Showcase Photographers and those that aspire to be

[john_deere]

there is only one reason to do a trade for portfolio shoot, and that is if the model has a particular look that the photographer wants in their portfolio. in blunt terms, if she's hot enough to make you look good by extension.

i'd really like to see the business case for spending the time needed to shoot and process one to two of these per week. it should be easy to track the value of the freebies at your hourly rate against the revenue brought in as a direct result.

we all have to do some promo work from time to time, but giving shit away or working at cut rates is what devalues the industry. i don't see many of the girls in this world doing that.

[AustinImage]

Excellent thread and great points all around.

I seem to only use Lightroom for image selection and then move the chosen to PS and finish there with NIK software.

[john_deere]

nik software is great for finishing special images, but there's no way you can be as efficient as you can with batching in lightroom. and, that's not a knock on your skills, it's just a technology thing. lightroom is built to do that and photoshop isn't.

since we are on the subject of portfolios and marketing, this seems like a good point to rage about something that personally bugs the shit out of me: "photographers" advertising in here who either don't have or won't show samples in their ads.

dudes, that is a waste of everyone's time.

if you don't already have pretty girl photos and you want to shoot in this market, there are 3 options:

1. do a completely above board boudoir shoot with a real world model who signs a release. that allows you to use the images in your own marketing. "anonymize" the images via cropping, blurring or whatever you like. post here.

2. watch for a lady in your area who is iso for new photos. contact her directly and attempt to sell her on your services. make it clear that you need portfolio stuff to use for marketing to other escorts.

3. work with an escort you already have a relationship with.

in any case, you MUST be completely straightforward about your methods and intentions. assume the girl in question AUTOMATICALLY thinks you're a skeeze with a camera and that you will fuck her over. sell and proceed accordingly.

we had a bloke in here last year who tried advertising that he was a photo badass but "couldn't post samples because it would compromise his identity". unfortunately he was dumb enough to post rl info in his sig which made it easy to find his "photography website". anyone with two brain cells could see that it was all smoke and mirrors, and he got called out.

don't be that guy.

[DDBD Photography]

John you beat me to it - I deleted the document I was going to post because you hit the nail on the head. I will echo that last line...definitely

"don't be that guy"

[john_deere]

haha! sorry, man! i didn't mean to steal your thunder.

[DDBD Photography]

Brother steal away...I always look forward to your posts and the knowledge you share so no worries at all.

[Through My Eyes]

There are those (providers and photographers) on here who will do TFS (Trade for service). I've talked to several who have done these and the providers have told me they usually get the bad end of the deal trying to save a few bucks. The "photographer" is so concerned about getting his that he does not put forth his best effort for the shoot. In some cases they dont even get images back.

So ladies~ DONT do the TFS! You think you're getting a "free" shoot but you're actually getting screwed!

[Guest030617]

Where do you guys host your pictures? I'm very new to photographing beautiful woman and I don't want to host them in the wrong place. I had my first real photography shot last night and I can't wait to show the pictures off.

Thanks for the sticky...loving the fact that you guys are out here helping us aspiring photographers! I will be taking a lot of what you say and applying it to my photography!

[Miss. Kandy]

I'm not good with photos,. A really nice room with a good view is good,... You can use bath shots,. Sillowet pika,. Anywho I'm in a great need of new photos,. So please inbox me info on your sessions! And good luck

[Miss. Kandy]

Originally Posted by Through My Eyes

There are those (providers and photographers) on here who will do TFS (Trade for service). I've talked to several who have done these and the providers have told me they usually get the bad end of the deal trying to save a few bucks. The "photographer" is so concerned about getting his that he does not put forth his best effort for the shoot. In some cases they dont even get images back.

So ladies~ DONT do the TFS! You think you're getting a "free" shoot but you're actually getting screwed!

Thank you Hun for the great advice. I've heard the same things

[john_deere]

Originally Posted by Through My Eyes

So ladies~ DONT do the TFS! You think you're getting a "free" shoot but you're actually getting screwed!

all i'll say about this is that it's not impossible for a trade to be win-win, but you stand about as much chance of that as you do making the nfl. regardless of how you plan to pay or get paid for a shoot, do your homework!

Originally Posted by BDS

Where do you guys host your pictures?

for posting in here, look for a good small scale anonymous host like imagegainer that doesn't have content restrictions but allows you to make images private. beware that some well known hosts like imgur may not allow hot linking.

[Guest030617]

Thank you so much, I tried registering at Imagegrainer and they still haven't sent the email verification, after hitting the resend button 4 times in almost 24hrs, I gave up and registered at postimage.org!

Do you guys know where I can post pictures and get constructive criticism on them? The few ladies I've done photo's for, say they love the pictures but I want to make sure they not blowing smoke up my ass! Plus I know I could use the pointers!

[john_deere]

Originally Posted by BDS

Do you guys know where I can post pictures and get constructive criticism on them? The few ladies I've done photo's for, say they love the pictures but I want to make sure they not blowing smoke up my ass! Plus I know I could use the pointers!

there are lots of photo forums out there, but lots don't allow "porn". a good one that does and is also a pretty high level photo board is fredmiranda.com. however, the fred is like all boards in that you'll get 95% "nice capture!!" and 5% actual instruction.

personally, i'd like to see a photo critique thread on eccie, but most people can't take the butthurt of having someone tell them straight up that their work sucks.

[Guest030617]

Originally Posted by john_deere

there are lots of photo forums out there, but lots don't allow "porn". a good one that does and is also a pretty high level photo board is fredmiranda.com. however, the fred is like all boards in that you'll get 95% "nice capture!!" and 5% actual instruction.

personally, i'd like to see a photo critique thread on eccie, but most people can't take the butthurt of having someone tell them straight up that their work sucks.

Yea I'm noticing that they don't allow them, I'm a member of 2 boards already...that's why I asked, kinda knew there was a hidden board I didn't know about...Thanks!

I could be a test dummy on that critique thread idea...ijs! It's been a while since I've been butthurt over something! I KNOW I NEED HELP, just don't know how much! The photography classes I'm taking have made such an improvement on my photo's that I kinda thought that a good honest critique would also add to helping me improve my skills!

[DDBD Photography]

Fredmiranda is a good place for critique. There is also photocamel, pixtus (formerly texasphotoforum), and there is one for canon but I am not on my main pc and can't remember the name.

I agree that for those seriously interested in learning we should do a critique thread. As long as the thread stays on topic I don't think it would be problematic.