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The Starving Artist

~ Still an artist but no longer starving!

The Starving Artist

Tag Archives: Make Up Artist

5 Top Tips for a stress free photoshoot

09 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Business, Photography, Portraits

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Tags

Arts and Entertainment, business, cars, fashion photographers, Fashion photography, gorgeous smile, Make Up Artist, Model, photo shoot, Photographer, photography

It can be a very rewarding experience working with models, both for the photographer and the model. But when things go wrong all too often I hear models complaining about their photographer or photographers complaining about their model and worse still photographers and models making these complaints in online forums or on Facebook which sometimes attract many thousands of views – sadly neither put the model or the photographer in good light.

All too often these complaints are borne out of frustration that the shoot didn’t go as planned, or that the model or the photographer didn’t get the pictures they wanted.

Its an old adage I know, but one which is very apt for those in the photographic industry, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

Here are my 5 steps for ensuring that your next photo shoot goes without a hitch and model and photographer come away happy

1) Plan, Plan, Plan – I cannot stress how important it is for the photographer to plan their shoot – now I’m not suggesting planning with military precision down to the minutest detail – although if that’s how you work that’s fine – just ensure you have a photographic concept in mind, the right model, the right location, the right clothes and or props, a hairstylist and or Make Up artist, an assistant and everyone knows how to get to the location and at what time. Even in the Summer months make sure you have a warm coat and umbrella in the car – your freezing cold swim ware model will thank you for it

2) Communicate – I see so many photographers who sit behind the lens of a camera and click away without saying a word. Communicate with your model, they are not mind readers, they don’t know what you want unless you tell them. If you want the model to put her hand on her hip a bit higher than she has, tell her! All people need words of encouragement, tell the model her smile is gorgeous and she will smile a gorgeous smile – listen to some of the pro fashion photographers – they spend the entire shoot directing, cajoling and complimenting their models. The same communication needs to be for any stylists and MUA’s too – they don’t know EXACTLY what you want unless you tell them.

3) Always have a Plan B – Sometimes the best laid plans fall apart – always have a plan B, even if that Plan B is “we can’t continue – lets all reschedule”

4) Take regular breaks – It’s tough being a photographer – it’s equally tough being a model – you try standing on the beach in sub zero temperatures for hours on end! Always plan to have regular breaks for a drink, comfort breaks or just to look at what you have done so far – you will get more out of the model and consequently out of your shoot if you take regular breaks

5) Know when to stop – Its easy to keep clicking away – especially with modern DSLR’s of today – but if you have followed the four previous steps you will probably have “got the shot” by now – so stop – thank the model and the rest of your creative team and go home happy

Best

Colin

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Best of 2012

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Photography, Portraits

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Tags

Arts, beauty, Bride, entertainment, Fashion, Hairdresser, Hazlewood Bridal Boutique, Make Up Artist, shoot, Shopping, style

the-starving-artist-2012

 

So with 2012 almost at a close and 2013 nearly upon us I thought I would take a look back at my year as a pro photographer and showcase some of my best images taken throughout the year.

Of course, I could never take these images without the help of all the pople that are involved in making a shoot and this includes stylists, MUA’s, clothing designers, researchers, hair stylists, prop buyers and of course last but by no means least the models themselves.

I have had the pleasure this year to work with some absolutely amazing professionals, way too many to mention you all, but those that made it into my best of 2012 are,

Lorena F, Franki, Forsaken Desire, Emma S, Holly T, Miss Laura Mai, Jodie Winter-Smith, Helen D, Mary L, Emily L, Bubblefaery, Hazlewood Bridal Boutique, Findadress Bridal

Now to the best bit – the video – I must stress that some of the images in this video are unpublished and while there is no nudity some of the images show more than I would normally publish and probably not safe for work, so if that type of thing offends please do not watch the video.

Once again a BIG thank you to EVERYONE I have worked with this year and here’s to a prosperous and happy 2013!

Best – Colin

 

 

 

 

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Bridal Fashion Shoot

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Autumn, bridal, Bridal Fashion, Fashion, Filming location, Make Up Artist, models, Moody, photography, Summertime

Morning

My last few portrait shoots have been either children & families, or alternative, out of my comfort zone shoots, so it was really great to get back into my comfort zone yesterday with my favourite type of shoot – on location Bridal Fashion.

But it very nearly didn’t happen.

Most photo-shoots, especially those on location, do require a certain amount of planning. You need to research the location, decide on the look/style, source a suitable model, book a make up artist and hairstylist, decide on props, book the time and date and check the weather forecast!

Many of my shoots are planned weeks if not months in advance. The shoot yesterday was booked back in the Summer. I had a location I had researched, but Summertime was not ideal due to the light, it needed an autumnal feel, so November was chosen.

Everything was ready, model booked, MUA/stylist booked, weather forecast looking almost perfect and then……

What every photographer has to deal with at sometime or other, the model AND the MUA called three days before the shoot and cancelled. At least it was three days and not three hours as I have heard stories of!

So what to do – cancel the shoot entirely and with it all the hard work on styling and planning gone to waste – or try and find another team.

I am fortunate to have worked with a number of professional models and one of those, Lorena, I knew loved being shot in Bridal wear and if she was free I was pretty certain she would be happy to step in.

As it happened she was free and she was happy to be part of the shoot. We were unable to source a styling team – but Lorena, the consummate professional, did her own to fit the mood and styling we had in mind.

Yesterday was a typical autumnal day, crisp, cold clear blue skies, sun low on the horizon. These are just a few of the images we created on the shoot.

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Thank you Lorena for stepping in and helping me create these images

Best – Colin

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Bride with a difference

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Corpse Bride, Ebay, Make Up Artist, photography, Photoshop, SFX, SFX Make Up, wedding dress, Weddings

Afternoon

I don’t photograph weddings, but I do shoot a lot of women in wedding gowns. When I had my studio I was lucky enough to be on the same business park as Hazlewood Bridal Boutique our towns’ newest and best bridal boutique. It wasn’t long before I struck up a friendship with the owner, Jill, and we were soon collaborating on photo-shoots together.

We stopped shooting location based shoots when one of her best gowns became rather sodden during a shoot up at a stately home, you can read about that here

Since moving out of my studio I have been asked to shoot much more Bridal stuff, especially out on location and knowing Jill would baulk at the idea of loaning me a £2000 wedding gown for a shoot out on some disused building site of a location I decided to see what Ebay had to offer.

Ebay has a surprising amount of Bridal Wear stockists, mostly in the far east and China, but the good thing is they come with Chinese price tags too! So after stocking up on a number of these throw away bridal gowns I carried on taking booking for bridal shoots on location

The trouble is, there are only so many pictures of pretty girls in wedding gowns you can take, after a time they all blur into the same type and style of image. I did manage to shoot a lightly different shoot with a gown, see my previous post here, but what I really wanted was something that would be so different and so unusual as to be shocking.

So I came up with Corpse Bride, my own version not Tim Burtons – but there was a thought process behind this. I have access to a disused army base, it’s pretty run down, but it does have some pretty good shooting spaces. So my idea has this pretty girl in a wedding dress playing the violin in a derelict army base – but why is she there? She is actually a ghost and she is pining for her husband that was lost at war. He was stationed at the army base but on the eve of their wedding he was killed in action.

The bride, who (when she was alive) was a violinist and she has come back to the now derelict base to wait for her husband to return, but is destined to play the violin forever as a lost soul.

To turn that idea into reality I needed a fantastic model, a violin, and the skills of a SFX Make Up Artist (MUA).

After several months of planning and some set backs along the way, I secured one of my favourite models to work with, Lorena, a Spanish model who had the look, the hair and the confidence to pull this off. Our MUA for the day was Jodi, an excellent SFX MUA from Bristol.

Applying the SFX makeup to Lorena took more than four hours, four hours which she was sat on the second floor of an abandoned building, facing a hole in the wall (for light) and in the bitter cold

Lorena braving the cold to have her SFX make up applied by Jodi

As is usually the case with the English weather at this time of year, it started to rain and the skies got duller and greyer as the rain got harder. My carefully laid plans for the shoot were blown away as by the time the makeup had finished it was terribly dark outside and lashing down with rain.

Time to improvise.

Lorena towering menacingly over the photographer

Looking more menacing on the stairs

That’s not real blood in the background – honest!

 

Cowering in the corner

We had to curtail the shoot somewhat, it was deathly cold, the wind was blistering through the building and Lorena was covered in goosebumps. But we did one last shot, and with just a little bit of Photoshop magic it turned into this:-

Thunder & lightening, very very frightening !!

A little postscript to this story – Lorena decided to drive home still wearing the makeup, driving through Bristol city centre her car hit the red (on the petrol tank) and she did not have enough to get home – so she calmly drove to the nearest Shell Garage and filled up – still looking half dead!  🙂

best – Colin

 

 

 

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Behind the scenes

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, General, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Behind the scenes, Bowood Estate, Bowood House, BTS, Make Up Artist, models, photo shoot, photography, Stately Home, Stylist, using models, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Gowns, Wedding Venues, Weddings

Afternoon

Pictures.

Our lives are consumed with them, every magazine, newspaper, billboard, side of bus or the Tube is covered in pictures. The Internet is awash with pictures, you cannot go through a single day of your life without looking at a picture of some description (unless you are a monk in Tibet, and even then there are no guarantees!).

But how many of us look at the picture and say, I wonder how he/she shot that, or, how many people were involved in that. I’m often amazed by clients that say to me, “I thought it would just be you with a camera and a flashgun!”

So I thought I’d share some BTS (Behind the Scenes) photographs taken for a local wedding gown supplier. The location was the local stately home, where we had free access to the library, bar and gardens.

On big location shoots such as this, the day is long and starts pretty early. Coffee and intros out of the way it’s straight into hair & makeup, this is Emily, one of the models being made up by Mary, our resident MUA.

Hair & Makeup

Starting off in the library we decided against using flash and opted for Lupolux HMI Continuos lighting instead (theatre lights). My trusty step ladder was called into action on more than one occasion, which caused some concern for our chaperone on the day!

Step Ladder Time

 

Moving into the bar area we shot some Bride & Groom images sat at the bar.

At The Bar

 

ooops, where has the photographer gone?

Where's he gone?

Different model, same bar,

 

After finishing up in the bar in was lunchtime, so after a quick bite to eat we moved onto the outside part of the shoot. Unfortunately as is the norm for the UK the weather had turned and it was dull grey and drizzly. Undeterred we set about setting up the shots for the next location.

Discussing the next shot

 

My ladder once again came in useful as the model was stood higher than me on the steps of the structure we were using.

The model was after her iPhone which was ringing right at this point ..grrrrrr

 

 

Another model this time (and another gown)

 

 

The rain was really coming down when we moved onto our final location, the model in this images was dripping wet, and an umbrella was being held over her head in between shots. It didn’t save the dress though.

And just to show some finished images from the shoot that relate directly to these BTS shots……..

Finished Image

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

So there we have it. A BTS look at a photo shoot. Lots of people involved, lots of time and planning involved but lots of fun too.

Best – Colin

 

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Recent Posts

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