Detroit Michigan Comp Card Photographers Mary DuPrie
There is some confusion out there being perpetrated by some “agencies.” They are not really agencies in my eyes in that they require an upfront fee. We have a local one here that charges $500. to join and a monthly internet fee of about $40. Numerous people have said they have to cancel their credit cards to get out of it when they realize they were “mislead.” A few people have mentioned they googled them and didn’t find anything negative. I ask what they googled and they said just their name. My advice is if you want to check out an “agency” simply type the word scam after their business name…complaints will pop up if there are any.
A legitimate agency will not be charging these high fees. When I get a person calling and wanting prices that are signed or are thinking of signing with them I always ask a lot more questions. Why? Because they generally don’t qualify to be signed. Example; How tall are you? 5ft4in. How much do you weigh; 160 pounds. These are stats from a real conversation.
I told her she was not signable and that she should save her money; but if she wanted to go into acting by all means have a head shot taken. Apparently their sales spiel is that she could do “commercial” modeling. That is just wrong people. I have found that if you are a plus size model the agencies want you even taller, generally 5ft10in to 6ft tall. Commercial models don’t need to be rail thin and super tall but still have to have stats that are acceptable to the industry. Sometimes shorter models are signed for instance because they have a gorgeous face and beautiful teeth. Most times commercial models are smiling so your teeth will have to be stellar.
The pictures above are of a paid shoot for a plus size models comp card who is 5ft 11in, which i find to be perfect for a plus size model. With a plus size model they want the extra weight to be evenly distributed from top to bottom.
My typical work flow for a comp card is the head shot in the studio, 2 or 3 looks outside and 1 final look back at the studio if i’ve only done 2 outside. I tend to like the outside images to look like they were shot for a client. I want someone to look at the image and ask the model “who was this shot for?” I like to have some kind of production value to them.
The head shot is always shot “straight on” for those coveted “direct bookings” that i strive for. The sequence for the shoot was
- head shot
- green dress
- flower dress
- black dress
I add more and more movement as the day goes on to show clients she is an “experienced” model. I educate the model more and more during the day to be able to have her “give” me the images versus extracting the images from her. If you “tell” her what poses to give you she will only be able to do so much for the day. Images will be accidental and not repeatable. I want a commercial model to give me something over and over again and have it look fresh each time. I love to watch the transition during the day. At the end of the day I am following her lead, she is giving me the images…versus me extracting the images from her.
Commercial modeling makes up the largest percentage of modeling out there…and the field does have it’s parameters. Most people think that fashion modeling is the “only” modeling out there and commercial modeling is often overlooked…just sayin
Via Email
Via RSS