Commercial Studio Photographers In Detroit Mary DuPrie
I’ve mentioned in the past that for me a great high key is the most important commercial look to perfect. It seems that most of my commercial clients ask for it. If you shoot models and want to branch out into commercial clients it would be great to add some sort of business scenarios.
I photographed Ashley and Amber a few years back for their comp cards. Fortunately their Mom remembered me for this shoot. She is a nurse practitioner and is working on a book and puzzle for teaching purposes. Of course her daughters could/would be the models.
Commercial modeling is quite different from other types of modeling and is quite difficult. The girls had to know how to hold clip boards and props. The hands had to look beautiful but realistic. They had to look off camera quite a bit and give variety without being micro managed.
New models have no idea how hard this is to achieve and what is required on their part. The more the model knows the more shots the client will get that are usable. An inexperienced model becomes painfully obvious when you’re trying to get looks in the can for an Art Director. It can’t be faked. As a photographer it becomes our job to convey all the nuances of the shoot to the model. Above all I keep my eyes on the models hands, bad hands are my biggest pet peeve.
Mom was the Art Director (unknowingly) and I required her to act as such to keep the shoot moving along. Gave her the low down about where I wanted her to stand, what kind of input I needed, so I would know when we could move on. I had her make a shot list so I could time manage the different sets.
She wanted some shots where a second person was out of focus. I used six lights in this setup and could of used ND gels on all the lights but decided it would be much easier to use a variable rotating ND filter on my lens, as I could go back and forth if need me. I often times use a four light setup for high key but decided I needed more variety and control.
And on another note, Cashoo has figured out my schedule for writing posts and now insists on laying on my lap. I have to sit further away from my desk to accommodate her 7lb 2 oz. She’s nice and warm but has gas tonight. Her days are numbered…
Via Email
Via RSS
Neat, lovely girls and good expressions, but there are two things I really dislike about the shot with the girl in the lab coat. It looks like the foreground girl’s middle finger is extended, it’s the first thing I noticed, and the way the background girl’s left hand is intersected by the white lab coat it makes it look like the lab coat girl has two right hands.
ahh, yes, i see it now
she has two right hands…it looks like it’s coming right out of her jacket!
ouch, that must hurt!
I shoot a lot of High Key product shots and am always fighting the White on White washout factor. It always seems that I loose one side of the subject. Any ideas?
Jim Jochetz recently posted..Welcome to my blog!
Hi Mary,
Please explain why you would use ND gels and their effect on the shot.
Thanks, Dan
with my lights at their lowest setting i get about f8. to make the second person out of focus i need about f4. i could struggle with clipping ND gels onto all 6 lights or whip on an ND filter to my camera.
The filter is just a faster choice for me…