Entries in model (19)
Film Noir Model Portfolio Shoot St. Petersburg Florida with Alexandra
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 4:33PM Jason Collin 
These are actually post office steps! The neon in the background is real, though modified - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/160th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame left & Nikon SB-600 Speedlight @ 1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame left
I cannot say I explicitily intended for my model portfolio shoot with Alexandra to turn into a film noir style, but through editing of the images it certainly turned out that way. We were shooting in the late evening from about 7:45pm to 8:25pm mostly around the Arcade in downtown St. Petersburg. The Arcade is a great location offering a variety of shot opportunities, especially at that late time of day with all its shadow opportunities. The above shot was actually the very last shot of the shoot. The background features the neon sign of a cafe across the street with the contrast selectively turned up so that only what is illuminated by my speedlights and the neon remain visible.
Using long shadows created by a speedlight outside the gates - - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 400 1/160th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/8 power in 43" brolly to frame left & Nikon SB-600 Speedlight @ 1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame leftI chose the Arcade as a shooting location because of the great, very tall, ornate, iron gates. I knew they would make for a fantastic background and/or prop. For the above shot I placed a speedlight outside the gates to frame left in the alley to help cast long shadows in the foreground. I composed so to accentuate them. Alexandra came up with a great pose taking my one small suggestion to create space between each arm and her body, something I always make sure is set otherwise the model will appear to have a lumpy body or strange attached arm. Alexandra in fact did a great job overall allowing me to focus on creating mood and atmosphere with my lighting and composition.
The 43" brolly creates soft shadows, I love it - - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 400 1/160th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/8 power in 43" brolly to frame left & Nikon SB-600 Speedlight @ 1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame leftThis shot features the same gates and lighting setup. Without the speedlight outside the gates providing backlight, the gate on frame right would appear dull and lack the reflective light on it. Additionally, the same speedlight provides rim light around the model, especially her hair, right arm and right side. A photographer can do a lot with just two speedlights positioned in key spots. I could carry all my strobist and photography gear that I used for this shoot myself, following the "lighten up and shoot" philosophy.
A single strobe setup with intentional background shadow - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4.5 ISO 400 1/160th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/8 power in 43" brolly to frame rightThis shot is different than all the others in that it features only one speedlight positioned to create Rembrandt lighting (nose & cheek shadows touch leaving a little light under the eye) on the model. I wanted to include one soft feeling image in the shoot as most of the others were really strong from a posing and overall feel perspective.
Thank you again to Alexandra. You can follow her work on Model Mahem and Facebook.
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Model headshot edit inspired by Jem the cartoon series
Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 4:31PM Jason Collin 
This editing style was inspired by the Jem cartoon series! -- Model: AbbyI was going through Netflix's always woeful list of new releases when I saw that the cartoon series Jem was now available. I remember watching this cartoon in the 80s because of the vivid pastel colors and style of the animation. So this afternoon I went about converting one of my own photographs into a Jem-style image.
The above is my final image next to a photo of Jem (source Wikipedia). Maybe long before I saw Jem in Netflix I had a subconscious thought to convert the shot of model Abby into a Jem-style one as I did not really like how I originally shot the photo, but I kept it lying around for some reason.
The first thing I did was to load the original image (see above) into Photoshop CS5. Well, actually before that I did some slight warming to the image in Aperture 3 via Nik Color Efex Pro 3.
In Photoshop using the Quick Select Tool (W) I selected only the background of the image. I did then click on Refine Edge to make the border along the hair look more natural and less choppy.
The next step was the key one and really how I thought I would go about making the photograph look more Jem-like and I knew how to do it entirely because of making mistakes in the past with my keyboard shortcut usage. I always use CMD-SHIFT-I to resize images before I post them on this site and Facebook, etc. Sometimes I end up hitting just CMD-I which is the Invert command in Photoshop. Since only the background was selected, only the background became inverted going from black to white and the bokeh from yellow to purple, which to me is much more Jem-like!
Next to clean up the image and make the model look more like Jem does, I used the Clone Stamp Tool (S) at 40% opacity and just sampled an area then brushed over that same area repeating as skin tone and texture changed for each part of the face. This is the quickest and easiest way I know of for smoothing skin. Note, I did not say it was the best, just the quickest and easiest.
To further the smooth and glowing look that Jem has, I used a free Photoshop action available here. That completed the look. I did not intend to tightly crop the image, but after all editing was done I thought a tighter crop was a better way to feature the image. I just hit C in Photoshop to bring up the Crop Tool.
Try this Jem-style process out on one of your photographs and post a link to the results in the comments below!
CS5, Photoshop, editing digital photos, headshot, model in Photography Tips Tampa Model Portfolio Shoot Train Tracks
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 4:12PM Jason Collin 
Model Katie posing on train tracks in Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/2000th
The above image featuring model Katie is from my archives. A few years ago I was not posting about all the shooting I was doing since at that time I was only a part-time photographer, not the full-time professional I have been the past two+ years. This train station is near downtown Tampa and we had to ask if it was ok to go out onto the tracks for a few shots. I do not even think these particular train tracks were in use anymore, or if they are the platform could use some major rennovations!
Katie was a great model that day in a wardrobe I thought matched the train track setting perfectly. It was almost effortless to photograph her as she seemed to instinctively know on her own the best pose.
For this shot I got low just below her eye level and chose to make as shallow of a depth of field shot as the location provided. It turned out to be my favorite of our model portfolio shoot that day.
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Model Portfolio Shoot in Vinoy Park St. Petersburg at Sunset with Shane
Monday, April 16, 2012 at 3:35PM Jason Collin 
Featuring The Pier in the background of this model portfolio shot - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame rightI met Shane through Model Mahem and we soon setup a model portfolio shoot deciding on Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg as the location and I suggested having the main shot idea to feature The Pier in the background, since in its current form it will only be around another two years or so. That is the photograph featured above with me shooting from flat on my stomach to get the composition I wanted. In the fading dusk light I thought that black & white suited the image better than the minimal color left in the original.
The setting sun blazes the sky yellow in this model portfolio shot - - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-600 @1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame left & SB-800 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame rightScheduling our model portofolio shoot just in time to catch the last bit of the sunset, I was able to make the above shot featuring a vivid yellow sky as the background from our vantage point in Vinoy Park and still include some of the local features in the background to put the photograph in a specific setting context, instead of a generic sunset that could have been anywhere. Once again I was lying flat on my stomach to make the above shot.
The lights of The Pier provide the bokeh in this night shot - - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame rightThis was the final shot I took of the model portfolio session. I always like to end on an image that I know I will actually use, whenever possible. In my model portfolio shoots quantity is not the goal, but rather producing a select few images that neither I nor the model already have in their portfolios, unless a model approaches me to recreate one of my shots. I knew even before scheduling the shoot I wanted to make a shot like this featuring the lights of The Pier as bokeh in the background.
Shane was a great model and expressed the exact right emotions I was looking for in order to make these photographs.
- Contact Shane for modeling jobs via his Model Mahem page.
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Model Portfolio Shoot in downtown St. Petersburg Florida dusk to night with Amy
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 4:57PM Jason Collin 
Model Portfolio Shoot - Amy in North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/50th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left & Nikon SB-600 @ 1/16 power on ground to frame right
Amy told me she just started modeling only three months ago, which surprised me a lot because I saw her resume before we scheduled our model portfolio shoot and it was already quite extensive! We met in North Straub park in downtown St. Petersburg at 7pm for a dusk to night shoot. For the above shot I broke the rules and had the subject look out of the edge of the frame instead of into the empty space of the frame.
Model Portfolio Shoot - model Amy in a thoughtful pose with bokeh in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4.5 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 in 42" brolly above to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/16 power on ground to frame rightFor this shoot I debuted a new piece of gear, a "brolly," which is a reflective umbrella with softbox like ability. Unfortunately, a windless evening suddenly produced gusts at two different times resulting in two crashes and the brolly getting partially damaged. I have already ordered another since they cost less than $20. When the new one arrives I will write a full review of it then, but I definitely like the lighting results.
Model Portfolio Shoot lighting from below - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/125th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in brolly to frame left SB-600 @ 1/8 power behind model's footShooting late in the evening makes it easy to produce shots with pure black backgrounds (learn how) that look like they were done in a studio. A little ambient light did get into this shot, I should have used a bit faster shutter speed, but the bright spots were easily brushed out in Photoshop.
Model Portfolio Shoot lighting from below - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/125th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in brolly to frame left SB-600 @ 1/8th power behind model's foot
The above photograph was the shot I had in mind as the main goal of the shoot, though I ended up liking other shots better. I will continue to experiment with ground level backlighting of subjects.
Model Portfolio Shoot with motion blur - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 800 1/20th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in brolly to frame leftThe last shots of the evening were an attempt at motion blur portraits. The shot was made by setting the focus on the model and then while pressing the shutter flicking the camera to the right creating motion blur in the lights behind the subject while keep the subject herself in focus.
I had a very good time during this shoot. Amy was very patient and professional to work with and had very good balance on one leg as well! I look forward to being able to work with her again in the future.
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