Here’s a little video I shot at the beach a while back on what I do to get prepared for a beach shoot, weather-wise.

Here are some links to some of the things I mentioned:

• Oakley Surf Report
• The Weather Channel
• Surfline.com

The fact of the matter is even though photography and modeling is fun, it is still work. A lot of people don’t understand this concept… a job can be fun, but it is still a job. Step in my shoes for just one day and you’ll see just how much work it can be. Don’t get me wrong, hanging around beautiful people all day is enjoyable…but if you’re serious about what you’re doing, then it can be hard work. And people should be paid for hard work.

So the question still remains, “how much should I charge?” The basic answer is that it varies from job to job and a lot of factors come into play. The one constant between everybody is time: how much is your time worth? When you begin to start throwing other variables into the equation, is where it gets interesting. Several factors such as the various products you provide as well as how much skill and experience you have compared to others in your field are all factors in determining how much you should charge.

I stumbled upon this video on the F-stoppers website and thought they did an excellent job at breaking down the various factors in calculating your rate. I also like how it can be applied not only to photographers, but to anybody trying to figure out their rates… including models, for that matter.

Spend a few minutes and check out this video. If you want to get some basics on the business of photography, you’ll be glad you did.

• F-Stoppers.com | A Photographer’s Guide To Pricing Your Work And Services

A few weeks ago, I was shooting with my homie, Monica Renée. About halfway through the shoot, I started to get bored. I say that in a good way, of course… Monica is amazing to work with and I knew we were getting awesome shots… it’s just that I felt like trying something new. I was inspired.

Most the time, when I shoot on the beach, I use a combination of artificial light and natural light. I use the natural light as a secondary light source, positioning it as a rim light. I use my strobe as the main, or “key” light, positioning that in front of the model. However, those of you who shoot with natural light know about the “golden hour” and how the sun is in a sweet spot around that time. The light is soft and warm…but, it’s also low enough to the horizon to act as a main light source and not create any funky shadows.

On this particular day, I flipped Monica around, shooting towards the shore and away from the water, using the sun as the key light. To add a little “something special” to the shot, I added a little artificial rim light. I placed my strobe directly behind and to the left of Monica; the strobe was modified with a diffused beauty dish. To add a little bit of “warmth”, to the strobe I added a yellow gel directly to the middle of the beauty dish. The effect was subtle…but I think we got some pretty awesome shots. Here’s the diagram:

And here are some shots of surfer girl, Monica, using this lighting setup…

I always encourage people to try and see things a different way and to not be afraid to try new things. And when I say “people,” that includes me as well. :)

He’s been playing around more and more with artificial light…and I remember when I first dabbled with off camera flash and strobes. I remember it being overwhelming; even though I had a pretty good grasp of lighting of the natural variety, a lot of things went over my head. What sort of lights do I use. Where do I put them? How far away do I position them from the model? How many lights do I use. How do I trigger them? What are modifiers?

The fact of the matter is a lot of these questions will never be answered definitively. There are so many different combinations and possibilities that there is no one right answer.

Anyway, my cousin started telling me he heard about this thing called “the Triangle.” He was told it was a pretty basic lighting set up and that he should learn it.

It’s true, in glamour photography, there is a staple. A go-to lighting scenario, if you will. It’s no secret: you see it everywhere in glam mags…and the best glam photographers use this set up in different variations…but it’s essentially the same. This is what I believe the Triangle is, in its basic form…

The idea is to sandwich your model between two light sources by placing your lights opposite of each other. For instance, imagine a box and your model is standing in the middle of the box. You position your lights across from each other like so…

And if you happen to be using one light and the sun, you would position your model so that the sunlight hits the back/side of the model at a 45 degree angle…and then you would position your key light diagonal from the sun.

The other day, I had a fun beach photo shoot and here’s a perfect example of the Triangle light set up…

During this location shoot, I used two lights: my key light was a strobe into a diffused white beauty dish on a boom arm, and my accent/rim lights were the sun to the left of the model and a strobe to the right of the model into a bare reflector.

I find that accent/rim lights add a little something special to an otherwise boring/ordinary photo. They key is using rim lights correctly. But, I’ll save that for another blog post when I share some of my photographic pet peeves. :)

Another recent Hooters photo shoot I did was with Chelsea from Hooters of Riverside. She came down to the beach for her calendar submission photo shoot and we got some amazing shots! More on that in a second. I have to just say that occasionally, I suck and make mistakes. Lord knows I ain’t perfect… :)

Now, I’ve mentioned several times that you can’t let the client know about your mistakes or screw ups. You have to know what you’re doing at all times, or at least LOOK like you know what you’re doing. And on this particular day, I had changed camera bags from my usual Crumpler shoulder bag to my DaKine camera backpack. I like the backpack better than the shoulder bag, especially when I’m doing a shoot on location or at the beach because it’s easier to carry all of my camera gear plus lighting equipment on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Crumpler shoulder bag, but it’s a little awkward and heavy. Like your mom.

Well, I had managed to get all of my essential camera equipment into the backpack…except for my CompactFlash cards. Dude, I didn’t even have one in the camera! At this point, everything was set up, but I had no memory cards and I was totally stressed because I had forgotten something so small, yet so essential. I had no idea what I was going to do! Chelsea was getting finishing touches on her hair and makeup and was pretty much ready to shoot. To drive back home and get my CompactFlash cards would have meant losing about 45 min. to an hour of shooting time…not to mention looking like a moron and making my model wait for me. I tried calling friends to see if they could run me out one of their cards, but reception on the beach is terrible and no one was answering their phone anyway. I told everyone I was going to run to my car for a sec…and as I was running back to my car I remembered something. The stereo in my car has the ability to play MP3s. And these MP3s were stored on CompactFlash card. I grabbed the card out of the player, ran back to the beach, reformatted the card, and was ready to go.

The moral of the story: don’t forget your CompactFlash cards. I was really really lucky that day. But don’t ever let your clients see you sweat either. Wear deodorant. :)

Now, about the shoot. I have to say that Chelsea was amazing to work with. For being her first photo shoot ever, she was pretty damn awesome. She definitely brought her A-game. I was totally impressed. You could tell in her attitude and conversations we had in preparation for the shoot that she was really serious about what she was doing. She went and hired one of my best make up artists for the shoot as well as getting a bunch of brand-new, super cute Chynna Dolls bikinis to shoot in. The end result were pictures that I can see definitely being published somewhere. Needless to say, we will definitely be shooting again soon!

Anyway, here are a few shots from the shoot. Hope you enjoy!

But Janice reminded me of something yesterday that I thought I’d share with a lot of you photographers and/or models who are shooting portfolio content or fun projects. This could also apply to commercial work…but more often than not, when there is money involved, people want their cut. And that’s understandable. But this is more for those fun, personal projects or portfolio shoots.

So, a few years ago, I was out in my hometown of Ramona with my good friend Ennis and our friend Laura. We were planning on doing a “country girl” themed shoot and since I had spent most of my young life in this little country town, I thought it would be a good place to start. We scouted around for a little bit until we stumbled upon this farm, complete with hay, cows, and a few barns.

We drove up the driveway and found the owner and offered him a couple Andrew Jacksons if he would let us shoot there. His response was a pleasant, “Sure!” but it didn’t come without a brief look of confusion, as if to say, “why would you want to shoot HERE?” His daughter was helping tend to the animals and she offered to move bails of hay for us or get us anything we needed. It was pretty amazing how nice and accomodating these people were for a few random strangers who wanted to shoot on their farm.

But the moral of the story is this: it doesn’t hurt to ask.

A lot of photo portfolios have gorgeous models…all shot in the same location. To me, this shows that yes, you can take a good picture of a beautiful model…but do you have any creativity to make something different? Think outside the box? Make something that someone hasn’t seen before? Yes, I realize that many concepts have been done…but that doesn’t mean you can’t do them differently…and one of the ways to do that is by trying to find new and different places to shoot. For instance, I do a lot of beach photography. It’s pretty straightforward…and there are several different locations that I LOVE shooting. But it’s the beach. It looks pretty much the same no matter where you are…but there is so much beach to shoot at and when I shoot, I always try to shoot at new places along the way. One of my favorite spots in La Jolla, California, has about a mile or so of beach…and so I try to change things up once in a while by picking different spots along the stretch. You’d be surprised the way you can make the shots look different.

So yesterday, Janice wanted to shoot in a boxing gym. She had an idea for some super sexy and colorful shots. So she called up a local boxing gym and said, “Hey, I want to take some shots in your gym!” So the owner gave the okay and we made it happen. The guy that was running the gym was super accomodating and helpful and might be hiring me for some other shoots down the road. Janice also wanted to shoot some stuff in an old fashioned ice cream parlor. So…she found one in her town, called the owner, and asked if we could shoot there. The owner said “yes,” and we got it done. The girl behind the counter was totally sweet and basically helped us with anything we needed. She made us tasty ice cream cones for shoot props…and to eat, of course…and had her iPod going with some cool tunes too. :) When the owner came in later, he was super cool, loved the shots we took, and also may be calling for future work.

I learned that honestly, it really doesn’t hurt to ask someone if you can use their store, house, or even ice cream shop for a short, fun shoot. If you can get it done quick, fast, and in a hurry, most people don’t mind the small inconvenience…and may even enjoy watching the makings of some fun pictures. :) And when you think about it, what is the worst that can happen? They can say, “No.” No biggie. No harm, no foul.

But if they say “yes,” you’ve got a fun place to shoot something different…and you usually meet some really super cool people too.

First, be prepared for the unexpected. Pros are able to get the job done with what they have and what they know…and are able to roll with the punches.

And, speedlights work in a pinch. :)

Here is the podcast…

[audio: adapt.mp3]

Or you can download the episode here.

And here are the pictures. :)

Many people ask me how I’ve gotten so many “commercial” jobs as I have. Honestly, I wish I had more…but all that will come as my plan to take over the world unfolds.

I attribute a lot to God, honestly. Being a faithful dude (albeit, not as faithful as I should be sometimes…but faithful nonetheless…), I can wholeheartedly say that without a doubt, God is THE key factor in my success…because if it wasn’t for the gifts and abilities He’s given me, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. It’s that simple.

But I think fundamentally, it all comes down to being consistent.

You see, there are many-a-photographer out there doing their thing…and getting it done. We are a dime a dozen, my friends…so what sets me apart from anyone else who’s out there making pretty pictures?

Consistency.

Even if you consistently rock or consistently suck, at least you are consistent about it. Although, it IS better if you don’t consistently suck…but if you do, you know where you stand, right? And trust me, we ALL have consistently sucked at some point…sometimes, I still do. :)

I learned early on that being consistent was important…all the way from the basics, which would be a single photo shoot. Early on, when we all picked up a camera, we probably put the camera on automatic. We let the camera tell US what the white balance should be, what the shutter speed and aperture should be, what the focus should be…and that’s great, if things never changed…but camera’s aren’t smart enough to detect and make those subtle changes that us human beings are able to do. So what happens? You get all kinds of different pictures…some over exposed, some under exposed…some warmer, some cooler. We sometimes get that ONE shot that’s just right…but maybe only one out of every ten shots we take. Remember I told you I try to teach myself something new at every shoot? Well, on that particular day, I taught myself a couple of things; but one of those things was learning how to consistently make pretty pictures. To make sure that ten out of ten shots were great. I still try to do it, even if I’m not always successful.

But I think that’s the mark of a professional: making pretty pictures consistently. You see, there are hundreds of us that can take a decent shot…you look at people’s portfolios and pictures every day and they are chock full of lots of great shots. But are all of them great?

I’ve learned it’s SO important to have your portfolio be a reflection of you and what you are currently doing. Sure, you may have a great picture in your portfolio that you think is awesome…but is it really awesome? Is it a true representation of your work and what you can currently provide for your client? These are the questions that you need to ask yourself and you really need to evaluate whether or not a particular image is really doing you justice.

The bottom line is when a potential client or model looks in your portfolio, what are they seeing? Consistency is what tells people you can hit that mark every time you shoot. When a client asks you for a particular shot, can you deliver that shot every time? If the answer is “yes,” 9 times out of 10, you will get the job over someone whose portfolio shows great images, but lacks consistency.

When you put yourself out there for the world to see, make sure it’s something true to you and that it’s something polished and pretty…and when you execute, make it a goal to consistently rock with every single shot.

In today’s show, I talk about some tips and tricks for getting that perfect sunset shot with a swimsuit model. I’ve shot many-a-lady in front of the gorgeous sky…and I have to admit they are my favorite kinds of shots.

One of the photographers I mention in the podcast is Christopher Hartman. A genius when it comes to achieving a perfect light balance on his gorgeous models. Check out some of his shots here.

And here’s the show…

[audio:sunset.mp3]

Or you can download the episode here.

And here are some pretty sunset shots I’ve taken…

I thought I would share some of the points here since they are topics I have been talking about with other photographers for the past couple weeks.

No links or notes for the show…but hope everyone has an awesome Christmas this week. Ho, ho, ho!

[audio:portrait.mp3]

Or you can download the episode here.