Sunday, November 27, 2011

The countdown to your first shoot!!!

 Model: Jarrah. Photographer: Sarah DeVenne. Circa: 2007.
Sarah's first nude photo shoot!

So you have your first shoot - yay!!!  Now what?  You don't want to walk in unprepared, you want to take advantage of this opportunity and get the most out of it!  To be prepared, you need to think about the following things:
  1. Wardrobe, Hair, Makeup
  2. General Appearance
  3. Basic Knowledge of Angles, Lighting and Posing
  4. Things to Remember the Day of the Shoot
Wardrobe, Hair, Makeup - If you are not sure, you need to find out exactly what you are responsible for in the shoot.  You need to know if you are expected to provide the wardrobe and do your own makeup and hair.  If so, you need to discuss the concept in detail with the photographer.  Find out the general theme of the shoot, if it will be in studio or on location, what colors will be in the background/should you be wearing, etc.  Without a clear understanding of the photographer's vision, you will either bring far more then you need or not the right items.  Side note: You can never bring more then you need :)

General Appearance - In order to walk into a photo shoot completely prepared and ready to make a great first impression, you need to be polished.  The best advice that we can give is the following:
  • Get into a healthy skin care routine and follow it. If you are broke, use lemon juice, sugar and a soft toothbrush!!
  • Use lotion, it keeps your skin from going dry and ashy and helps it's evenness and glow!
  • Drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday. Just do it. It will make everything better!
  • Ensure your hair removal/trimming is complete. Think about everything and ensure that you're eyebrows, upper lip hair, bikini line, legs - everything is in order before your shoot
  • Avoid tan lines. If you are going to be tan, be evenly tanned.
  • Whiten your teeth.
Basic Knowledge of Angles, Lighting and Posing - Now into the fun stuff!! You don't want to walk out of your shoot with bad photos, so you want to be able to contribute to as much of the positive end result as you can!  In order to do so, you need to research, research, research and practice, practice, practice!!!  Our suggestions to get yourself prepped and ready for a shoot are as follows:
  • Stretch.  Every single day. You need to become flexible to make it in nude modeling!
  • Start constantly staring at yourself in the mirror.  Tilt your head one way, then the other - which looks better?  Bring your chin into your neck a little bit, then raise it - which looks better? That is how you find your best angle.  Look through old pictures if you want confirmation - we bet you with every one of your favorites, the photo has captured you at your best angle!
  • Once you have your best angle figured out, work out how to capture your best angle using different lighting.  Grab a lamp, take the lampshade off, and move it around your face while looking in the mirror. Move it from side to side, above and below your face.  See how the shadows look depending on the light change and try to figure out how your face looks best with each lighting set up.
  • It's very important to do the same test with your body.  Looking in a mirror, move your body into different positions, flexing, relaxing, twisting, stretching, etc and see how your body reacts.  Look at your body from every angle and get comfortable with the reactions your body has to the different movements you make. If you can, do the same with a lamp held at different angles, see in what positions, with what lighting - you can make your body look the most toned.
  • Practice pointing your toes for long periods of time and overcoming toe cramps without moving at all.  It will come in handy if you do :D
  • Research online the type of shoot that you are doing and look for examples of poses or outfits that you really like! Try them out in the mirror, see if you can perfect them!  If you need suggestions, you can always comment and we will help you out!!!
Things to Remember the Day of the Shoot - It's shoot day!!! Yay!!! Here's a couple things to remember:
  • If you are shooting nude ensure that you wear loose fitting clothing with no bra and underwear to your shoot.  Otherwise you will be covered in lines that take forever to go away and are a real pain to Photoshop.
  • Bring a few things with you to the shoot no matter what, some snacks that are easy to eat, water, a straw, makeup, hair product, lint roller, tape, safety pins, bobby pins, gloss, powder, blotter sheets, hair spray, tylenol, maps, small mirror, razor, deodorant, books/magazines for downtime, tooth brush/paste, lotion, robe, etc.
  • STRETCH. Stretch when you wake up, stretch again before you leave, do a quick stretch when you get there and stretch, stretch, stretch after the shoot!  
  • Drink a ton of water, make sure you have gotten a lot of rest the night before.
  • Arrive with a completely clean face with no product in your hair, unless you are told to arrive camera ready.
  • Never add to or change a makeup artist or hairstylist's work.
  • When you are posing - always ensure you have your body going in at least 3 directions.  Example: Stand face on to the camera with your feet shoulder width apart. Stick your hips out sharply to one direction, and raise one shoulder in the opposition direction.  This will give your body interesting lines and create amazing shapes for the photographer to work with.
  • Remember your best angles and apply the learnings from your practice with the lighting the photographer is using.  If you cannot tell which direction the light is hitting you, ask the photographer to tell you.  This is information they will be happy to provide.
  • Get your body into a good position that you are happy with and work within that pose a little bit.  Tilt your face into a position and try to give three different facial expressions.  Example, serious, big smile, half smile - then tilt your head in a different position and repeat.  This gives you much larger chance of getting a great image from more of your poses.
  • Make sure you are also shifting around your eye line.  Look into the camera, into the light, above the camera/light, off to the distance, down to the ground, close your eyes, look up into the camera while facing down, etc.  Make sure that you constantly switch it up!
  • Arms can be the worst things ever when you are first getting into modeling.  You don't know what to do with them, you can only really think of one thing and they are constantly in the way!  Know this is going to happen to you ahead of time, and think of as many positions as possible.  If you are going to do hands on the hips, make sure that your hands are staggered (ie. one hand higher then the other).  The reason is that this creates sharper lines on your body.  Try using your hands all around your face, don't just place your hand on your arm, run it down your arm for a second then freeze - this will be a more natural placement.
  • Never have both feet flat on the floor in a shot. It is unflattering to your body!  Point your toes always!!!
  • Make sure that people know exactly where you are going, exactly how long you should be there, who you are shooting with, a number to reach you at and a check in call set for a certain time.  
  • If you wish, you are able to bring an escort with you as well.  Ensure it is someone that has brought reading material and will sit quietly out of the way.  Do not expect that the escort can be in the room during the shoot.
  • Relax, breathe deep, calm down.  Don't let your nerves get the best of you.  Confidence is everything. Find yourself some positive affirmations and say them daily to boost yourself up! You are hot stuff!!!  Believe it!
Model: Andree de Villers. Photographer: WForrest Photography. Circa: 2007.
Andree's first nude photo shoot!

7 comments:

  1. Any other tips/suggestions on how to make the shoot better? When you're doing fashion or other clothed shoots, you're selling the clothes as much as the model. But in a non-clothed or nude shoot, it's all about the model. You had some good tips here on what to do or not do, but maybe you can go a little into the differences between a clothed and a non-clothed shoot from a photogs viewpoint to emphasize the differences and maybe give more suggestions of what to do or not do. Great site! :)

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  2. Love it!! We would be happy to share more tricks!!! We'll do our next post to cover everything you just mentioned! Awesome suggestion :D Thank you for contributing!!

    xoxo
    Andree and Sarah

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  3. http://novicenudes.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-its-your-1st-shoot-how-to-pretend.html

    Hope this answers any questions!!!

    xoxo
    Andree and Sarah

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  4. Very nice work. interesting work in regard to social media. I look forward to seeing more and learning more.
    Good luck!

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  5. Thank you so much!! We are glad that you are enjoying it and we will be constantly updating as there is so much to cover!!

    xoxo
    Andree & Sarah

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  6. This is all fantastic advice! I wish I had thought about these things regarding poses and stretching beforehand at my shoot. Like you said, I had NO idea what to do with my arms/hands/legs when standing, and definitely need to practice with facial expressions and lighting in the mirror.

    And stretching...ha! I mean, I wasn't expecting a 3-4 hour shoot to be easy, but I had no idea what a workout it was really going to be!

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  7. We are so glad that you like the blog!! You are right - modeling is a serious workout - and you need to treat it as such - if you don't stretch in advance, you will be feeling the pain for days to come!!!

    Thank you for your comment - we really appreciate the feedback and support!!!

    xoxo
    Andree & Sarah

    ReplyDelete