13 Aug 09 The Posing Guide (2)
In my search for posing guides I came across the posing guide of the Film Photo Academy. Although their guide is based on nude photography it is the most useful guide for all sort of model photography I have came across (and I have seen many). Simon Walden is taken you through many series of posing which are organised as follows:
- Lying – Working on the floor
- Sofa – using a settee
- Top Down 1 – Using drapes
- Top Down 2 – Looking down
- Standing 1 – Long shot standing poses
- Standing 2 – Mid shot standing poses
- Headshots 1 – Waist upwards
- Headshots 2 – Close up headshots
- Sitting 1 – Sitting poses on the floor
- Sitting 2 – Close to sitting poses on the floor
- Sitting 3 – On a posing block
- Sitting 4 – Other posing block positions
- Chair – Poses using a chair as a prop
As you can see a lot of variation BUT what is so unique about this posing guide is, is that it allows the photographer and model to go in sequence from one pose to another and make the session painless, something I haven’t seen in all the other posing books in the market.
For a price of £9.50 you get all the poses in PDF format (so you can print them) in automatic sequence slideshows and manual slideshows. Those last slideshows are specially handy for models who want to learn those sequences and become models who can pose.
This is what Simon himself says about the guide:
For photographers
This guide has a collection of shows you can run through in several ways. The automaticguides page through the poses in sequence – from this you can see how your posing session can move from step to step – building on each pose as you go – giving you lots of styles of posing,
quickly but effectively. Watch these sequences and note how the model moves from one to another – often small moves make big differences.The manual guides let you page through each style of posing, one image at a time, you can take your time to examine how the pose works, what works well, what areas you need to be careful with and how you can translate it to your own working method.
By the end of this book you will have learnt new, time saving techniques for creating professional poses. You will know how to sequence a photographic set to make your model look their best – and give you control and professionalism in your posing.
For Models
Watch the automatic sequences – in particular note how the model is quickly moving from one pose to another, in this way you show your photographer client your many different looks. You will be more professional and more rewarding for the photographer.
As well as looking at the overall pose shape, look at how the details work, what shape are the hands, how are the feet posed, how is the tummy held and where are the hips supported. Use the manual guides to look more closely at the poses.
By the end of this guide you will have learnt new poses, and be able to offer a better and more professional service to your clients.
Tags: artistic nude, glamour, guide, model, model guide, nude, photography, portfolio, portrait, posing, Simon Walden, Studio
23 Mar 09 Online (Extra) Training
Although the course at the Institute is very, very good we all feel, well I feel, that we need sometimes some extra training in specific areas.
I personally wanted to become more proficient in Photoshop as I see that as the "old" Dark Room I have many years ago. After I have read some book I still got the feeling that things were missing and I signed-up to the video site of http://www.lynda.com/. They give you the possibility to target on specific learning items on all types of graphic software and I find them very good! I have done some of their courses like: Photoshop CS4 for photographers, Photoshop CS4 creative effects and (the one I like most) Photoshop CS4 Portrait Retouching Essential Training.
The instructors are all experts in their fields and give you an endless amount of tips and tricks. I know that I personally am not a really creative man (would like to be though) but through these video course are looking in a different way towards my photography.
This image of the thistle above was a dull, middle of the road, macro but after playing in Photoshop and using the techniques the tutor Chris Orwig demonstrated I think I was able to create an appealing images, now used as a desktop by many
Happy shooting
Tags: Adobe, Chris Orwig, cs4, F/Stop, freelance, Freelance photography, How to create a portfolio, image libraries, image library, Photo course, photo editing, Photo portfolios, photo projects, photo student, photographic techniques, photography, Photography course, Photography Institute, photography study, photoshop, Photoshop CS4, portfolio, stock photo, stock photograph, Stock photography, The Photo Student, The photography Institute, Theo van Stratum, www.lynda.com
17 Mar 09 Create your photo book (3)
I have the printed photo books from Blurb (BookSmart) and CEWE (Photo World) in.
I must say that I am very impressed as the quality, and I did their cheapest option, is very high. the print quality, colour balance and brightness is exact as I had set it is photoshop.
So who is the best?
If you want more flexibility in creating your photobook then the software of CEWE has more possibilities in layout and text as you can add or removes all the place holders you want, something I miss in Blurb’s BookSmart. but beside that I can’t see any difference in quality and service they provide.
Living in England I would go for CEWE, for I like the flexibility, but just they can deliver faster and postage should be cheaper. Having said that Blurb delivered 10 earlier then promised when I did the order which makes them as fast, for England, as CEWE.
I know one thing fore sure and that is that for my professional work where a book is needed, portfolios, wedding and so on, I am using this service as for those prices and quality it isn’t worth the time doing this yourself.
Theo
Tags: Blurb, book, CEWE, color balance, colour balance, create a portfolio, female model, freelance, Freelance photography, How to create a portfolio, male model, model, models, Photo book, photo editing, Photo portfolios, photography, Photography course, Photography Institute, photography study, photoshop, Photoshop CS4, portfolio, portrait, portrait photographer, portrait photography, The Photo Student, The photography Institute, Theo van Stratum
12 Mar 09 Create your photo book
Although it is nice to have your photos on the web, dvd or computer the ultimate goal is to show them in print.
Most photographers have their own photo printer and print some of them off. In the next few weeks I am looking into the world of creating your own photo book through those online printing services like “Blurb” and “CEWE photo world” to see how easy it is and what the quality is compared with your own printing, as there you are in control.
I have chosen Blurb and CEWE on recommendation from one of my online tutors and although there are many more in the market these two are coming not to expensive and seems to have high quality.
Will keep you informed.
Tags: Blurb, book, CEWE, Colour calibration, create a portfolio, fine art printing, Freelance photography, How to create a portfolio, inkjet printers, Photo portfolios, Photography Institute, portfolio, portrait, printer, Printer profiling, printing, review, Theo van Stratum
22 Jan 09 Correct your colour balance in photoshop
We have added a new part to the photo student website where we demonstrate techniques. The first video features hor to correct your colour balance in photoshop by using a threshold technique to find the correct gray point.
You can find the video here..
Tags: color balance, color balance correction, colour balance, photoshop colour balance correction
16 Jan 09 HDR photography and Photomatix
The trend in making HRD (High Definition range) photos is here to stay and you love them or hate them.
Photomatix is a good software tool that help you to create those HDR images and they have given the photo student group a review package of the their software which we will review in the weeks to come.
If you are interested in this type of photography then keep your eyes on this blog
Tags: HDR, photomatix, The Photo Student
12 Jan 09 Alien Skin – Bokeh
Hi
After a long time working on our main site we are back with review. Alien Skin has provided us with their collection of professional photoshop plugins and we will start reviewing them in the next few week. It takes that long we they have a lot and are very, very good so we want to grill them 
I have started to have a first look at Bokeh which I wanted to use for one of my own photos. The photo "Life Goes By" is a nice photo (see below) but the man isn’t really standing out due to the big depth-of-field and That is what Bokeh does best.
Having never worked with the plug-in before I had first a look at the videos on the Alien Skin website and saw how easy it is altering an image with this software. The steps I took where:1. Selecting the man with the "quick selecting" tool in Photoshop2. Create a channel mask of the selection3. Used a Gaussian blur for the edges of the selection4. Opened the Bokeh plug-in5. Selected a 20% Nikon 105mm 2.8 prefix6. Selected Bokeh – selection – plane7. and altered the top part of the images8. Save the work the plug-in had done9. Opened the plug-in again and repeated step 610. but now altered the bottom part of the images11. saved my workThis all was around 15 minutes work and I hope you agree that it has improved the image a lot.
Our first impression: This plugin is its money worthVisit the photo student website for more information.The Team
Tags: AlienSkin, bokeh, plugin review, review
