review.
Photographing models, whether for clothing or glamour is the easiest job in the world. You just have these beautiful smoothed skinned girls, or guys, who look just perfect, know exactly how to pose, so all you have to do, as the photographer, is point the camera, fire the flash, and that's it, money in the bank!
Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, and Frank Doorhof's first instructional dvd tries to give you some pointers on how to get started.
The first half of the dvd is concerned with studio equipment and set-up. He shows the gear he uses, and how it is used. I think if I were to decide that I wanted to take up any sort of studio photography, watching this section a few times would be a great training exercise, it would give me some idea of what equipment I may need to purchase, and why. The important part is lighting, and there are plenty of examples of different effects obtained by softboxes, umbrellas, reflectors and the like.
The second section is concerned with location work. I personally found this area more interesting, and the techniques described would benefit anybody taking photos out of doors, or within buildings outside of a studio set-up. It is full of hints and tips from how to set your flash so the sky isn't blown out, using available light, reflectors, and so on, to details such as making sure the model has somewhere half decent (like the back of a transit van) in which to change.
The final section consists of a fairly rapid slide show of some of Frank's final images (you can obviously pause and study each image.
Selecting just a couple of the many things that this dvd brought home to me, since I knew nothing about this area of photography:-
a) the models do not look any different than anyone else in normal lighting and without make up. But, it seems to come over that many have a certain type of personality - they can 'sort of let go', have fun, but still be aware of what they are doing, how effective just a fractional change in an eyelash position can change the whole look. Much of the rest is the real skill of the make up artist, and the photographer.
b) most models have a couple of arms, a pair of legs, and a few other bits and bobs. You would think that by now every posing position would have been tried. I don't know how folk like Frank maintain the freshness and newness of their images. (Maybe my first paragraph, was correct, after all, just press the button)
I believe, that if you take any interest in photographing people, or anything else for that matter, either inside or outside of a studio, then this dvd would not only give you inspiration, but also in many instances show you how to get exactly the results you wish. Good value for money, easy to purchase and prompt delivery.
I'm not sure if its OK to put a 'mini-review', but if not, then delete it or move elsewhere. Just that i said I was going to buy the dvd, and I did, and over the last couple of evenings I had a chance to be entertained....
Best wishes,
Ray