This allows the models to practice posing techniques and gives them great portfolio images to boot.

Even though modeling is a difficult business to break into there are many aspiring models these days who would like to try. I have been contacted by girls who would like to learn more about modeling and who ask for information. This is a great way to get their feet wet and to get started in order to see if it’s something they would like to pursue in the future.

This workshop was held in Kalkaska, Michigan.

Here are some images from the event.

One of the fun things I tried was having the model look at me through a plexi-glass panel that was covered in wax drippings.  Turned out pretty good.

The workshop was also open to women of all ages.

My friend, Brian, and I decided to attend along with scores of other photographers who wanted to gain some insight into Photoshop and various lighting techniques. The workshop was fun and informative although some of the material was better suited to beginners. I enjoyed myself and had fun watching Kelby work.

Brian and I rented some studio space after the seminar and convinced Liz Vang to join us. I met Liz last summer at a photography workshop I sponsored at the Cooley Gardens in Lansing. Liz is great at doing her own make-up and hair. She came ready for a shoot with several outfit changes and accessories.

We started with a few head shots and experimented with the lighting.

This photograph is shot with a technique Kelby demonstrated. He had the model standing in front of a softbox with the light aiming up at 45 degrees.

You can see the light on the side of Liz’s face. That light comes from directly behind. We also had a beauty dish in front aiming down at a 45 degree angle.

I had Liz pull her hair back in order for the light to come through and create a rim light on the side of her face.

This technique gives the model a glamorous look. Similar to what you see in a magazine.

We did a few head shots and then moved to some that were darker and more dramatic.

Liz stands out nicely against the dark background.  I like the black against black. That color scheme works well to accent the face.

Moving on, we decided to go back to a lighter background.

Brian and I had a great time over the weekend. He is from Traverse City and had never been to Lansing before. I took him exploring in Lansing and East Lansing. We checked out the MSU campus and ate at a great restaurant in downtown East Lansing. Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the restaurant. We also took in the State Capitol building where Brian was impressed with the ornate decorations. To top it all off we had a fun studio session with a wonderful model.

Spending time on the beach in Northern Michigan is like a vacation to a tropical paradise. The only thing missing is the palm trees.

I had a photo shot with Megan Dunn  who contacted me for images to put into her modeling portfolio.

Shooting on the beach offer special challenges to the photographer. First there are the elements. Sand and water are not friendly to the camera equipment so you must take special care to make sure your equipment stays in good condition. It’s a good idea to bring a sheet or a blanket to lay your equipment on when not in use.

Both of these photos were taken at 5:30 AM (I know, Crazy huh?) You can see in these photos the different effects you can get with a sunrise or sunset. Lighting plays a role in the final outcome of your shot. If you want to see the beautiful colors of the scene and also expose for the model you MUST use an artificial light source. I like the silhouette on the left but I knew by looking at the scene that Megan was going to appear black against the bright sky. If I would have pointed my spot meter on her she would have been in correct exposure but I would have lost the colors of the sunrise. The photo on the right is the best of both worlds. You get a good exposure on the model and dramatic colors in the background. The following few shots are more examples of these two effects. Notice how you can use the variations for creative effects.

The photo above shows Megan in correct exposure with the background. For that shot I used two Alienbees with softboxes. They were powered with one vagabond power pack. Using two lights on one power pack drained the power very rapidly.

That’s not too much of a problem however, when shooting a sunrise or sunset you are forced to work rapidly because the sun is constantly changing. You have to be out there and ready to go when the sun starts coming up otherwise you lose the scene and there are no second chances.

If the power pack works for 30-45 minutes then you will have plenty of time to get your shots. I have tried to use other light sources such as Canon’s 580EX or just a reflector held up in front of the model.

The smaller flashes are fine if you can’t afford a studio light or if you are in a hurry and don’t want to try to set up studio lighting on-location but you may not get the colors to look as dramatic as the ones above. The reason being that you would have to compensate for the lower light output by making the scene brighter in your camera settings.

The image on the left is a good example of the silhouette effect. When shooting silhouettes you want to pay attention to the outline of the body and the various aspects of the scene. I Think of those old-time Victorian silhouettes. You want the parts of the body to be clearly visible and easily read by the viewer.

Body parts that overlap each other will not be visible. It’s best to try to show all the contours of the body. Have your model pose in such a way as to show the arms and legs or the curves and textures. This shot would not have worked if the model was facing  towards me or away from me. You would not have seen the contours of her hair or the curves of her body. The bikini string would have also blended in with the rest of the body.

The same principles apply when shooting later in the day.  You never want to shoot on the beach in mid day sun. It’s better to shoot in the early morning or later in the afternoon.

This shot was taken on a different day at 5-6 O’clock in the evening. We went out to the Old Mission Peninsula because the sun was on the opposite side  of the bay from the sunrise shoot. We were facing west instead of facing east.  The beauty of shooting in Traverse City is that there are two bays to choose from. You can shoot both sunrise and sunset depending on where you go. You can also find beaches that are relatively private, which gives you an opportunity to practice without the additional pressure of onlookers and gawkers.

Notice the directional light on Megan’s body caused by the sun behind her. This time I didn’t have the Alienbees. I used a reflector held by an assistant. The water behind her is not as deep and dramatic as the sunrise shots above.

This shot was done using a wide aperture setting to get the blurring in the background. This particular lens goes to f2.8, which means that the opening in the lens is large and, therefore, lets in more available light. To compensate for all the extra light coming in to your camera you need to make your shutter speed faster than than your camera’s flash sync speed. Shooting with a flash is difficult in this situation. This photograph was shot at f2.8 at 1/320 sec. The sync speed of a Canon is 1/250 sec. If you shot at that lower speed you would have to “stop down” your aperture to compensate thereby increasing the depth of field.  I also used a neutral density (ND) filter to cut down the light even further. The lighting in this image is  done with the sun directly behind the model and a gold reflector to compensate.

The photos above where shot with Megan positioned so that the sun approximately 90 degrees to her left. I did this in order to create a side lighting effect. You don’t always need to have the sun behind your model. When the sun is lower in the sky it makes a great light source because it casts a directional light on your subject. You should always look for the interplay of available light on your scene and use whatever tools you have available to balance against that light source.

When you see the directional light use it  to your advantage but don’t forget to balance that light on the other side with a flash or, in this case, a reflector.

Both of these photos were pretty easy to make. I set my camera on a tripod facing the computer screen and turned down the screen’s brightness. Next  I opened Adobe Lightroom and found a folder of images, (You could also do this technique using a folder of images from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr or any other location where you can find images in a sequence).

I set my camera up for a 30 second exposure at f32 with an ISO of 100. I clicked open the shutter and scrolled through the images on screen. My first attempt using a screen brightness of 50 percent resulted in an over-exposed shot and a totally white image so I turned the brightness down even further until I ended up using a brightness of 30 percent. This trick also has to be shot in a dark room. Be sure to turn off the lights and pull the blinds.

Here are some things I discovered while shooting that might help you if you decide to try this technique.

• If you use Lightroom push the “L” button a couple times to advance to a full screen with a dark background.
• You may also use an ND filter to lower the light needed for a proper exposure.
• Scroll through the images at a variable rate in order to capture one or two images that show the subject.
• Scroll using the right and left arrow buttons on your keyboard
• Preload the images by scrolling first without the shutter open to reduce the amount of computer lag, (Some of my pictures showed Lightroom’s “loading” icon at the bottom of the pic. Preloading will help you avoid that),
• Use a tripod and a shutter cable release.

This is a fun technique and the results are awesome. Pick up your camera and give it a go.

Terry and another photographer were shooting with Leslie Sevenski when I arrived. They had been shooting for a couple hours and were just wrapping up when I arrived. Leslie and I have worked together several times over the past couple years. I always love photographing the Sevenski girls.

However, this time I had a model named Sarah LaRosa who had asked me to shoot.

Terry’s lighting wasn’t working out too well for me so I decided to pull out my Frezzi video light to get a different effect. I love the fall-off created by this light.

Bruce’s BAD video has been tearing up the charts on the Internet recently. It’s been posted on Reddit and now I see it posted on Adobe Lightroom’s Facebook group. Bruce said he saw it posted on other sites as well. I posted it here in August so maybe I was the first to link it. Who knows?

Anyway back to the autograph…Bruce also included a couple signed prints. He’s such a great guy. I thought I would post the things he sent for your enjoyment.

You may not be able to read the autograph because I had him sign using a silver colored sharpie.

The autograph says; “For Todd with Best Wishes & a Great 2011! Bruce Dale”

The photo above is included in the article.

The prints below are from the American Southwest and the lighthouse on Old Mission Peninsula. 

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.  ~Hugh Allen

Meg Howard and I were planning to shoot together for several weeks but for one reason or another we weren’t able to put it together. Well, this past Tuesday things seemed to fall in line nicely. My friend Brian Harwood had taken delivery of his new Alienbees and Terry Clark had mentioned over the weekend that he had set up his pole barn as a small photo studio. As luck would have it Meg and I finally found a day that we could shoot. That day was Tuesday.

I called Brian and Terry and set up the shoot. It took us a while to get everything set the way we wanted it but once the lighting was in place everything else just seemed to flow.

Meg is a gorgeous model. She was the perfect person to photograph.

Meg brought along her old prom dress. I’m glad she did.

Terry’s wife, Jodie brought out a fan so we could get the blowing hair effect. Notice how the background is a different color from the photograph on top. It’s actually the same backdrop. The only difference is that I moved Meg out a little and increased my shutter speed. We also wanted dramatic light so I put various grids on the light to give it more of a spotlight effect as you can see in the next photograph.

Notice the difference in the light produced by the honeycomb grid as opposed to the soft-box.

This Sunday I am hosting another model photography workshop at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I also do private shoots with models to help them build a portfolio. Feel free to contact me for rates.

We started at a plant nursery that we found off from highway 72 in Traverse City. It was closed for the day so it gave us the perfect opportunity to shoot without worrying about spectators. I had Amy sit near some plants that matched the pattern in her dress and I place the flowers all around her for effect.

Amy’s eyes are naturally blue. I asked if she wore contacts and she said she did but that they were clear and added no color. This photo was taken out on the Old Mission Peninsula. It was incredibly windy and I had a difficult time setting up the lighting. I positioned the softbox to Amy’s side pointing away from the wind to keep it from blowing over. We also had to hurry. We got to the location just as the sun was setting on the horizon. You can see from Amy’s hair that the wind was blowing pretty hard. She had a difficult time keeping her hair tame and out of her face.

The sun is almost gone but it still gave me enough of a kick to make the shot.

Here you can see the effect of putting the lighting with the softbox off to the side. I like the effect that it creates in that position. Sometimes what seems like a challenge is actually an opportunity.

This series of photos represents the main reason we did the shoot. I wanted to try lighting at night with the bokeh in the background. Amy and I had fun on our photo adventure. The photos were coming out so nice it was difficult to stop shooting.

All photos ©2010 Todd L Church