Beach Shoot with Amy

jonh68

These were taken with a D700/85 1.8 and fuji x100s. It was windy so we were pretty much forced to take pics in one direction. I like to use an umbrella on the flash but the wind made that impossible.

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9

divamum

Be careful with her that you really give her a good jawline in all the shots, as you did in the last one - between the hard shadow and the way she holds her head, it makes her look like she has a double chin (particularly noticeable in 1/2). I like her look, but in general I think she might need a little more posing/camera angle help to flatter - she's beautiful and has a lovely figure, but it's "normal woman" instead of stick-insect model type, and you can possibly help her a little more, particularly as she seems to hold her head/chin "in" and looks stiff. She's gorgeous, but can be even gorgeous-er if you tweak the poses a bit for her, I think

jonh68

Thanks, we have another shoot scheduled and will keep that in mind.

Hackbone

I agree with Diva on some of the issues. The first five have fantastic color but the straight on posing is not flattering for her particular figure. The top she chose is not flattering on her upper sides. You did make her look great in #5 with a slight twist and the arm into her side to correct that area.
#5 maybe a tad more lean as opposed to straight up and down comp. I do like it however.

6&7 a tad flashy with harsh shadows but if that was the effect you wanted OK.

I do like 8 and the color in 9 Great shots in all.

kdog

I really like this set. She's the quintessential plus size model. I like the frontal poses on her because they show off her hourglass figure. 1 and 2 have a really sexy approachable look. Ironically, the only pose that I think isn't all that flattering is #3 which is the only one that you didn't pose square. The wrinkle of skin is accentuated by the lower strap on the garment and isn't all that attractive. #7 has a great S curve to her body and that dress looks great on her too. Shadows are harsh, but you had to work around the wind. Just thinking out loud, maybe you could have used less flash power and shot closer to the ambient light level to reduce the density of the shadows. Great job overall.

Couple of questions. Did you gel the flash? Looks pretty balanced. Also, l don't know much about the Fuji, but how did you trigger the remote flash with it?

jonh68

Hackbone wrote: »

I agree with Diva on some of the issues. The first five have fantastic color but the straight on posing is not flattering for her particular figure. The top she chose is not flattering on her upper sides. You did make her look great in #5 with a slight twist and the arm into her side to correct that area.
#5 maybe a tad more lean as opposed to straight up and down comp. I do like it however.

6&7 a tad flashy with harsh shadows but if that was the effect you wanted OK.

I do like 8 and the color in 9 Great shots in all.

Thanks!

jonh68

kdog wrote: »

I really like this set. She's the quintessential plus size model. I like the frontal poses on her because they show off her hourglass figure. 1 and 2 have a really sexy approachable look. Ironically, the only pose that I think isn't all that flattering is #3 which is the only one that you didn't pose square. The wrinkle of skin is accentuated by the lower strap on the garment and isn't all that attractive. #7 has a great S curve to her body and that dress looks great on her too. Shadows are harsh, but you had to work around the wind. Just thinking out loud, maybe you could have used less flash power and shot closer to the ambient light level to reduce the density of the shadows. Great job overall.

Couple of questions. Did you gel the flash? Looks pretty balanced. Also, l don't know much about the Fuji, but how did you trigger the remote flash with it?

I didn't gel this time. We started 2 hours before sunset, but it was overcast. The sun wasn't the usual orange cast at the beach so I used the frosty diffuser dome on the flash and warmed in PP. When the sun did peek out at the end I just warmed it up a bit as well in PP.

I probably should have tried matching ambient but she was really liking how commercial the pics were looking and well as the backgrounds so I kept going with that style of underexposing the background.

In regards to the fuji, it is really easy. It has a commander mode. Since the on board flash doesn't contribute too much when shooting outdoors I don't worry about it, and it does add an extra catchlight. The flash I am using is the Phottix Mitros + for Nikon set in optic slave mode for the fuji and then I change it to receiver when using the Odin trigger on the Nikon. I am surprised at how good the mitros is at picking up the signal. Even outside on the beach it picks up the signal, even when I get in front of it.

This is probably a more flattering shot of her in the dress. I thought she looked great straight on. Most women I have shot needed to twist to get curves.

kdog

Gorgeous. Thanks for the info.

divamum

Curve isn't bad in that extra shot (although I think there could be more), but to me she still looks like she's holding her neck back and very stiff - look at that HUGE tendon standing out on her neck. I just can't get past that to look at the rest of her, especially since the expression is a touch fixed. Also, her hands are on the WIDEST part of her... which make the hips look wider (they're also stiff fingers). Try putting her hands on her actual waist, a bit more to the front, and see how quickly she starts looking like a SOphia Loren bombshell!!

I think she has SO MUCH potential, you just need to shape her a little differently through posing, and maybe get her doing less duck face and more natural expressions. I'm very interested to see future shoots with this gal

jmphotocraft

You did a good job with the technical stuff except for 6 which exaggerates her schnozz. She's not a great poser and the first outfit does not flatter her at all, at least not in photos. The second outfit DOES flatter her very nicely. She should work with outfits like that. I agree with Diva she looks stiff in many shots and in the extra shot she looks like she is laying in a coffin! She has a lovely smile in 9, she should employ it much more.

divamum

Obviously, you can modify it for this situation as she doesn't need as extreme a pose as this, but you can see what i mean about adjusting the placement of the hands (this is a Sue Bryce pose for what it's worth - it's posted all over the internet in numerous places, hence why I've left the image here rather than just the link)

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/70228075411755156/

jonh68

I agree with the critiques and hopefully we will be more comfortable with each other the next shoot. As far as the link above, I am just not a fan of that kind of hand placement. It looks like she is squeezing herself. We may try if we have the other shoot though.

jmphotocraft

It's a bit extreme, I agree. Somewhere between the bottom shot and the top shot in Diva's post would be best, I think. But smart move to cover the bat wings and show off the boobs.

divamum

^^Exactly. She doesn't need to go as far as that example, but just sliding the hands up to her waist instead of leaving them on her hips - her widest part - will naturally create more of an hourglass shape

jonh68

I know I'm colorblind, but didn't know I am shapeblind. When we were going through hand placements she was naturally putting her hands up her waist. When she did this it made her look more streamlined, not hourglass. She doesn't have the body like the lady in the above example. The top she chose in the first set I don't think flatters her because it bunches her up. Her body is naturally hourglass and I have seen shots of her in a bikini. She doesn't need tricks to make her appear hourglass, just better selection of clothes. Shooting with her hands on her hips actually hid her shape. Maybe its because I know her or I'm a guy and have a one track mind but I just don't see the need to to do extra tricks to make her have an hourglass figure.

divamum

Shooting with her hands on her hips actually hid her shape.

exactly! By bringing the hands up a bit, it will show off what she already has

I love that dress, btw

jmphotocraft

Tuck in the underarm chub in that last shot and it's a winner.

jonh68

divamum wrote: »

exactly! By bringing the hands up a bit, it will show off what she already has

I love that dress, btw

That isn't what I meant, we had poses where her hands were up were on her hips as you suggest. Instead of showing her curves, they hid the curves and made her body appear straighter and arms bigger. I'm trying to figure out how she needs MORE hourglass by posing tricks. I don't see it. I see hourglass without the hand tricks.

divamum

We'll have to agree to disagree - I can see this model with Marilyn Monroe/Christina Hendricks curvy poses, so I guess for me it would work to pose her into even more than she naturally has. I look forward to seeing your next shoot with her - can't wait to see what you come up with!

jonh68

divamum wrote: »

We'll have to agree to disagree - I can see this model with Marilyn Monroe/Christina Hendricks curvy poses, so I guess for me it would work to pose her into even more than she naturally has. I look forward to seeing your next shoot with her - can't wait to see what you come up with!

I see her that way too, and I agree with the critiques except for the hand placement example you gave. I saw the video and it was about how to give hourglass figures to women who don't have the best shape. I'm telling you we TRIED the tricks. Her best angle is directly front or behind because she has a natural hourglass figure. The twists and turns either hid her figure or made her look thicker by bunching her up causing other problems, at least in the dress she chose. She didn't like them.

AlexShark

jonh68 wrote: »

This is probably a more flattering shot of her in the dress.

Hi! An admirer of FUJI X100S here, though I use it exclusively for street stuff.

It's a little hard to critique the series without knowing the intent of the shoot. Was it for you or for her? Did you want to portray her the way she sees herself, or they way you see her? The answer to these questions might prove to change everything.

I agree that the above is the best curve-wise. If that was the intent, then the first three are the worst, #4 is super sexy to my taste but shows little of the curves, #7 similar to the above sports facial expression that I don't find attractive, and your last repost has serious armpit issues. But none of it matters until I know the purpose.

Suppose, the goal is not the pleasant likeness. What if it is a character portrait? Then I would absolutely shoot against the wind, ditch the lighting, ignore the pleasantries and focus on motion and expression. In a character portrait I'd do my best to catch her unaware. Standard in my toolbox: ask her to crack a dirty joke and shoot the initial surprise when she realizes what you just said; ask her to throw a shoe at you and shoot like crazy while she's removing it, then shoot again when she transfers her gaze from the shoe to you, and by the time she throws the shoe the job's already done.

For the curves -- she's got a bellydancer's body and attire. Why not use it as a theme? Assuming this shoot is important to her and she's paying for it, she might even consider taking 2-3 lessons before the shoot.

These considerations I find more important than the exact posture (which will always end up static without a theme), and various technical issues of lighting and aperture.

Best of luck!

divamum

^^^^ post of the thread (maybe of the year)!!

ETA love the shoe - that's a new one for me and I'll be ruthlessly stealing it!!!!!

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

jonh68

AlexShark wrote: »

Hi! An admirer of FUJI X100S here, though I use it exclusively for street stuff.

It's a little hard to critique the series without knowing the intent of the shoot. Was it for you or for her? Did you want to portray her the way she sees herself, or they way you see her? The answer to these questions might prove to change everything.

I agree that the above is the best curve-wise. If that was the intent, then the first three are the worst, #4 is super sexy to my taste but shows little of the curves, #7 similar to the above sports facial expression that I don't find attractive, and your last repost has serious armpit issues. But none of it matters until I know the purpose.

Suppose, the goal is not the pleasant likeness. What if it is a character portrait? Then I would absolutely shoot against the wind, ditch the lighting, ignore the pleasantries and focus on motion and expression. In a character portrait I'd do my best to catch her unaware. Standard in my toolbox: ask her to crack a dirty joke and shoot the initial surprise when she realizes what you just said; ask her to throw a shoe at you and shoot like crazy while she's removing it, then shoot again when she transfers her gaze from the shoe to you, and by the time she throws the shoe the job's already done.

For the curves -- she's got a bellydancer's body and attire. Why not use it as a theme? Assuming this shoot is important to her and she's paying for it, she might even consider taking 2-3 lessons before the shoot.

These considerations I find more important than the exact posture (which will always end up static without a theme), and various technical issues of lighting and aperture.

Best of luck!

thanks, the purpose was to have fun with a shoot at the beach other than swimsuit.