FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT
OUR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
Q:
Is
there
actual
instruction
at
your
workshops?
A: When I first started the
workshops
in 1991 I would have a Thursday night session at
my studio where I
would
demonstrate lighting techniques and talk about any
photography topic
that
the attendees were interested in. I
discontinued
the Thursday night sessions after the first or
second year. I've been
to
some workshops that spend half the workshop
talking or
showing
slides
before you get to do any shooting. I don't want to
do that. I believe
in
learning by doing. Besides, most of the
photographers who come to my
workshop
have been to many of my previous workshops so it
would be redundant to
go
over the same instructional material each time,
which is why we do not
usually have formal instruction during the
workshop.
From time to time we would
have a guest instructor at our studio workshops.
In the past we
have had Stephen Eastwood, a Canon Explorer of
Light, a Model Mayhem
Moderator, and a beauty and fashion photographer
and retoucher, at a
few of our workshops. Stephen is a friend of the workshop and has
shot
much of his portfolio at our former studio (studio
was closed in
December, 2013). Click here
to check out his web
site.
If you need assistance on how to set your camera
or have questions
about lighting equipment my staff and I will be
happy to assist you.
One of the main
benefits
of a workshop environment is that you can learn
from each other. By
watching
how other photographers work with models you can
start to develop a
shooting
style
of your own.
Our workshop is team effort. Some of our team
members in the past
have included:
DIGITAL
WILLY:
Digital
Willy started attending my workshop in September,
2001, and has
attended over 200 workshops. He is my official
workshop
photographer and has done many of the photos on
individual model pages,
posts a page of photos for each workshop, and has
posted many
individual
model pages for our workshop models. He also brings
special props and
helps us set up theme sets for special occasions.
Bill is at most of
our workshops. Check out Digital Willy's web
site - http://www.digitalwilly.com/workshops.html
TOM S.
Tom is our official electrician and workshop
helper.
He
built the "world's largest ringlight" for us and
would usually come in
early
on workshop Sundays to our studio and help set up
the lights and do
whatever else
he could to make the workshop run smoothly. Since we
no longer have a
studio his participation has been limited.
FRANK WOOD:
Frank
lives in
Connecticut and recruits many of the models that we
use at the
workshop, and often gives them a ride to the
workshop. Frank is also
our location scout and has procured all of the
locations that we have
used in Connecticut and NY State. Frank has attended
over 100 workshops
since
October, 2001.
Q:
Who attends
your workshops?
A: My workshop is open to photographers
of all skill levels. It does not require a
technical expertise in
photography,
just a good attitude and desire to take photos of
good looking models.
Most of the attendees are advanced amateurs.
Professional photographers
have also attended, as well as beginners. Although
the workshop is open
to both male and female photographers, the
attendees have been
overwhelmingly
male - which is no surprise considering the
subject matter, however, we
have had more and more female photographers attend
the workshop in
recent years. Although
most
of the photographers come from the NJ-NY-PA area
some have come from as
far away as Calgary (Canada), the state of
Washington, Oklahoma,
Louisiana,
Mississippi, Florida, Arizona, and Texas. One
photographer from South
Carolina
has been to at least 17 workshops, another one
from Toronto has been to
7 workshops, and an 80 year-old photographer from
NJ has been to 80
workshops. One photographer from NJ has attended
about 125 workshops.
Q: Do you use
male models at the workshop?
A: We have used male models on two or three
occasions but we do not use
them on a regular basis. When we do use male
models they model with
female models, not solo. We also use dog models
from time to time. Check
out Coco's
page.
Q:
Why don’t
you
have workshops in other areas of photography?
A: In the past I have been involved with
camera clubs and have given programs on special
effects, shooting glass
abstracts, lighting techniques, and the business
of photography. I also
ran studio nights at my camera club which
eventually led me to start
the
workshops. The reason I only have glamour
workshops is because it is my
favorite area of photography. Also, it is the only
type of workshop
that
attendees will come back to over and over again.
Most other areas of
photography
are adequately covered in camera clubs, but when I
started my workshop
there seemed to be a void
in
the area of glamour photography, at least in the
NJ area. This type of
workshop was extremely popular in California at
that time.
Q:
Why do
photographers
come to the workshop more than once?
A: My workshops are designed to be more
of a shooting opportunity than a class. You do not
just learn glamour
shooting
techniques and then go out and shoot models. Most
amateur photographers
do not have access to models, especially ones who
will model nude, nor
to locations or professional lighting equipment.
That is what we
provide. Also, the workshops are fun and a good
opportunity to network.
Q:
What can I
do with the photos I take at your workshops?
A: Models at the workshop sign a limited
workshop release. This allows photographers to use
photos taken at the
workshop for their portfolio, and to use the
photos for self-promotion,
display, exhibition, and competition.
Photographers may use workshop
photos
on their own web sites, or on portfolio hosting
web sites like Model
Mayhem, as part of their portfolio, but may not
use
them
on a pay web site. You cannot use the photos for
any commercial use
without
a full release from the model. Models are advised
against signing a
full
release from photographers at the workshop because
they are paid
workshop
rates, not commercial rates. If you want to use a
workshop model for a
commercial shoot you should make arrangements to
hire her specifically
for that purpose. We also schedule one-on-one
private sessions at our
workshops. Some of our models will sign a standard
(full)
release
for photos taken during these sessions. For more
info about model
releases go here.
Q: Do
you use
a makeup artist at your workshop?
A: In the past I've used a makeup artists
but discontinued it for two reasons: (1) It was
too expensive - most
photographers
would prefer that I spend the extra money on
another model rather than
a makeup artist. (2) It took too much time away
from the workshop: the
makeup artist would spend up to 45 minutes with
each model - time not
spent
modeling. I’ve found that most of the models do a
pretty good job of
doing
their own makeup. Sometimes a model will bring her
own makeup artist to
the workshop.
Q:
What type
of
camera should I use at the workshop? What about
digital?
A: Most of the workshop photographers now use
digital
cameras. The cost of digital cameras has come down
and the quality
has gone up. I personally started shooting digital
in early 2003 and
have not gone back to film since then. A
very small number of our
shooters still
shoot 35mm, and a few shoot medium format. One of
the nice things about
digital is that you can see your results
immediately. I find that I do
a lot more portable flash shooting with digital
than I did with film. I
recommend that you bring a portable flash with you
to the workshop,
whether at the studio or on location.
I
use
an 18-55 mm zoom (on a crop sensor camera, which
equals 27-82.5 mm on a
film camera) for most of my glamour
photography. I think that it is the ideal range
for this type of
shooting. I usually set my ISO at 100-200 when
using studio strobe and
400
when using my portable flash or available light. I
will often use 800
or higher when shooting in low light conditions. I
personally set the
camera for large JPG and RAW.
Q:
What kind of lighting do you use at the
workshops?
A: When we had our studio we used Alien Bees.
They are portable and easy to
use. We would use either umbrellas or soft boxes,
whichever we had available
at the time. We would usually activate the strobes
with portable or on-camera
flash. We also have an Alien Bees ringlight and a
ringlight that uses
16 CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs. This ringlight
gives a very unique
lighting effect and doesn't require any other
lighting equipment. It is
suggested that you set your white balance to 2500K
when you shoot with
this light.
At
our location workshops we mostly use available
light and portable on-camera flash. Sometimes we
will also use studio lighting depending on the
location. It is recommended that you bring a
portable flash with you to the workshop.
Q:
What is the actual shooting procedure at the
workshop?
A:
The entire workshop is devoted to shooting. We
usually have between a 2:1 to 3:1 photographer to
model ratio, so you
will usually be working with a small group of
photographers shooting
one model. You can spend as much or as little time
with each model as
you wish, then move on to the next one. The models
will rotate through
the various shooting areas throughout the day and
change outfits from
time to
time. Models will often team up and pose with with
one or more models at a time.
When
you are shooting a model with studio lighting the
usual
procedure is for one photographer to count 3-2-1
so that the model
knows where to look, then shoot, then the next
photographer, etc. The
model will look at each photographer in turn. You
must wait about 2
seconds between each shot so that the studio
strobes have time to
recycle and do not overheat.
CLICK
HERE TO GO TO OUR PAGE OF GENERAL WORKSHOP
INFORMATION
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