posing women

I think the two most important things to consider when posing a model, especially a girl, in the photo studio are angle of the body, and position of the head. I have developed some tried-and-true poses and lighting set ups which I like to use, and then branch off of.
I made this video to explain the basics of what I like to do in terms of the two above mentioned elements of posing. If it is not clear, or doesn't answer some questions you have, about modeling or posing a model, please let me know, and I'll try to make a more clear presentation.
Over the next few days I will post some of the studio portraits I've taken to give you some ideas for actual positions, rather than just techniques.

how I often feel

I'm posting this because it shows exactly how I feel right now.


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photojournalism-costumes

I have been working on a photojournalism multimedia presentation for my reporting class. The subject is the making of costumes for the Point Park University Pittsburgh Playhouse productions of Light in the Piazza.
These are some of the photos from the night of dress rehearsal, when all the actors were getting into their costumes. I really enjoyed taking these pictures because theater types are always fun to photography. They see a photographer, and pose, lovin the camera! It makes for fun and easy pictures. Actors are also fun to photograph in the studio, because I don't have to worry about posing them, since they have so much fun modeling.
Due to the lighting situation I had to shoot on a high ISO (meaning the photographs are grainier and less sharp). I am considering converting some of them to black and white, which could make the grain in the pictures look more natural. Do you think it would take away from the message of the images?

portrait editing

In my digital photo editing class we learned how to edit portraits. Since portraiture is my favorite type of photography, I taught myself some basic techniques prior to this lesson, but some of the methods were new to me. While the effects are subtle, they really make a difference in the overall photo.
Here are both the before and after pictures, so you can compare. I blurred her skin slightly, to decrease blemishes and to make it look glowy, and brightened her eyes by lightening some areas, and darkening others. The edits needed on her photos are rather minimal, because her skin was already clear, and there wasn't much to fix overall. But the little things still make it a better photograph.
One of the topics brought up in class was the ethics of editing portraits... Is it moral to remove some zits? How far can you go in making a subject look better/perfect?

look like a model

I am working on putting together a little video on how to pose women models in the photography studio. So I asked one of my sisters if she would mind coming in to sit for me. Of course she didn't mind, and actually loved it. I have photographed her more times than I can count, and we really know how to work with each other now.
After a bit, I didn't feel like directing her anymore, so I just said "act like a model," and she did. These are a few of the resulting images.

photo illustrations

One assignment in my digital photo editing class was to take photos with a theme or concept during class, then next week to bring the images, and edited them into a photo illustration. I took photos of the melting snow, and all the debris left behind in it (you can see some of those photos in earlier posts).
I found that these were really hard to combine. I was feeling goofy, so this is what I came up with. Hopefully it fulfills the assignment!
I have to do another, and am stumped as to what to create. I've looked through my photos from that day, and feel they are better as single images... I'm sure a brilliant photo illustration could be made from them, but I can't figure out what.

funny photo- subject

Sometimes a great subject is all a photo needs.


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podcast

This is a podcast about photography as art... I was sick when I made it, so please excuse the awkwardness of my voice. The students I interviewed, in order, are
Andrew Woehrel, junior English major
Ana Bird, senior global cultural studies major
Chris Dettore, junior sports, art, and entertainment management major
Gabrielle Mazza, junior photojournalism major
The Pensive Oil Painter, sophomore global cultural studies major

podcast sound bite

melting snow-trash

These are a few of the snow debris pictures I took as the Pittsburgh snow melted away. I was editing them in my photography class, and my friend who was at the next computer kept looking over, and saying loudly "eeew, gross!" to each one. I have to agree with her.

spring emerging

It feels like Spring! The snow is melting, showing grass, shrubs, and lots of trash. I went on a photo walk and took lots of pictures of all the debris left by the melting snow. Most of them are disgusting. Here are a few that are nice, and show the changing of seasons.
Tomorrow I'll post some of the grosser ones.

funny photo-kitten

As well as being a completely cute, this photo is well composed. I especially like it because when we had kittens, they would crawl into our shoes like this.


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cemetery slide-show

Here is the slide-show of my freshmen/sophomore cemetery photos as promised.

My photography teacher, Chris Rolinson, once mentioned in class that taking photos of a cemetery was something all college freshmen did, trying to be cool and original... This made me sad, because I had been planning to go photograph a beautiful cemetery near where I live.
So trying to fight the norm, and not make typical freshmen pictures, I didn't take photos of that cemetery as a freshman.
When I was a sophomore, it was fall, and the grave stones looked soooo pretty in the sunset I couldn't resist anymore. I was teased relentlessly by my friend Karen Bullock, and for awhile after that she would ask how my freshman photos had turned out.
Although I took the pictures, I never put them on flickr, or showed them to anyone. As I was sorting some images I came across them, and decided it was time. Here is one of my favorites, and I will put up a full slide-show tomorrow.

incredible detail

I really admire macro photography, or any close-ups that have crazy sharp detail, but have not tried to do it much myself.
During a photo critique in class last week I saw one of these photos, was really impressed, and am inspired to try some myself. I won't have as fantastic a subject, but maybe I'll be able to create some nice, detailed, close-ups.
I'd like to do something different and unusual. What subject would be good for this project?
These photos are by Travis Mitzel

video-photo tips

This is an interesting clip on photography tips, and how to tell a story through a photograph. It pretty good advice, and it is put into a nice format.
It's a little long, but has a nice summery at the end.
Do you find it useful?