Shooting for model agency "FAME"

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!

Palm Beach Princess Casino Calendar

About three weeks ago I got a call from Todd (creative director) asking me about photography service for a large project that he is in the final stages of putting together for a casino cruise line. The project is to shoot a promotional calendar for a casino boat in West Palm Beach, FL. The calendar will include some of the promotional girls (models) that work on the boat, as well as some models that I was able to provide.

Myself, Kevin (my business parter), Yuliya (our Makeup Artist / Stylist), and my assistant Brett all went to meet with Todd on the boat, so we could get a better feel for what they were looking for.. I brought my camera along so I could also take some "collateral" shots of some locations they had in mind for the shoot (this was for my notes, and planning). The shooting time was going to be a challenge because the cruse ship is always at sea.. and we needed to shoot this with the boat docked. The times the boat is docked was from 1AM - 9:30AM. This meant everyone had to be ready to start shooting at 1AM, and each day we had to be finished before the boat left for sea (9:30AM)!! In addition to the general shooting times.. we only had a window of about 45-min to allocate to each model... this also had to include moving all of our lighting equipment and getting it all setup from one location of the boat to another! There was no time for error.. nor any time to "play" with the lighting.. everything had to move along very quickly as they came out from makeup and on set.

The lighting was meticulously planned out weeks before the shoot. I actually drafted up lighting diagrams for each model / location.. and made my notes based on the initial meeting we had with the client. Everything from what lighting I was going to use, to the over all timetable was planned in advance... I even had my camera settings all marked off and ready to go. I still needed to be able to think very quick on my feet during shooting.. but all the planning helped us narrow down any "grey" area that might have come up.. and now looking back.. there was no other way to do this project... planning was the key!

The actual shoot was done over two days. About half the models were shot day one.. and the other half shot day two. Our makeup artist Yuliya was amazing.. she was able to match all the looks perfectly to the costumes.. and kept the models coming out on set right on time.. she was such an integral part of this project, and give the models the professional look we all wanted!

We are all so very proud of our results and hard work on this one.. the shots came out exactly how I planned : )