Neptune Aquatics

Model Shoot (safe for work)

kinetic

Supporting Member
It's been a few years since I've actually done real portrait photography. Closest I came to that was a wedding in the swiss alps 2 years ago, and an engagement shoot a year ago.

In December 2007 I was wandering back to my car in Golden Gate Park, when I bumped into an awesome couple. We ended up talking for awhile, and eventually I took a few pictures of them.

Fast forward 3+ years, and I find myself shooting Kathyln again in San Francisco. I was really glad to hear from her after so long, and once our schedules both freed up, we headed to my favorite spots in San Francisco.

I tried my best to capture her bubbly and inspirational personality, but the photos are just the beginning of who she really is.

I haven't done portraits in a long time, and I'm glad she gave me the extra push to get back into it. My style has changed a lot since I last did this, but it's a reminder of how much fun it is to get out to SF with your camera, a model, and have a great time.

Here are some of the photos:













And a few for fun:



We got hops:

 
Excellent pics! I'm impressed, besides 'hops' you also got mad photo skilz! dare I ask how many pictures you took to narrow it down to the select few you posted here?
 
CookieJar said:
Excellent pics! I'm impressed, besides 'hops' you also got mad photo skilz! dare I ask how many pictures you took to narrow it down to the select few you posted here?

About 1200 photos =) Keep in mind, when I shoot portraits I spray. If you look at the dump of photos on my harddrive, you'll see 3 - 5 shots that are almost identical. What I do is pick the best out of each burst of shots I make. The reason is, if the model blinks, is talking, halfway smiles, etc, you want to capture that. With people, our facial muscles move so quickly that it's hard to capture the exact moment.

The beauty of digital is you can just shoot a ton.
 
Also note that I don't just purely get "lucky" by taking so many photos. The way I compose a photo is I talk to the model, then get some of her ideas, I tell her a few things during the posing, which includes posture, head tilt, eye direction, mouth posture (no smile, slightly opened, big smile, etc.), leg positioning, hand positioning, throughout this I already have the shot I want in mind. What I have in mind is a totally processed photo, so what I do is I keep taking a ton of photos until I get a digital negative that I know will work. When I get back to my computer for the processing, I look for the photo I know was good, and process that one. Sometimes I just don't get the right digital negative, so I try to learn what I did wrong and move on. It's mostly the case I realize later why it didn't come out.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Looks really good Art, those are the types of photos all my cousin's got with their wives, and what my wife wants for us *sigh*
ah I know what you mean! you should just tell her it's really expensive, usually freezing cold, and you have to hold a smile for hours all day... maybe that will make her think again =).
 
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