurred by camera shake. Sharpening should be done at the final stage of post processing to prevent jpg-artifacts. This holds especially for saving (as .jpg) and resizing.

More resources:

A video on the use of levels in photoshop
Levels versus Curves
Understanding histograms
Some nice-to-know reading about photo manipulation

Modelling tips: Photographer Types (2)

2008-04-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The flamboyant type
The flamboyant photographer dazzles into the room, spreading an air of self esteem. He or she talks a lot, mainly about some person called ‘me’ and does not seem to take the shoot too seriously. He or she does give directions, somewhere in between all the small talk. If the flamboyant photographer is of the opposite sex, he/she might even flirt a little with the model. This type is great for inexperienced models, the shoot will go smoothly, stress will flow away with the stream of words and directions come naturally. On the other hand, the endless bragging may become a little tiresome after some time.

Dos and don’ts
The easy and right thing to do is just go with the flow. Respond to his talks, admire the great things he says he has done and brag a little about yourself as well. Do however keep in mind that you are here to shoot, not to chat. It’s great to have a relaxed atmosphere during your shoot, but it is still a serious matter.

Make sure you have made some pretty clear appointments in your deal with this photographer. Especially when you do a TFP/TFCD-shoot, make sure he keeps his part of the deal. It’s not bad will, but flamboyant photographers tend to be a little sloppy in delivering on time if at all. If he’s late delivering, don’t hesitate to remind him. Again and again of needed. Clearly signal that he is not going to get away with not delivering. No need to be rude or aggressive though, he is not trying to screw you, he is just a bad planner.

About the flirting, well, don’t think to much of it. It’s probably just his way with women (or her way with men) in general and has nothing to do with you. Of course, you still set your own boundaries, but don’t be too afraid (or hopeful) of his intentions towards you. He is just going to shoot you.

Other types
The intuitive type
The artist
The shy type
The technical type
The arrogant type
The Ex-model

Landmark @ Somewhere

2008-04-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Suppose you’re visiting the famous place Somewhere. Obviously, since you’re there, you will visit the equally famous Landmark, as it is conveniently located just outside somewhere. And when you visit Landmark, you would be a silly photographer to go home without a picture of it, right? So, there you stand, at a pretty spot, just near Landmark, aiming your camera. Around you, you see about a zillion tourists doing exactly that, from about the same viewpoint. Now you know, you are not going to take a very original picture.

Nothing wrong with standard pics, I am not saying that. You are not only a photographer, you are also a tourist. And you want something to remind you of the famous places you visit. But still. You also want a more or less special picture of Landmark, a picture that is really yours. Take a good look around you, the solution is probably closer than you think.

Free high res version of this picture

Photography tips: Lens and camera reviews

2008-04-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

When you are going to buy a camera or a lens, and once you more or less figured out what type your after, the search for the best one begins. ‘Best’ obviously depends on your personal preferences as well, but you will need information. Review pages can give you this information, but there are so many different review pages. Some of them seem to be purely commercial, some are very technical and others consist of user reviews. How to find your way in this ocean of information? Let me tell you how I gather my information. I am not saying it is the best way per se, but it might be a good starting point to develop your own.

Once you know what you want, check three review sites. FredMiranda (FM) has a large number of user reviews. User reviews have the obvious advantage that they tell you how the lens behaves in day-to-day use. They have the disadvantage that a user may judge the lens wrong. The advantage of FM is that the number of reviews is quite large, so that a single misjudgment is not likely to have a huge impact. The overall score for any lens will give you a fairly good first indication, but you should read a couple of those reviews as well. Especially focus on reading the cons of the lenses and check whether they matter to you. If a lens is voted down for its noisy AF motor but is optically sound, you may not care as much as in the case of a lens that is voted down for lack of contrast.

A second site to check is Photozone.de. They have extensive technical reviews. You may either be interested in reading the entire thing, or just the verdict, that’s up to you. Note that Photozone lists all lenses by mount. That is no problem if you are a Canon owner looking for a Canon lens, but when you are looking for a third party lens (e.g. Sigma, Tamron, Tokina etc), you may miss out on the lens you were looking for. If you are for instance looking for the Tokina 10-17 for your Canon, go check the Nikon section. Photozone tested this lens on a Nikon body, so they listed it under Nikon. If it performs well on a Nikon body, it will probably perform well on a Canon body too.

DPReview mainly tests cameras, but they do have some lens reviews as well. For cameras, you can do a feature search as well as a side-by side comparison. They also keep track of lens and camera releases, which is also nice to know.

Apart from reviews, you may also want to check some pictures taken with the specific cameras. There are many sites to do this. I would like to mention the two sites that I check out for this purpose, but others are good as well. DPChallenge has a section called equipment, where you can look for the camera or lens you are looking for. On Flickr, go to the ‘groups’ section and type the brand and focal length (brand and type for cameras) in the search box.

If you still have questions, turn to a photography related forum. Members of those froum are often very willing to help and share their knowledge and experiences. All the sites listed above have such forums, and google is your friend in finding other forums as well, or forums in your own language.

Modelling tips: Photographer types (1)

2008-04-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Photographers, you need them for the pictures. Most of them are nice people, but they also have some peculiarities. If you know how to cope with these peculiarities, you’ll get the optimal results from your photo shoots. To help you with this, this blog publishes a series of articles devoted to photographer types. Every single photographer is a unique person. Nevertheless, knowing the type could be useful for models. None of the observations in this article imply that a certain type of photographer delivers higher quality. Each category contains both good and bad photographers. The mere fact that a photographer is shy, arrogant or flamboyant tells us nothing about the quality of his or her work. It does tell us something about the way they work though.

Some models may think that there is no need to adjust to the photographer. ‘Let them adjust to me.’ If that’s you, let me ask you whether you care about the result of a photo shoot. If you don’t, stop reading (and you might as well stop modeling too). If you do, why not take all the factors into account that you can influence?

The shy type
The shy photographer is more often a man than a woman. Sometimes, it seems like he is hiding behind his camera. Don´t count on a lot of directions. He probably knows what he wants you to do fairly well, but he is too shy to tell you. If he does, he will tell you in a low voice. Don´t let it scare you, you probably picked this photographer because you like his pics. He made these pics being just as shy as he is now, so he will be able to reach that level again. And maybe even a little higher, ‘cause now he’s got you as a model.

Dos and don’ts
First of all, remember that he knows what he’s doing. He simply needs a little help in the communication department. So listen carefully to the few things he says and then ask. By asking, you invite him to talk. Don’t ask the obvious though, if you do understand him right away, that’s fine too.

You can take some initiative in posing if he doesn’t, but keep checking whether it is okay with him. If he is a male, he may be especially shy to ask for a sexy pose, so try to pose a little sexier than he asks you if you feel that would lead to a better result.

It’s okay to chat a little to break the ice. Don’t just talk about you, try to find common interests. He will probably not say too much at first, but once you’ve found out what his interests are, he might open up a bit. Keep an open eye though, as his shyness may prevent him from breaking the chat to get more serious, e.g. give directions. Make sure to leave some silences in between, longer ones than you normally would while chatting.

Whatever you do, don’t try to reassure him. Yes, he’s shy, and he knows he is. He was just hoping you wouldn’t notice. Or hoping that you wouldn’t mind. Or whatever. By focusing on his shyness, you give him the impression that it bothers you, and he’ll become even more insecure. What you can do, is compliment on his work. If he has his portfolio with him or if you are looking back pics from earlier in the shoot, say you like the pics and love his style.

Other types:
The intuitive type
The flamboyant type
The technical type
The arrogant type
The Ex-model
The artist

Photography tips: Combining flash and daylight

2008-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

When there is not enough light to take a picture, you can use a flash. True. But it is not the whole truth. Have you ever tried using the flash during the day? It is not as silly as it may sound. In fact, in temporary fashion photography, combining flash and daylight is the rule rather than the exception.

Basic fill flash
Have you ever been shooting people in broad daylight? Did you notice the so-called ‘panda-bear effect’, with a circle of shadow around your subject’s eyes? Not a very pretty sight. Besides, a portrait where the eyes are invisible is not really a very good portrait. That’s where the fill flash comes in. It lightens up the shadows, giving you a much better portrait, as well as a little more flexibility with respect to choosing your position relative to the sun. You can either use your on-camera flash or a separate one. Harsh flash shadows, a big problem of ‘normal’ on-camera flash photography, are not really an issue, as daylight chases them away. You may want to use a ring flash, an omnibounce or a snap-on soft box to change the character of the light.

Contre jour
Now take it a step further. Since you are lighting your model’s face anyway, you might as well shoot right into the sun. Well, not really into the sun of course. Keep the sun behind your model and use your (fill) flash to light the model’s face and front. The sun now acts as a backlight, giving your model’s hair a nice glow. Normally, you would only get silhouette, but thanks to the flash, the front of the model becomes visible. With some practice you might even get to use the sun’s flare in a desirable way. This is a technique often used in modern fashion photography.

Let’s play around a little
Now we have two light sources, the sun and your flash. Having two light sources means you can change the lighting ratio. Obviously, there is no way you can adjust the sun’s strength, but there are other options. Most modern flash units are equipped with Through-The-Lens (TTL)-metering: flash metering occurs after the shutter has been opened and flash output is adjusted accordingly. The output of TTL flashes can be adjusted to cater for you specific needs as well. Check the third link below for a good tutorial of using the TTL-flash for fill.

If you do not have a TTL-flash, there is another (older) way to do things. You probably know that your flash sync speed is about 1/200 to 1/250 sec. If you set a shorter shuttertime (say 1/500 sec), you’ll note a dark ban on the photograph, which is the shadow of your closing shutter curtain. But how about longer shutter speeds? They won’t affect your flash, nor the amount of flash light that falls on you picture. It does affect the amount of ambient light though. So if you want to have a brighter background (behind your flash-lit subject), expand your shutter time. For darker backgrounds, use a shorter shutter time. Depending on the strength and placement of your flash, you can even make a bright day look like twilight. Note that this trick works with TTL-flashes as well, but adjusting flash output is a lot simpler.

More resources:

A basic tutorial
Fill flash can be used in landscape photography too
Fill flash with a TTL flash
An extensive article on the TTL System (based on the Nikon version, but helpful to other brand owners as well.

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Earth Day. To be honest, I never heard of it. I am kinda pro-earth, try to keep my ecological footprint within limited proportions. But I never heard of Earth Day untill a couple of days ago. I visited the Istock webpage to check my stats. They always have this easy link to seasonal pics and I more or less expected a link to Mother's Day pictures. But it said 'Earth Day'. So I got curious, looked for the pics and it was all about renewable energy, alternative fuels and so on. A couple of mine were there as well, as I also shoot this type of stuff.

Still curious, I did a search and found the wiki-page about Earth Day. Funny how photography can teach you new things in a way you never expected. Now you know as well. Happy Earth Day!

Picture of planet earth by NASA, available for free download

Modelling tips: Comp card

2008-04-20T01:55:00.000-07:00

I am pretty confident I do not have to introduce the term portfolio to my readers. I am not too sure about the term comp card though. Some models have never heard of it and models that have heard of it, may still not have one.

A comp card (short for composite card, also called Z-card or zed-card) is an A5-sized card (5 by 8 inches) with a couple of your best pictures, some relevant statistics and contact details. You may compare it to a business card. Every business man has one, often with very impressive job titles (e.g. assistant executive floor manager, which means that the guy helps cleaning the floor). You don’t have an impressive job title, it’s just ‘model’. But then again, you have your looks. They are much more impressive than any job title, so why not put them on your business card?

So why have a comp card when you already have a portfolio? Well, there is a clear difference. When you go to a client or agency, you obviously take your pf with you, right? And when you go home, you take your pf back with you again, leaving the client with… ..nothing. Well, you are leaving a dazzling impression of course, but these tend to fade over time. Why not leave a couple of pictures, some statistics and your contact details? And why not put those o none single card? That is the sheer essence of the comp card. What if a client is seeing 10 models in one day? The client will have a hard time keeping all these beauties with their impressive portfolios apart. What would you think of the chances of the model that left a comp card on the client’s desk? It could be you.

So what should be on your comp card? The main picture should be a nice headshot. Your name should be on it, and your measurements. Your e-mail address of course and if you have a website, your url, should be listed. There is room for couple of other pics, to show your versatility. Check my article on portfolio selection for more tips.

I think we agree by now, you should have a comp card. But should you invest loads of money in it? Well, it depends. If you are aiming for a professional career and your portfolio has matured, you may want to invest in a large number of professionally printed comp cards. High quality cards will make you look professional. If your portfolio is still developing, your best shots now will not be your best shots in two months time. So you will want flexibility and it would not be wise to have a large number of cards. And with smaller numbers, high quality print work is very expensive. So do the next best thing: design a comp card in Photoshop yourself (see the link below) and have it printed as a photo. This way you’ll have a fairly good quality at a reasonable price without having to have huge numbers of prints. In either case, have a pdf-version as well, to send to clients by email. They are easy to make, easy to adjust and free to copy.

More resources:

A do it yourself-tutorial
Tips (note: commercial site)
And more tips

Why Camabs?

2008-04-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

The name of this blog is Camabs, a name that I use on most of my accounts on internet communities as well. Camabs is simply short for CamerA AbsurdA, which is the url (.nl) for my online portfolio. You may recognize a similarity to the term camera obscura, Latin for dark chamber. Note that this dark chamber does not refer to the room where film photographers do their post processing and printing, but to the optical device that was the ancestor to photography cameras. If you're interested in more details, read the wiki article here. I then adapted the name to reflect my slightly different approach to photography, hence CamerA AbsurdA.

Photography tips: blown out skies

2008-04-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Don’t you hate it when that happens? You made a great pic and the subject of your pic is well exposed, but the sky is blown out white. It gives your picture a cheap and snapshottish feel. Why do the pros always have these great cloudy skies in their picture? More important, how do I get those as well?

Let’s first take a look at the cause of these blown out skies. They occur on overcast days, especially when a thin and even layer of clouds lays over the entire sky. The clouds work as a giant diffusion screen and you are shooting against the light whenever you have some sky in your composition. The sky will be too light compared to the rest of your image.

Composition
If you can, exclude skies from your composition or find that piece of sky where clouds are either thicker or absent. True, it’s the easiest tip to give and the hardest to execute. But try it anyway and be creative. Get closer to your subject, change your angle to have a tree or building behind it, or photograph from a high viewpoint to lower your angle.

Filters
Using filters on your camera might help, but don’t count on miracles to happen. If there is any blue in the clouds, orange or red filters may bring out the shape of the clouds. Obviously, this is useful only if you are shooting black and white. Neutral Density gradual (Nd grad) filters and polarizers may help a little. Filters –of any kind- will work bust when clouds are thin, i.e. when you can feel the sun through the clouds.

Use deep DOF and underexpose
A fairly simple thing to do is underexposure your picture. If you underexpose by about 1 stop (i.e. divide your exposure time by two), details in the clouds are more likely to become visible. Some blown out parts may remain, but at least it’s not all white. Combine the underexposure with a deep depth of field, so that the regained details are not lost in out-of-focus softness.

Better still: Bracket!
Obviously, with exposure correction, you will get the skies right, but have your subject underexposed. The best thing to do is take a couple of shots at different exposures and combine those in post processing. This does require some post processing skills though. HDR-software might come in handy too.

Fill flash
If your subject is close enough, use a flash to light your subject, allowing you to expose both the sky and your subject correctly. Depending on the type of flash and camera you’re using, you can either try to find the right amount of flash power or find the right combination of exposure time and aperture to get correct exposure of both the sky and the subject. I will devote an article to fill flash soon. ETA: done, you can find it here.

Post process
You might also want to adjust your picture after shooting it. Many people have suggested the ‘replace color’ option in Photoshop, or replacing the white with a picture of a sky. I am not too pleased with the results of these techniques. The results are okayish for small prints in the family or holiday album, but a photo enthusiast will probably want a better result. Below, you’ll find a link to a promising tutorial with a more natural looking result.

More resources

A nice PS tutorial
Wikipedia on bracketing
How to use fill flash

Photography tips: Fill the frame

2008-04-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

The most useful tip I got during my very very early photography days was to move closer. That’s useful, too much background gives a pic a snapshottish feel, and we would like to avoid that.

Now, let us take this tip a step further and move even closer. Move so close that the outer parts of your subject are no longer in the picture. Your subject is now filling the frame. Obviously, you can reach this result by cropping afterwards, but it’s much more fun to do it while composing your picture.

Filling the frame is the obvious thing to do when photographing a large number of small objects or a textured surface. It is also fairly common in photographing flowers, models, stills and architectural details. Why not try using it in a totally different context? Rules are only there to be broken.

In model photography, we have the advantage that the face has a natural frame. Normally (but again, it’s okay to break rules), we would not fill the entire frame with the fac, as we would loose too many facial features. We can however fill the frame with hair (and maybe some neck), to keep the shape of the face while loosing the background entirely.

More resources:

Examples from DPChallenge’s ‘Fill the Frame III’ contest
When to fill the frame and when not to
An alternative approach to filling the frame

Modelling tips: food to make you look good

2008-04-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

You are what you eat. Well, I am not advising to have models for breakfast of course, but you will have to be aware that whatever goes in your mouth affects the way you look. A couple of simple tips might help out here. The nice part is, they will also keep you healthier in the long run.

Water
Water is dangerous stuff. You can drown in it. But drinking it is okay. In fact, you should drink two litres of water every day. Water helps your body to hydrate your skin and to flush away unhealthy stuff that would otherwise be harder to get rid of. Water also helps you to stick to your diet if you are on one, as it fills your stomach.

Don’t starve yourself
There is nothing wrong with dieting per se. Let’s face it: modelling is about looks, and a good figure is part of that deal. There is a limit though: you should make sure that your body gets all the necessary ingredients. And yes, this does include some fat, as well as carbs and a fair number of calories. If you are on a diet, you are probably trying to look slim. If you follow a starvation-diet, you will look slimmer, yes. And you will also look unhealthy and unhappy. So don’t go there, it’s not worth it

Do you have a sensitive skin?
Do you believe that eating pork or chocolate causes spots? You are wrong, or at least partially wrong. Air pollution and bacteria coming from your hands, your hair, etc. are among the causes, as are genetics and hormones. For some people, food can influence hormones enough to cause spots. So if you see spots, think of what you ate the days before. If you get spots every time after you ate pork (or anything else for that matter) your hormones might be sensitive to that specific food source. For most people however, skin problems are not about food, but about skin.

Quit smoking
There is no easier way to say this: smoking ruins your looks. It makes you look older and gives your skin a greyish cast. I know this is a useless tip. If you don’t smoke, you won’t need it. If you smoke, you don’t want to hear it. Addicted people are deaf to rational arguments.

And what about alcohol?
Wait a minute. You just told me to quit smoking, and now I can’t even have a drink? Relax, you can have your drink. Yes, alcohol is poison, but the human body is quite capable of coping with it, provided we don’t overuse. You should be beware of the dangers of alcohol though. First –and this may sound strange- alcohol makes you sleep bad. True, it helps you to go to sleep easily, but at the same time it degrades the quality of your sleep, and hence your looks. Second, alcohol will make you want to eat fat things. Nothing wrong with fat as such, but not the wrong types of fats in large quantities at a time of day when your body is not burning too many calories anymore. Third, heavy drinking will cause your blood pressure to rise, at least temporarily. The veins in your eyes will snap, causing red eyes, and you won’t feel too well. So don’t drink heavily the day before you go shooting. In general, just be careful. A couple of glasses is okay every now and then, excessive use is not.

More resources:

Extensive article on food and exercise for models
Beating eating disorders
Skin care

Modelling tips: specialize or diversify?

2008-04-04T01:34:00.001-07:00

‘Every model wants to be a high fashion model.’ If that were true, there would be no need to write this article and if you are ‘every model’, you might as well stop reading it right now. If you are not, you may have asked yourself once or twice what type of modelling you like best and whether you should specialize or diversify.

Whether you are a (wannabe) pro or an amateur, I’ll assume your goal is to maximize your chances of getting hired. If you specialize, you might become very good at what you specialize in and build a focussed network. Obviously, when you specialize, you’ll need only one type of pictures in your portfolio, and you can put all your effort into creating your own style. If on the other hand, you diversify, there are loads of opportunities as well. For one, the sea you’ll be fishing from is so much larger and you will be able to find interesting niches. That obviously increases your chances. Doing photo shoots of all types also helps you learn faster, and become more versatile as a model.

Since both options have their pros and cons, there is no clear-cut answer. Rather, it depends on two aspects. First, if you have a specific talent for any type of modelling, you’ll likely to be more successful specializing in that type. But how will you know? Don’t worry, the people you work with (photographers, make-up artists, styling artists, agents, other models) will tell you. If three photographers told you that you are great for fashion, you probably are. If they don’t, or if three photographers compliment you on three different styles, diversifying is probably a better option.

The second aspect is who you are. Are you the kind of person that likes to dig in deep and head for a single goal or do you feel better keeping all chances open? The first type will be happier specializing, whereas the second will benefit from a diversified approach.

More resources:

Types of modelling and the requirements that go with them
Another classification of types

Hidden city: it should be here somewhere

2008-04-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

DPChallenge is a nice webcomunity built around themed photo contests. I participate in these challenges every now and then, and at one time I entered this picture for a challenge themed `The Hidden City´. There was a slight problem though. The city in this picture was so well hidden that many people did not recognize it and voted low. So the pic scored pretty low in the Challenge, but it did win an OOBIE, which is an unoffical award for an Out-Of-the-Box entry. After the challenge ended, a lot of people appologized for not recognizing the city and voting low. Click on the picture to see the picture in its original context at the DPChallenge website. To really appreciate (and relive) the story, read the comments from the bottom to the top.

Photography tips: reflectors for studio lights

2008-04-01T04:51:00.001-07:00

You have probably heard terms like soft box, beauty dish, and standard head before. You may even own a couple of these and have some knowledge of how and when to use them. This article shows and discusses the main differences between studio lighting reflectors, thus helping you to understand even better when, how and why to use which reflector. I have used a single flash head aimed at an apple, using 6 different types of reflectors. The set-up was fixed, although the light intensity of the flash was varied to prevent over- or underexposure.

Standard reflector: All the light is reflected and sent towards the apple in a fairly direct manner. We see a pronounced shadow, as well as a clear highlight. The light falls off slightly towards the edges of the corner and the picture has a slightly blueish cast, suggesting that this particular standard reflector is not exactly neutral.

Snoot: The light is bundled towards the apple and leaves a very sharp shadow, strong contrast and a hard highlight. Light falls off at a short distance from the apple, causing natural vignetting. Snoots do loose a lot of light, this picture required an exposure of three stops more than that taken with the standard reflector.

Soft box: basically a ‘box’ with internal reflection and diffusion, thus creating a larger surface of light. As you can see in the picture, both the shadow and the highlight are very soft and fall of is minimal. Because of the larger surface, the light more or less surrounds the apple, thus causing a double shadow: a small and (relatively) sharp one, and a larger, softer one.

Beauty dish: Mainly used for lighting faces, allowing for soft light without loss of detail. The light is reflected against a small disc, onto a larger one, which in turn reflects the light towards your subject. This reflection causes some diffusion, while keeping the direction of the light. As you can see, both shadows and highlights are more pronounced than in the case of the soft box, but considerably softer than the light produced by the standard head. Like the soft box, the beauty dish has a larger surface, providing the double shadow.

Reflecting umbrella: The flash head is turned away from the subject and flashes into an umbrella (white or silver, or gold). The umbrella bounces the light back on the subject. It gives a very even light, making it great for use as a fill flash. Compared to the though umbrella (next pic) it has a little more light fall off. Some types of umbrellas also permit light to pass, allowing it to reflect from the wall or ceiling as well. That’s what causes the warm effect in this pic.

Through umbrella: Similar to the previous one (in fact I used the exact same umbrella). Now the head is turned towards the subject and flashes through the umbrella, making it act like a diffuser rather than a reflector. The effect is similar to a reflecting umbrella, but looses less light and light falls off slower.

More resources:

Some theory on soft and hard light in wikipedia
A related strobist-article
Easy to make DIY snoot
Forum discussion on BD vs SB