Tips for Your First Studio and Model Shoot

35 mm 1/160 second f/10.0 iso 200

This post includes two of my final edits after my first time shooting a professional model and shooting within a studio.  The experience was extremely different than shooting friends, family, street photography and landscapes. I've included a short list of key items I learned through this experience.

I started by finding a meetup within San Francisco which holds regular group photo shoots.  The meetup group was used to having newbies and helped offer tips or suggestions which was really welcoming.  The lighting was already configured into position and I also was able to borrow a PocketWizard radio to trigger the softboxes.

The model named Alexis came out to greet us and then in a flurry about 10 photographers started shooting all at once.  It was very frantic providing no way to connect with the model or get her attention.  After about 10 minutes, the photographers backed-off a little taking time for changing out lenses, talking with one another, etc. and I was able to capture a few of these images.  Our model helped run through a bunch of poses, which I will admit made it easy to walk around and look for good angles.

I found the most difficult time, was trying to dial in the appropriate settings on my camera while in manual mode.  I was trying to master using triggered flashes for the first time, worrying about white balance, composition and taking tack sharp photos all at the same time.  Note, the grey background which was actually white.  I actually like the grey background but had wished I had studied tips on getting white backgrounds prior to the shoot.  This quickly became a case of learning too many things at once.  Luckily, part of my interest in photography is learning and problem solving.  Below is the list of key items I learned through this experience.  I hope this can help you in your adventures in photography.   

Key items I learned during the experience

1. Take your time, slow down and wait for good eye contact
2. Be vocal, help direct the model to get the shot you are looking for
3. Find some friendly photographers, ask questions and discuss how to execute on ideas
4. Study, practice what you learn, repeat

35 mm 1/160 second f/22.0 iso 200

In a future post, I will post the out-of-camera RAW files within this post.  I really appreciate when photographers show their RAW vs. post production work.

Do you have any critiques on the photos or suggestions you may have for studio and model shoots?  Please feel free to leave comments below.