Updated Modeling Portfolio – Tracey Dunn
Great things continue to come in small packages. I have updated one of the sample modeling portfolios on my web site with a new video.
The models name: Tracey Dunn
Tracey is a 5′2″ red headed ball of fire from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also is living proof that short girls can and do model if they do business the right way. Tracey is signed with agencies in Philadelphia, and New Jersey and routinely auditions for Broadway and commercial projects in New York.
Tracey is a trained dancer as you will see in her images and has performance and theatre training and experience in her resume as well.
Her resume includes Print, Television and Film credits from local and regional projects to national advertising campaigns for companies such as Vera Bradley. Tracey appeared a s a featured extra in the Bollywood production titled New York and appears regularly on QVC the television shopping network as a hair, makeup and clothing model. (Yes – it says clothing model) Tracey is also a rookie member of the 2009-2010 Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleading Squad and traveled to Aruba in May of 2009 to shoot the teams annual calendar.
You can view her actual portfolio at: http://www.joeedelman.com/faq/portfolios.shtml
New Sample Modeling Portfolio
I have added a new sample modeling portfolio to my site.
The models name: Jen Hobbs
Jen is a 5′2″ dynamo from Secaucus, New Jersey. She is living proof that short girls can and do model if they do business the right way. Jen is signed with agencies in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Jen understands that given her size, she is not going to be walking the runways of New York. She has taken classes and developed her skills as an actress as well. You will see as you view her portfolio that we put her acting skills to good use to create a presentation that shows off her range and ability to act.
Her resume includes Print, Television and Film credits from local and regional projects to national advertising campaigns and a credited role in the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan film: The Last Airbender; scheduled for release in July 2010. Jen has appeared in print ads for Toys R’Us, DoubleTree Hotel, Borgata Casino’s mur.mur Nightclub, Harriet Carter Gifts Magazine.
You can view her actual portfolio at: http://www.joeedelman.com/faq/portfolios.shtml
Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – Is it your turn?
Have you dreamed of walking the runway as a Victoria’s Secret model?
Well if you are at least 5′8″ tall and over the age of 18 this could be your year.
Victoria’s Secret is holding a contest to find one girl who will join the angels on the runway this year.
You must be 5′8″ tall and at least 18 years of age (I know I mentioned that – you’d be amazed how many people will be stupid enough to ignore it anyway) AND you must be able to stay in New York City from Oct. 29-Dec. 3 to compete. Also you must speak English. (Hey – I don’t make this stuff up – it’s in the rules!)
Florida auditions will be held Oct. 10, 8-10 a.m. at Gansevoort South Beach, 2377 Collins Ave., Miami Beach.
California auditions will be held Oct. 17, 8-10 a.m. at W Hotel Los Angeles – Westwood, 930 Hilgard Ave., L.A.
Illinois auditions will be held Oct. 24, 8-10 a.m. at W Hotel Chicago – Lakeshore, 644 N. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago.
If you can’t make one of these auditions you can enter online at: http://www.vsallaccess.com/#/contest
PLEASE – read ALL the details carefully before you submit. If you don’t/can’t meet ALL of the criteria – DON’T SUBMIT. Only idiots do that. 
Happy Accident
If you have ever attended one of my workshops, you know that I preach the concept of “get it right in the camera”. Even when I intend to drop in a digital background I make it a point to select the background before I shoot the model so that I can be sure to match camera angles and lighting so that the finished image makes sense.
Every now and then even the best planning efforts fall short and either the image fails or if we are really lucky the Photoshop gods intervene and give us a happy accident.
This is one of those images.
My model, Jen Hobbs of New Jersey (watch for her in next year’s M. Night Shyamalan film: The Last Airbender. She has a credited role) brought this outfit along on a recent shoot to update her portfolio.
While it is a cute outfit, the weather didn’t cooperate on the day of this shoot so I was left to wing it. Fortunately we had planned out enough shots that this outfit kind of became an extra.
I am not going lie – it was the end of the day, I was exhausted, I knew we didn’t really need the outfit to update her book so I broke my own rules and did the shot against a plain gray wall with the attitude of “maybe I will come up with something later”.
So the image sat in my work folder for a few weeks and by chance I came across a great tutorial about how to make rain in Photoshop. At this point, I knew I had a happy accident in the making.
A stormy sky image, a winter tree line image, the raindrop tutorial, some vignette and contrast control and BINGO!
The real key was not selling out and doing another pretty girl looking at the camera in a cute outfit shot. EVERY image in a models portfolio needs to show personality and energy. Anybody can look at a camera and smile.
Not exactly a money making image for a commercial model, but a cool visual and just a fun image. We need those from time to time
The original
Hair and Makeup by Laurie Baldwin
Shooting fitness images for a modeling portfolio
Nothing burns me more than opening up a portfolio and seeing a shot of a pretty girl holding a tennis racket rested on her shoulder and she is looking at the camera and smiling from ear to ear.
Or the volleyball pictures where the girl is just holding the ball under her arm while she stands with a cute – non-athletic posture and smiles at the camera.
How about the girl who is actually a few pounds overweight and has clearly not been to the gym in a while, posing with weights?
How often do we see images like this in advertising? Rarely! So why put a shot like this in a modeling portfolio?
Remember a modeling portfolio isn’t just about showing how pretty the girl is. The goal is to show her ability to act and to convince a client that she can be believable as a given character.
When planning a portfolio shoot I make it a point to explain to the models that fitness shots are some of the hardest shots to pull off for several reasons.
1. These are images that are based on an activity that requires a specialized skill set.
2. These are images that require a lot of acting because if you ever actually watch athletes in almost any sport – their facial expressions are not very flattering – but they are also not looking at the camera smiling all the time. The challenge is to come up with an expression that looks real, has intensity in the eyes but is still flattering to the model.
3. Sports is one of the hardest categories for photographers to shoot because of its fast pace and need to capture that fleeting moment.
So how do you come up with fitness shots that are engaging, flattering and look believable?
PLANNING, PREPARATION and CHEAT whenever possible.
Make sure you are being realistic about the fitness activity you have chosen. Look at magazines and advertising for that sport or activity. If your body type and build doesn’t fit the activity – DON’T shoot it.
Make sure that both the photographer and model have a clue about the right way to do the sport that you are shooting. I can’t tell you how many times I see yoga pictures and the yoga pose is being done completely wrong. I am very aware of that one because early in my career I did a set of yoga poses with a model and the first booking agent she met happened to be a part-time yoga instructor. The agent crucified her book because all her yoga poses were wrong. The moral here is that we don’t want the model to be judged for the wrong reasons.
If you are not sure – do your research – go online and find some images with poses that you can duplicate – print them out and take them to the shoot with you.
KISS IT! Keep It Simple Stupid – Sometimes it is easier to composite the image so that you are not trying to do too much at once. Generally if I am going to shoot a very active skill sport like tennis or volleyball I will do the shots without the ball and shoot the ball separately and add it into the final image. This technique allows my model to concentrate more on her physical movements and expressions without having to worry about also hitting a ball.
Click to enlarge the above images
If I am doing this technique in the studio that means that I am not only going to shoot the ball separately but that I am also going to be adding the background later, so the original shots are done on a solid color background. (I use neutral gray)
If I am using this technique outdoors I will try to find a fairly simple background that I can let go out of focus so that I don’t have a lot of detail to deal with when adding the ball to the shot.
Click to enlarge the above images
If I am doing a running shot I will only have the model run for about 15 feet and just have her repeat process several times. I will give her a specific point in the distance to look at (never at the camera). I will tell her to always begin running from the same spot and with the same foot (this makes it easier for me to pick up her rhythm and catch the peak moments in her stride)
Most importantly I coach the model about her facial expressions. I will explain to her that she needs to look like she enjoys her sport (hence she is in a pleasant frame of mind) but of course she shouldn’t be smiling as she does it.
I have never figured out why but you would be amazed how often a model will begin running with her mouth closed. When is the last time you saw a magazine shot editorial or advertising and the runner had their mouth closed? Who could actually run like that anyway? It is the little details that make the photos work so you MUST pay attention to these.
Last but not least, for photographers, let’s talk about composition. Remember that we want to make it look convincing but we are selling the models ability to act. Don’t be afraid to crop tight. I often shoot running shots with no feet and you can still tell the girl is running. This allows me to get closer which makes her face and her expression bigger and more obvious. If we shoot a girl from the knees up – it’s a pretty safe bet she has feet – we don’t need to show them in every shot.
Also don’t be afraid to tilt the camera. Diagonal lines add energy and flow to a shot. There is no law against tilting a camera. Try it sometime.
New Images
3 new images from a recent test shoot.
Model: Tabitha Rubin – Jersey City, NJ
Makeup: Carmina Christina – Harrisburg, PA
Hair: Nicole Raptapolus – Harrisburg, PA
Fluorescent Strip lights on both sides of the camera
Fluorescent Strip lights on both sides of the camera
22" Beauty Dish Strobe to camera left and a rim light to the rear right
Keep a look out in the coming weeks. I will be doing a lot more work with Tabitha. She is a new model based in northern New Jersey. We will be building a book that is geared for both the Philadelphia and NYC Petite’s markets.
*** I will add lighting diagrams for photographers soon!
