Photoshoot Behind the Scenes

Not too long ago I had the opportunity to work with MARZ Management's model Khadeejah (#MARZmodelmanagement) for some portfolio images.

I had not done a shoot in a while outdoors and had been doing projects with businesses throughout the Milwaukee-Madison area. Since then I have started to take more projects with model agencies and individuals around the area.

This particular shoot involved photographs of Khadeejah in three different looks. With a variety of shot lengths including modeling headshot photographs, model full body poses and model close ups of the face.

These photographs I would say were partially intiatiated by our photoshoot with Claire. These set of portraits were simple, clean and fun to do in the studio. This new shoot however also was similar in a few ways.

I should mention as well the studio that I have rented the past several times is The Space Mke, they have an excellent space for creative and a great community. The Space has been a great studio for me because of its closeness, affordability, and amenities ready to go. The actual studio space has plenty of room for outfits, mirrors and other things.

The Shoot

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon to create this shoot. It went smoothly within the timespan of around an hour and a half. This was perfect to get the three different looks photographed. The overcast was perfect to main a steady stream of natural light that would reflect the light. It was also chilling outdoors in Milwaukee during this January day.

This had been one of Khadeejahs first times in the studio so I was excited to get her photos back. Khadeejah had great poses ready to execute on each shot to get a unique look on each outfit. It’s very important to move in poses that emphasis and sometimes exaggerate your body where light can best capture it.

Some of my favorite shots included the blue dress look. These photos had a great contrast between Khadeejah, the background and the outfit.

Another set of photos that stood out to our original plan was her sitting with the black leather pants. These leather pants had a great contrast on the ground and the light had an excellent effect on it.

A special thank you to Khadeejah’s guest who was able to take photographs of behind the scenes of her photoshoot.

After Hours

Although it’s not really after hours after everyone leaves, I followed up with a folder to present to MARZ agency and Khadeejah. These contained the images we had shot to pick. After waiting for a response I got to work again.

One of my favorite things to do is editing. Putting on some music and editing away. Producing the final vision has always been one of my favorite things about photography.

I find the best time to edit photos is at night when here aren’t many distractions and I get to sit back and listen to music. Oftentimes my music streams from different genres and different time periods, but it really is depending on how I am feeling. Anything with a serious beat is usually best when on my laptop or computer.

This process includes going into professional software like lightroom or photoshop. There are edit basic adjustments and getting the light right if I didn’t get it in camera. Then I also add in descriptions and tags to easily find it amongst the other images on my computer. Often times I go straight from lightroom to photoshop to finish any peculiar artifacts like strands of hair or marks not seen on shoot.

After that point I upload the photos again and review them to make sure nothing is outplace. I expect a final review so I keep all the project files, and the rest is sent out to the agency and the model.

Based on the concept or photoshot each step of the process can take hard work and I would say that I love repeating it. The photoshoot process is unique to each photoshoot.

Finding people to work with

Many times I get asked how I find people to work with. Although there are many different factors that come into this, I share a few thoughts on this video. These have helped me build my photography portfolio and I have talked with models and photographers alike with similar success.

Finding agencies, photographers that are quality and communtative is important for a great portfolio. I have found much success on social media with large communities such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. These three platforms have a wide variety of people with unique personalities that may be looking to collaborate further. I love engaging in the different communitie that emerge.

Working with Khadeejah had occured from instagram mutauls in Madison, Wisconsin. Often times I find it to be mutuals of other people I've already shot