Abby Winters
Active member
Hullo
Partly in the interests of public service, I thought some people may be interested in the issues I face as a nude / glamour / porn photographer. While this is not strictly photo journalism, I guess I am a professional (tho I had never considered myself as such) - I make a decent living from photographing.
Richard Smith raised this issue in a thread on sharpening on the D30 board on Rob Galbraith's excellent site ( http://www.robgalbraith.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=001445 ), that digital photography is probably used a lot more than people realise in the "adult" market.
(I have posted this same message to rob galbraiths forums, as there are many people who do not follow both sites).
I don't have any figures on it, but I know a lot of my peers use digital gear, and more are joining the ranks all the time. Like PJ, this biz is suited to the advantages of digital photography (fast turnaround, no film cost or hassle, adequate (or more) quality, instant feedback, and so on). My basic kit consists of a D30, 28-135, several hot lights, and a 550ex flash.
One issue I'd like to raise is the percentage of shot to used (what's the proper term for this?). I cannot think of any other genre in the photography biz where 70% of the shots need to be, or ever are "keepers" (except perhaps scientific documenting?). May be going out on a limb there, and I'd enjoy being corrected.
If I take 500 pics, I will use around 350 of them. My standards are not as demanding as a glossy magazine, but they have to be serviceable. So that's a challenge in itself.
I run a small operation, I shoot models, and run a website which features those models. I sell some shoots "wholesale" to other websites, as well (under an exclusive licence). My subscription-based website requires one new model a week to maintain enough interest, keep new members coming in, and old ones hanging around. It is certainly not easy - my website has no banner advertising, traffic capturing, blind links, or pop-up consoles, and I don't spam. That means it's hard to get customers through legitimate ways, but those that I do get seem to appreciate the effort I put in.
I generally photograph amateurs, which I find by advertising in newspapers. I employ a person to liaise with potential models, interviewing them, taking some test shots, showing the models the kind of work we do. Many of the models have never done this kinda thing before, and are nervous and excited.
When I advertise in the paper, I may get as many as 100 calls. Around 60 will not be interested when they realise what it is, or leave a message with a wrong phone number, or change their mind. 40 will schedule interviews, 20 will show up, and I'll shoot about 10. We encourage people to bring a friend if they prefer, tho they seldom do.
I ask them to bring in a selection of their own clothes, as it'd be impossible to tour around a wardrobe with me of the kinda clothes these models wear (hugely diverse, with their own personal touches).
We explain to them where and how the pictures will be used, how we pay, the kind of forms we require them to fill out, the kind of posing they will be required to do. For those that are interested, I'll schedule some in the future, and shoot some on the spot, if they are keen and suitable, and I have time.
For shooting and interviewing, I rent a furnished house for a few weeks, and get the necessary people together. I am based in Sydney, but travel to other cities to shoot frequently, so I get some good variation.
During the shoot, I will shoot the model, and my liaison will switch to camera assistant and general helper (holding reflectors, getting drinks, running power cables, chatting with the model). I try to keep the set closed, in the sense that it's me, the model and my (female) assistant, and no one else. We are all quite chatty, and I am mindful of setting the model at ease, cos coming across tense will show up on film.
I'll shoot for around 45 minutes, by which time I will have filled a 128Mb card (with about 170 1440x960 "fine" JPGs). We'll take a break, have a chat about how the shoot's going, what we are going to do next, let the model smoke, etc, while the images transfer over (USB card reader). I have another 128mb card standing by, in case it's an inopportune moment to stop shooting.
I keep a log of the times I am actually shooting (start time, finish time, etc). I am a bit of a stats junkie, I like to know how many pictures a minute I end up shooting, and work out ways to be more efficient. In the last few days, I have shot between 2.5 and 4.7 pics a minute.
Probably the biggest factor that affects this is the model - if she's a little experienced, it'll go a bit faster. Using a flash (waiting for recharge time, getting the bounce right) will generally result in less pics per minute. Sometimes, we have a lot to talk about, and not shoot as much as we should!
Once I have edited the pics down to a useable amount for the website, I can enter that info into the spread sheet, and know the "yield per minute" (ie, how many useable pics I got from the actual shooting time). My goal is to increase this, of course.
Each city I go to has a directory on my hard drive, such as "Perth, October, 2001". I tend to recall models by the city I shot them in, but I guess any way that sorts pictures works. Alphabetically, or by date, might be just as good. Withing that, I make a series of dirs, one for each model. One might be like this:
01 Ilsa (Mandy)
The first number is the shoot number for that city - so this'd be the first shoot. "Ilsa" is the model's realname, and "Mandy" is the name she will be distributed under. All the files and EXIF data is in this dir. I use Breeze Sys's Downloader to download the pics to my PC.
Once that batch is transferred, we go ahead and do another session, and so on, till we done. Some models might be one session only, others may be four or five.
At the end of the shoot, we work out what the model has done (ie, kind of posing), and how long she did it for, and work out how much she should get (she'd have a fair idea, cos it was explained to her beforehand). I get the models to fill out three forms:
release form
payment received
tax declaration
The release for is pretty standard, says that my company owns the images, etc. I have another form that both the model and I sign, once she has been paid (in cash). This is to say she agrees she has been paid for the work she has done.
The last form is issued by the Tax Office here in Australia, to say that the for the model, this kind of work is a hobby, not a full time job, and so should not be subject to tax (someone is allowed to earn around $5000 a year from a hobby, here, before they have to pay tax on the money). That suits the models (they get more money), and it suits me (no tax paperwork!).
Models often want to review their pictures, so we often have a short session in front of the PC. They sometimes ask for copies. I tell them I am happy to email a few over (with a copyright branding). Then they are free to go.
With a bit of luck, I can do four models in one day, tho that is pretty exhausting (no time for meal breaks!), I have done as many as five (only once!).
That's probably ample information for now. How do YOU do it?
In closing, I'd like to ask that if the kind of material I shoot offends you, please do not bother to post to this thread to tell everyone so. Many threads in these forums degenerate in petty squabbles, I hate for that to happen to this one (even tho it's bound to polarise people).
I look forward to hearing from people about their experiences shooting this kind of stuff, ways to improve my workflow, and so on.
---abby
http://www.abbywinters.com
(some images may offend)
Partly in the interests of public service, I thought some people may be interested in the issues I face as a nude / glamour / porn photographer. While this is not strictly photo journalism, I guess I am a professional (tho I had never considered myself as such) - I make a decent living from photographing.
Richard Smith raised this issue in a thread on sharpening on the D30 board on Rob Galbraith's excellent site ( http://www.robgalbraith.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=001445 ), that digital photography is probably used a lot more than people realise in the "adult" market.
(I have posted this same message to rob galbraiths forums, as there are many people who do not follow both sites).
I don't have any figures on it, but I know a lot of my peers use digital gear, and more are joining the ranks all the time. Like PJ, this biz is suited to the advantages of digital photography (fast turnaround, no film cost or hassle, adequate (or more) quality, instant feedback, and so on). My basic kit consists of a D30, 28-135, several hot lights, and a 550ex flash.
One issue I'd like to raise is the percentage of shot to used (what's the proper term for this?). I cannot think of any other genre in the photography biz where 70% of the shots need to be, or ever are "keepers" (except perhaps scientific documenting?). May be going out on a limb there, and I'd enjoy being corrected.
If I take 500 pics, I will use around 350 of them. My standards are not as demanding as a glossy magazine, but they have to be serviceable. So that's a challenge in itself.
I run a small operation, I shoot models, and run a website which features those models. I sell some shoots "wholesale" to other websites, as well (under an exclusive licence). My subscription-based website requires one new model a week to maintain enough interest, keep new members coming in, and old ones hanging around. It is certainly not easy - my website has no banner advertising, traffic capturing, blind links, or pop-up consoles, and I don't spam. That means it's hard to get customers through legitimate ways, but those that I do get seem to appreciate the effort I put in.
I generally photograph amateurs, which I find by advertising in newspapers. I employ a person to liaise with potential models, interviewing them, taking some test shots, showing the models the kind of work we do. Many of the models have never done this kinda thing before, and are nervous and excited.
When I advertise in the paper, I may get as many as 100 calls. Around 60 will not be interested when they realise what it is, or leave a message with a wrong phone number, or change their mind. 40 will schedule interviews, 20 will show up, and I'll shoot about 10. We encourage people to bring a friend if they prefer, tho they seldom do.
I ask them to bring in a selection of their own clothes, as it'd be impossible to tour around a wardrobe with me of the kinda clothes these models wear (hugely diverse, with their own personal touches).
We explain to them where and how the pictures will be used, how we pay, the kind of forms we require them to fill out, the kind of posing they will be required to do. For those that are interested, I'll schedule some in the future, and shoot some on the spot, if they are keen and suitable, and I have time.
For shooting and interviewing, I rent a furnished house for a few weeks, and get the necessary people together. I am based in Sydney, but travel to other cities to shoot frequently, so I get some good variation.
During the shoot, I will shoot the model, and my liaison will switch to camera assistant and general helper (holding reflectors, getting drinks, running power cables, chatting with the model). I try to keep the set closed, in the sense that it's me, the model and my (female) assistant, and no one else. We are all quite chatty, and I am mindful of setting the model at ease, cos coming across tense will show up on film.
I'll shoot for around 45 minutes, by which time I will have filled a 128Mb card (with about 170 1440x960 "fine" JPGs). We'll take a break, have a chat about how the shoot's going, what we are going to do next, let the model smoke, etc, while the images transfer over (USB card reader). I have another 128mb card standing by, in case it's an inopportune moment to stop shooting.
I keep a log of the times I am actually shooting (start time, finish time, etc). I am a bit of a stats junkie, I like to know how many pictures a minute I end up shooting, and work out ways to be more efficient. In the last few days, I have shot between 2.5 and 4.7 pics a minute.
Probably the biggest factor that affects this is the model - if she's a little experienced, it'll go a bit faster. Using a flash (waiting for recharge time, getting the bounce right) will generally result in less pics per minute. Sometimes, we have a lot to talk about, and not shoot as much as we should!
Once I have edited the pics down to a useable amount for the website, I can enter that info into the spread sheet, and know the "yield per minute" (ie, how many useable pics I got from the actual shooting time). My goal is to increase this, of course.
Each city I go to has a directory on my hard drive, such as "Perth, October, 2001". I tend to recall models by the city I shot them in, but I guess any way that sorts pictures works. Alphabetically, or by date, might be just as good. Withing that, I make a series of dirs, one for each model. One might be like this:
01 Ilsa (Mandy)
The first number is the shoot number for that city - so this'd be the first shoot. "Ilsa" is the model's realname, and "Mandy" is the name she will be distributed under. All the files and EXIF data is in this dir. I use Breeze Sys's Downloader to download the pics to my PC.
Once that batch is transferred, we go ahead and do another session, and so on, till we done. Some models might be one session only, others may be four or five.
At the end of the shoot, we work out what the model has done (ie, kind of posing), and how long she did it for, and work out how much she should get (she'd have a fair idea, cos it was explained to her beforehand). I get the models to fill out three forms:
release form
payment received
tax declaration
The release for is pretty standard, says that my company owns the images, etc. I have another form that both the model and I sign, once she has been paid (in cash). This is to say she agrees she has been paid for the work she has done.
The last form is issued by the Tax Office here in Australia, to say that the for the model, this kind of work is a hobby, not a full time job, and so should not be subject to tax (someone is allowed to earn around $5000 a year from a hobby, here, before they have to pay tax on the money). That suits the models (they get more money), and it suits me (no tax paperwork!).
Models often want to review their pictures, so we often have a short session in front of the PC. They sometimes ask for copies. I tell them I am happy to email a few over (with a copyright branding). Then they are free to go.
With a bit of luck, I can do four models in one day, tho that is pretty exhausting (no time for meal breaks!), I have done as many as five (only once!).
That's probably ample information for now. How do YOU do it?
In closing, I'd like to ask that if the kind of material I shoot offends you, please do not bother to post to this thread to tell everyone so. Many threads in these forums degenerate in petty squabbles, I hate for that to happen to this one (even tho it's bound to polarise people).
I look forward to hearing from people about their experiences shooting this kind of stuff, ways to improve my workflow, and so on.
---abby
http://www.abbywinters.com
(some images may offend)