Models for your photoshoot; choosing the right photos

Friday 4 September 2020, 14:41 by Frank Doorhof | 5,136 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I am the type of photographer who wants to choose the photos myself. I often pay attention to different things than the model. Sometimes, however, you cannot avoid the client or model wanting to make their own selection. And in some cases, that is normal too.

But how do you make sure they do not choose any really bad photos? For example, ones where you just missed the focus.

Selecting photos in Lightroom Mobile
What I do is immediately delete anything that is not acceptable during the session or shortly afterwards. I then rename all the photos so that their numbers are in the correct ascending order again.

This way, I give my client plenty of options that are all good, and I avoid being asked where 'number 77' has gone.

Work with a contract

I would also always insist that you work with a contract. This can be a very simple A4 sheet with a few key sentences.

For me, one of the most important things to include is absolutely that no one else is allowed to alter my photos. I do that for the model, but not anyone else.

I use the Easy Release app on the iPad, for which I have adapted the text. I also have a text for the workshops, and both are in English and Dutch.

Poor composition

A few years ago, a model asked me to look at her portfolio and tell her what I thought of the photographers. For one photo, I commented that the light was very beautiful, but that the photographer really needed to work on his composition, because it was truly awful.

To my surprise, it was a photo I had taken myself. Huh? Well, the model liked her face so much in that one photo that she had cropped it herself. I do not think I need to explain that her composition skills were not exactly very good.

Since then, that rule has been fairly prominent in the contract.

Working with models is great, but to make everything run smoothly, you need to make a good plan. Discuss the session properly beforehand, so that everyone knows what they need to bring and do.

Then simply follow the steps I have mentioned in these articles. I hope you get something out of them that helps your own session run more smoothly.

Also read the earlier parts:

» Models for your photoshoot; free or TFP?
» Models for your photoshoot; what is your own level?
» Models for your photoshoot; choosing the right photos

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