I enjoy photographing people and decided to embark on a project to get 100 individual faces all for sale on microstock agency websites.

The first thing I did was put together an event on facebook, make it interesting, informative and exciting. Then I invited all my friends and asked them to each invite as many people as they can for the event. Once I had enough people keen on attending I set a date. It took about 3 days to get 80 confirmed models. When I emailed everyone the details I asked them each to try and bring someone with them to the shoot in order to make sure that I had good numbers. Due to model availability I had to shoot this project over 2 days which were separated by 1 week.

Before the shoot date I did a lighting test to figure out exactly how I wanted to light the faces, this would make it a lot easier on the shoot date. Just setup and go. I toyed with different lighting techniques and eventually settled one and made sure I drew a lighting diagram and took down all the settings for each light. Unfortunately I did not take any BTS pics this time as I was super busy making this project happen.

For each shoot day I split my models up into skin tone batches, this would help me make the least lighting

Read the full post »

I recently did a shoot of a skateboarder for stock sites. I wanted the model to wear clothing that would offer good texture, colour and look realistic. I went out and selected the clothing from 2 different stores that I hold accounts at, so I could return them for credit when I was done with the shoot. Just make sure you dont get them dirty or damaged on shoot, keep the tags on and return them shortly after the shoot. This is a great way to have wardrobe variety without spending a lot of money.

For this shoot I did a lighting test about 2 weeks before so that I knew exactly how I wanted all the lights positioned, which attachments to use and all the power settings. Pre-lighting your shoots will help make the whole process easier, smoother and more enjoyable for the model and you. Testing and changing lighting while on the shoot will decrease your number of shots and disrupt the flow.

My lighting setup consisted of the following.

Read the full post »

In order to maximize my studio time for my most recent shoot I decided to bring in 3 models, and shoot various concepts or “looks” with each of them. The other 3 girls consisted of 2 assistants and the makeup artist. I had planned to shoot for half a day , 3 different looks isolated on white and black. Beauty, shopping girls and finally business. Planning for this shoot started a week prior when I researched a little into what type of images in each category would sell well. Once I had an idea of how to style the shots I went shopping to make sure that I had everything I needed to make each shot look authentic. I have listed my props list for you here

Read the full post »

You may remember my previous post about photographing kids that I wrote last year, well I have been at it again. This time a very cute brother and sister pair of 2 and 4 years old. The concept for this shoot was happy kids playing in an open field at sunset with helium balloons. Healthy happy kids. As always I started by having a look at some

Read the full post »

I know I have been a bit quiet on the blog lately, sorry to all my subscribers. I have however been busy. Busy getting my stock operations in order again after moving back to South Africa. First thing i have tasked myself with is finding good models, it really makes a difference when you have someone in front of your camera that can help you deliver quality images. secondly I have been setting up and arranging shoots out of a garage studio seeing as that is the only space available to me at the moment. Very small space, difficult to work with, but better than nothing. Before shooting as always comes the planning phase, so I have been planning my shoots, organizing wardrobe, makeup and putting in as much effort into styling as possible. All the extra time is definitely paying off in better constructed images. One of my first shoots after being back was of a good friend of mine, she has amazing eyes and fair skin, so I wanted to do something in studio that concentrated on these features and we came up with the concept of the feature image.

For this shoot i essentially used 3 lights, 2 for the background and one on my model. I found that adding a reflector underneath the model filled in the shadows eyes nicely and helped them to pop. I have provided a lighting diagram below for those who are interested to see exactly what light modifiers were used. The full shoot can be seen here.