Sunday, March 29, proved to be a busy day with a shoot in the morning and a shoot in the afternoon. New to Model Mayhem, Stephanie Ikeler, and her childhood friend, Jess (MakeupbyJess) came over promptly at noon. That was a good sign for a new model to be "on-time". The girls set-up to do Stephanie's make-up and MalyJ changed into her next set of clothes. The afternoon proved to be pretty busy with both models changing, doing hair and make-up, but giving us photogs plenty to shoot with. Having two boys, the bathroom was never this busy. lol.
Both Brian and Frank took turns shooting MalyJ at Studio in the RAW, while I was making last minute changes to my backyard for the exterior shots. Once I was done, Stephanie came out in her white summer dress and was preapred to shoot. She was definitely shy, this being her first time. I don't blame her being nervous, she had three photogs snapping pictures of her, kinda like a paparazzi-fest. I bet you've heard me use that term before. After a little bit, Stephanie relaxed and began to enjoy herself.
I, on the other hand, was busy messing with my new camera and changed the White Balance to Flash, and forgot to change it back to AUTO or at least Daylight. CRUD!!! The beauty of working with RAW is that I can always correct the White Balance during post work. I also got to play with my two new lenses that my two FLICKR friends, I respect, suggested I try. Steve's Reflections and MISTUR, please check out their work, both are GREAT at what they do and have NO EGOS when it comes to photography. Anyway, the lenses worked flawlessly and I'm glad I did get them both. I also picked up the MB-D10 battery pack for the D700, so by then end of the day, my arm was tired.
After shooting pics of Stephanie, it was Studio time for me and MalyJ. I did some Low key shots with the softbox and one hair light. I whipped out my flash meter and checked, but knew it would read 1/125 Shutter, F8 at ISO 100. Brian suggested I try a faster sync speed so I could stop down to f2.8 and experiment instead of using the sweet spot all the time, but being new to the camera I didn't know how to adjust it. I do now!!! Thanks Brian for the suggestion and making me RTFM (Read The Flippin' Manual).
It was probably close to 2:30 and the other photogs had to leave along with MalyJ. However, Brian gave us some poses and artistic advice about modeling and use of space. Again, thanks Brian!!! With everyone gone, Stephanie changed into her zebra bikini and we did some studio work. I asked her if she was comfortable with doing a few implied nude shots and she agreed. Thanks Steph!!! I played with my lights to create some different looks since I've never done a bikini shoot, but didn't re-check my flash meter, ARRRGGGHHH!!! So this weekend, to make it up to Stephanie, we are going to re-shot the zebra bikini and also do some exterior shots.
What lessons did I learn?
I'm not going to generalize about working with newbies, especially since this was my first MM newbie. So when working with Stephanie, she told me she appreciated the constant feedback and telling her, "Hey, this is supposed to be fun", or being positive throughout the shoot.
Check the flash meter, more than once and don't only rely on histograms.
Above all, when purchasing a new camera, Read the Manual and play around with it to learn all it's "bells and whistles."
Finally, thanks to all the genuine, sincere, and creative photogs who have supported my growth into photography.
Be sure to stay tuned for my follow-up shoot with Stephanie.
That's a Wrap!!!
Both Brian and Frank took turns shooting MalyJ at Studio in the RAW, while I was making last minute changes to my backyard for the exterior shots. Once I was done, Stephanie came out in her white summer dress and was preapred to shoot. She was definitely shy, this being her first time. I don't blame her being nervous, she had three photogs snapping pictures of her, kinda like a paparazzi-fest. I bet you've heard me use that term before. After a little bit, Stephanie relaxed and began to enjoy herself.
I, on the other hand, was busy messing with my new camera and changed the White Balance to Flash, and forgot to change it back to AUTO or at least Daylight. CRUD!!! The beauty of working with RAW is that I can always correct the White Balance during post work. I also got to play with my two new lenses that my two FLICKR friends, I respect, suggested I try. Steve's Reflections and MISTUR, please check out their work, both are GREAT at what they do and have NO EGOS when it comes to photography. Anyway, the lenses worked flawlessly and I'm glad I did get them both. I also picked up the MB-D10 battery pack for the D700, so by then end of the day, my arm was tired.
After shooting pics of Stephanie, it was Studio time for me and MalyJ. I did some Low key shots with the softbox and one hair light. I whipped out my flash meter and checked, but knew it would read 1/125 Shutter, F8 at ISO 100. Brian suggested I try a faster sync speed so I could stop down to f2.8 and experiment instead of using the sweet spot all the time, but being new to the camera I didn't know how to adjust it. I do now!!! Thanks Brian for the suggestion and making me RTFM (Read The Flippin' Manual).
It was probably close to 2:30 and the other photogs had to leave along with MalyJ. However, Brian gave us some poses and artistic advice about modeling and use of space. Again, thanks Brian!!! With everyone gone, Stephanie changed into her zebra bikini and we did some studio work. I asked her if she was comfortable with doing a few implied nude shots and she agreed. Thanks Steph!!! I played with my lights to create some different looks since I've never done a bikini shoot, but didn't re-check my flash meter, ARRRGGGHHH!!! So this weekend, to make it up to Stephanie, we are going to re-shot the zebra bikini and also do some exterior shots.
What lessons did I learn?
I'm not going to generalize about working with newbies, especially since this was my first MM newbie. So when working with Stephanie, she told me she appreciated the constant feedback and telling her, "Hey, this is supposed to be fun", or being positive throughout the shoot.
Check the flash meter, more than once and don't only rely on histograms.
Above all, when purchasing a new camera, Read the Manual and play around with it to learn all it's "bells and whistles."
Finally, thanks to all the genuine, sincere, and creative photogs who have supported my growth into photography.
Be sure to stay tuned for my follow-up shoot with Stephanie.
That's a Wrap!!!
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