Some tips before shooting a model!...

We all know that most of the people, and more particularly women, that we shoot are not exactly the same in real life as we see them on a photo.

After seeing the very constructive tips given us by my good friends Ashwin and Hugues on how to improve a portrait; I thought maybe it would be helpful for some friends to share with them my techniques on how to improve a model before the shoot!

Here is the example of a young lady that I thought could be interesting for a shoot after some efforts! So, I decided to do a little work on here! Here, I must admit that the toughest step is to make her accept any change! We are always used to how we are and the idea of any change in our appearance is often very frightening!... Also, I am far from being a professional in this matter!

But as she accepted, I started by making her do some exercises. Riding horse is a very good one. Not only the horse makes most of the effort, but you learn how to keep your balance on a moving object. The “balance” is a very important element to be a beautiful model!

The other very important element of this transformation is the diet! I always believed that the healthiest food on earth is the Asian food. No wonder why Asians live so long! …( Please disregard one of the ladies who taking herself for a male!)

Then of course, some rest! Actually it is important for a photographer to keep her company during this step in order to find a better communication with the model! If she plays it hard, ask her to bring some friends; maybe one of them would be more flexible with a more artistic soul!... But don’t forget; “Communication” is the key!

Finally, this is what we get after all those painful steps and hard work!

But now,  after all those efforts and the good result, it would be a pity to not take some shots without her clothes!...  But the catch is; sometimes they don’t trust you as much as you hope, and they prefer to take some precautions to defend themselves!

I hope these tips are going to be useful for some of you, my good friends!

Happy Holidays,

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Louis
My DPR Gallery (Shots with Dlux3, Dlux4,Dlux5, Nikon D300)
My contributions to DPR Challenges: