

A new model agency here in Miami (FAME) has been working very closely with Miami Photographer Travis Harris! Recently, we have been shooting model portfolios (comp cards) for new models going to be listed on their site. Today, we have a pleasure of working with Gabri G. whom is from Naples, FL. Our shooting location for her five look comp card is here in Miami, and will consist of bikini shots, lifestyle shots, beauty shots, high fashion shots, and maybe a little glamour.
We started with model in makeup for 6AM, and myself and assistants headed out on the beach to setup for bikini session. Sunrise was at about 7:15.. however today it was very overcast.. and we did not get the bright rays I was anticipating. Knowing this, I decided to use a very cool white balance in camera.. to make the water and sky behind model very blue in temperature.. and used CTO gel on our 22" beauty dish to return nice warm tones to the model. This, had a very pleasing effect out of the camera!
Around 8AM we stopped and my MUA (makeup artist) Yuliya, changed her look and we moved to another beach location where we had a nice long dock to work with for the life style shots. Here I wanted to take advantage of the nice ambient (natural) light and not use any studio strobes. I assembled one of our large (4.5' x 6.5') full body reflectors and bounced some nice light back onto her. This was the best choice for this type of shot!
9AM it was time to go into the studio (walking distance from the beach) and transition our model into some makeup for some close up beauty shots. Here I used a large soft-box as the background, and a diffused beauty dish on a boom as the main light. The background light was about 2/3 stop over the key light, so I would get some nice wrap around light on her sides. We also used a reflector from below to fill in some shadows under chin / neck. The key in this setup was to keep the BG light angle about 45-deg up.. and the main light about 45-deg down... she was sandwiched in the middle. I did get some flare in the lens (and I knew I would).. but this is so easy to get rid of in post processing (increase your "black point" in RAW).
10AM we moved into some fashion shots.. this was a simple large (gridded) softbox camera right up high and a large white card camera left for fill..
11AM some glamour style shots / high fashion (comp card cover).. was using three lights.. two strip boxes on sides camera right and left.. and a beauty dish as a key light on boom.
All in all we are very happy with the results.. and I am sure we will be shooting with FAME model agency again very soon ; )
PS - I also designed the comp card!