staging photographs?

If im actually staging a shot and not just snapping away lol... I check what they are wearing, the other day was taking pics of my Elf Lishe she is White skin and was wearing all white with big white wings... so looked around for dark material and used blue velvet as the back drop and set a light up to slant on her, they came out brilliant and she really stood out... so if your model is wearing dark look for a light colour back drop but in a contrasting colour that looks good.. white is always good option but sometimes a light colour can really make a differrence.. as the same if light colours a dark back ground is awesome... as said I do tend to stand them slighlty of centre.. and then take loads and loads of pics.. from below, above, sideways.. and then just moving the head slightly can make such a difference.. I may take 50 pics in one sitting and only like 4 which is not unusual.. my friend is a proffesional photographer of glamour models and last week on a shoot took 900 pics and said he will only 100% like 40 of them... and send them off to the mags etc...

light are important and I went to Ikea lol.. and bought some cheap lights with clamps and often put 3 or 4 even 5 at different angles which can give some brill shading.. it can change the whole look of a pic...

hope this is sort of thing you were after...

 

I cannot emphasize this enough...lighting lighting lighting. For me that's about 80% of the picture right there. You can have your doll in the most fabulous setting imaginable, perfect hair, super pose, and if you don't have the right lighting, the picture just ends up disappointing.

Hmm, try to make your doll look relaxed and natural, if that makes sense. If you need to bring in something for her to lean on or sit on. It's so much better than just "here I am, just kind of standing here...now what?" (If you've been through a lot of different yearbook pictures, you know what I mean...)

Try to avoid backgrounds that are too busy...all that visual noise will distract from your lovely model.

And definitely study pictures that you have seen that you like...determine what about them you specifically like. Same with pictures you don't like...what hasn't worked in that picture to make you less than thrilled about it. And take tons of pictures (this is what is great about digi cams!) You'll discard a lot of them, but it's the best way to learn.

Good luck!

 

Oh this is very helpfull! Thankies! :grin: