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. :)

I’ve been meaning to do a post or a podcast or a video or SOMETHING so I can share with all of you how I get it done…but I just haven’t had the time or the motivation. Someday, though…

In the meantime, I did stumble on a great post over at Todd Mizomi’s blog about this very subject…and let me just say, he gets the job done. First of all, I do have to give him crap for living in one of the most picture perfect places on earth…seriously, Hawaiian sunsets are amazing. And you mix that with a beautiful model and a photographer who knows how to light it just right and you get some amazing photos.

Check out his blog and his post that shares 6 tips to getting sunset shots done right.

• Mizomi Photography | 6 steps to shooting at sunset

In talking about finding and improving your style, she writes:

“I have come into my own; as I am sure many photographers do when they put their heart and soul into finding their focus. Some days I lack confidence, and that lets me know that its time to take it to another level. Although I feel as though I have found my style, I keep searching and improving. I feel as though you are only as good as your last session, and I strive to do my absolute best for every single client.”

Heart and soul. That really struck me…because without passion, what is the point of doing it? Always working to be the best, striving to be better than the last time, and always working on taking things to another level are qualities I truly admire and try to cultivate in my life.

Anyway, just a little mid-morning inspiration. Read the rest of the post here.

GOING THE DISTANCE BY CATHY EMPEY – GetTotallyRad.com

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.

The thing about Megan is she can pull off the soft and pretty look and then up the ante with the sexy bad girl look.

For the lighter pictures by the pool in her blue bikini, I shot open aperture, two strobes on low, and scrimmed her to let a lot of the light soak in.

For the harsher-lit shots, I closed the aperture and bumped up the power. I didn’t use more than two lights the entire shoot.

The thing about shooting mid-day is you have to play with the light that you have. Beat ‘em or join ‘em. If you want to beat ‘em, you have to have high powered strobes to over power the ambient light. If you want to join ‘em, you have to have light controlling devices like reflectors, scrims, and other such mods. But the fact is, you can get great results both ways and change the mood of an image entirely.

You gotta love a hot girl in a teeny, weeny bikini. :) Looking forward to working with Megan again soon…so stay tuned. :)

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. :)

Good stuff.