# Beautiful Model



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

I had the pleasure of shooting a beautiful model. We had a lot of fun together & I think we both added some good material to our portfolios.

1.



27 by lifebyme, on Flickr

2.



30 (1 of 1) by lifebyme, on Flickr

3.



88 by lifebyme, on Flickr

4.



75  by lifebyme, on Flickr

5.



112  by lifebyme, on Flickr

6.



119 by lifebyme, on Flickr


----------



## Robin Usagani (Sep 23, 2011)

Nice man..  not a fan of the last one.


----------



## 2WheelPhoto (Sep 23, 2011)

Wow nice!  Last one her left leg looks bigger than her though?


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

Thanks  I have a few from inside the tunnel but I don't think I worked the angles right. I wasn't sure about that one.

A different angle? I wanted to get as little of the background as possible.



132 by lifebyme, on Flickr


----------



## cnutco (Sep 23, 2011)

Yes she is beautiful. Like them all except for the last one. 

Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Trever1t (Sep 23, 2011)

the last one(S) just looks like a snapshot compared to the lovely compositions preceding. She is exquisite and captured wonderfully! Something about the B&W iI really like. :thumbup:


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

I agree. I was bummed out about how the tunnel shots looked like snapshots. We found an abandoned playground with graffiti on the equipment & we took many in and on top of the tunnels. She did her part, posing. I just didn't seem to get it right. Oh well, we're going to go back and try again!


----------



## Big Mike (Sep 23, 2011)

#1, #2 & #5 have rather dark eyes.  She has great eyes, as we can see in the other shots...so it's a shame that they are so dark in the ones I mentioned.

I agree with the others about the last one, it's an awkward post that is hurting the image.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

I was using a reflector and fill flash and it was about an hour before sunset so there was plenty of light, how could I have lit her eyes up better. Thanks


----------



## Olga_pv (Sep 23, 2011)

Beautiful girl and beautiful pics, I liked number 4 most of all!!! It's warm, and nice bokeh and I like to look on it over and over again... Another photos also beautiful


----------



## Patrice (Sep 23, 2011)

Some models must spend hours practicing one facial expression and then working it to death.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

haha she made more than this facial expression. I have shared a very small selection.


----------



## paul85224 (Sep 23, 2011)

#3 captures her eyes the best.....very nice.

#4 is good as well, nice composition....it looks very natural.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 23, 2011)

There was a tree growing sideways out of the ground! I didn't even tilt the camera, she was lying back on the trunk.


----------



## PhotoTish (Sep 23, 2011)

I agree about the last photo in the first set and prefer the second photo you posted.  Of the first set, I really like no. 4: the lighting looks good and autumn colours are very nice.  I also like the B/W (no. 5) :thumbup:


----------



## oldmacman (Sep 24, 2011)

Great model, nice poses, good compositions and great location. I find the pics to be a little soft. Maybe the result of skin smoothing/clarity adjustments. This might be personal taste, but I find the greens to be very acidic (saturated and yellow) in the first couple of images. To illustrate, here is the first pic with some selective sharpening and variance in saturation:

Original






Tweaked





With the lack of colour in the skin tones, I would even be tempted to move in this direction for processing:


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 24, 2011)

I really like your edit. That is quite eye opening, thank you for sharing your idea! I do tend to go for strong colors, but I am attracted to the muted color photos too. Yes I tend to not have super sharp photos, something I am working on. This shoot turned out much better in terms of sharpness, usually I have many  more that are so soft I cant use them so I see some improvement with a long ways to go in myself. I did convert that photo to black and white and give her both versions, I do like the BW version better.


----------



## oldmacman (Sep 24, 2011)

Shadowbox said:


> I really like your edit. That is quite eye opening, thank you for sharing your idea! I do tend to go for strong colors, but I am attracted to the muted color photos too. Yes I tend to not have super sharp photos, something I am working on. This shoot turned out much better in terms of sharpness, usually I have many  more that are so soft I cant use them so I see some improvement with a long ways to go in myself. I did convert that photo to black and white and give her both versions, I do like the BW version better.



Yep... everything is just opinion from us arm chair photographers. The key is wading through all the "information" and gleaning what will be useful to you. I am glad to hear you are seeing improvement in your images. That's all we can really hope for. Every year, I like to look where I was a year ago and seeing if I can notice improvement.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

Hello, 

Sorry to drag this thread back to the top. I feel really defeated right now and need some encouragement or what have you. 
I thought this was one of my better shoots, you know I saw improvement in myself from composition to white balance and almost everything.. not perfection, just improvement with obviously room to grow (another reason I love photography, I can always continue learning and growing). Well the model said she 'likes the photos but the editing isn't right for model mayhem" and I don't even know what that means! 

I feel so utterly like just crushed. I know it's probably not that big of a deal but I feel like balling. So can anyone tell me why they aren't right for MM? Thank you


----------



## cgipson1 (Sep 29, 2011)

Shadowbox said:


> Hello,
> 
> Sorry to drag this thread back to the top. I feel really defeated right now and need some encouragement or what have you.
> I thought this was one of my better shoots, you know I saw improvement in myself from composition to white balance and almost everything.. not perfection, just improvement with obviously room to grow (another reason I love photography, I can always continue learning and growing). Well the model said she 'likes the photos but the editing isn't right for model mayhem" and I don't even know what that means!
> ...



Was that the model's opinion, or did MM say that? I would ask the model why they aren't right! Maybe she feels that they don't project the image she want's for herself... in which case she should have given you an idea what she was after. She is lovely, and I think some of the shots rocked!   It does always amaze me about how many MM models go for the sexy, pouty, or slutty look....  not my idea of attractive, personally.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

She didn't say what about the editing exactly, and I edited in batches- sent to her and asked if she'd like any changes and she said no. That she loved them. So I edited over 100 photos for her, around 140 of them and sent them all to her. Then over a week later she still didn't upload any. The photos she is currently using, to me.. they are really not professional looking or classy or modelish, I thought it was because of the photographer but now I see it's the style she likes .. over processed, crooked horizons etc .. so I guess I didn't stick to the "MM" look.


----------



## cgipson1 (Sep 29, 2011)

Shadowbox said:


> She didn't say what about the editing exactly, and I edited in batches- sent to her and asked if she'd like any changes and she said no. That she loved them. So I edited over 100 photos for her, around 140 of them and sent them all to her. Then over a week later she still didn't upload any. The photos she is currently using, to me.. they are really not professional looking or classy or modelish, I thought it was because of the photographer but now I see it's the style she likes .. over processed, crooked horizons etc .. so I guess I didn't stick to the "MM" look.



Then I wouldn't worry about it... not your problem! You did well on the shoot... she didn't communicate well. Everyone has a self image that they want to project (models especially!).. and sometimes I shake my head in disbelief at some of the stuff I see!


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

Thank you  That makes me feel better. Sorry to be a baby about it, I will move on and continue doing photography in my style. Maybe MM models aren't the right subject for me! Who knows


----------



## D-B-J (Sep 29, 2011)

The fourth is beautiful


----------



## Kerbouchard (Sep 29, 2011)

I don't know anything about MM other than what I have read here and there, but to me, almost all the images look a bit overexposed and the skin seems to be overprocessed.  Not sure if it was the post processing or if the lighting was just really flat, but there just doesn't seem to be much texture or dimension.

Rick Sammon has a saying, "Light Illuminates but Shadows Define".

You have a beautiful model with some great poses, but I just don't know that the processing/techniques do her justice.

Just my .02.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks, I may have overexposed them without realizing it post processing. When I print my photos they are always much darker than on my monitor so I sort of just tend to go to the lighter side to compensate. Maybe went too far this time. I don't know about the skin, I don't really process it so much except if there is acne and I remove the spots. She did have a lot of blemishes so it probably is a tight line to walk in correcting that and over-correcting it. 

As far as doing her justice.. I think I did very much especially compared to the rest of her portfolio but you don't have the benefit of seeing that! So I can't blame you for thinking she did perfect and I don't do her justice..

Next time I do some PP I will be extra careful with exposure, sharpness and clarity. I tend to slide it down as I hate really strong lines in photos, maybe this is another reason that skin looks so over processed. I will strive to work on those flaws you pointed out, thanks.


----------



## Kerbouchard (Sep 29, 2011)

Sorry Shadowbox, I can see you took my post with some animosity.  It wasn't intended that way.  If she has bad Acne and a bad portfolio, I would have never known it based on the images you presented.  You obviously did some great work with this model to get the images that you did.

I just saw your post that she was less than happy and did not give you many reasons behind it.  Just wanted to point out a few things that I thought may have contributed to it.

In any case, what I 'saw' when I opened your post was a very experienced, gorgeous model with mostly natural poses that happened to have some detail loss in the skin tones and a bit of flat lighting bordering on overexposure.

With the information you have added, I can see I need to revise my earlier opinion.  Seems the credit goes more towards the photographer than the model.  Nice job on making an inexperienced model look like a pro.  That's more than half the battle.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

Actually you are correct, she is inexperienced but so am I so like I said I will take your critique to heart! I have to be careful with removing blemishes and turning down clarity. I am not sure what I am so attracted to soft photos for but it could be a phase. After the wonderful edits by oldmacman it really helped to open my eyes to different types of editing. So despite seeming offended, I do appreciate the feedback. 

I just don't know how she could see those things in a photo that you pointed out when you see what she chooses for her portfolio. In fact if you don't mind I will email you a link so you can give me a more accurate critique, if you don't mind? I'd love to hear what you think about how I can better fix these photos to match her current portfolio. I know you have a lot of experience!


----------



## cgipson1 (Sep 29, 2011)

Shadowbox said:


> Thanks, I may have overexposed them without realizing it post processing. When I print my photos they are always much darker than on my monitor so I sort of just tend to go to the lighter side to compensate. Maybe went too far this time.



Have you ever calibrated your monitor? Really does help! You can even rent a calibration system from BorrowLenses on the cheap if need be.


----------



## Kerbouchard (Sep 29, 2011)

Responded to your PM, but I'm not sure it needed to be in a PM.  Feel free to post the conversation here.  

My opinion is just that.  There are a lot of members here that can give you great advice on your question.

Perhaps, I am the one who is off base here.


----------



## Shadowbox (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks Kerbouchard for the response  I just don't always like everything out in the open on the forum, I am kinda private about some things. 

As for the calibration, I have not and this monitor has been smashed before against a wall (not my doing, I swear!!!) and so I think I either need a new monitor or to do the calibration if I want to improve my PP work!


----------



## Kerbouchard (Sep 29, 2011)

Shadowbox said:


> Thanks Kerbouchard for the response  I just don't always like everything out in the open on the forum, I am kinda private about some things.
> 
> As for the calibration, I have not and this monitor has been smashed before against a wall (not my doing, I swear!!!) and so I think I either need a new monitor or to do the calibration if I want to improve my PP work!



No worries, I understand not wanting to provide all the details in an open forum.  I also appreciate you wanting to keep your models identity private.  Very classy of you especially considering her response to your images.

For the curious, based on looking at her portfolio, it looks like it's more a difference in styles than a difference in quality.  It looks like the model is looking to move into fashion photography and the OP is looking to move into portrait photography.  

I'm sure the OP and the model both learned something with this shoot...particularly making sure both parties know what the expectations are.


----------



## PatrickJamesYu (Sep 30, 2011)

I feel like the bokeh is a bit distracting.
Maybe adding some blur may help?

I may be totally wrong though.


Good stuff!


----------



## JOSELLACACI (Oct 2, 2011)

i like your image no.5 - 112 (black & white shot)
The way shes standing behind the ladder thing, is interesting and bit different. I like it


----------



## DennyCrane (Oct 2, 2011)

#4 is very striking. It really stands out from the rest. That's pro-quality.


----------

