Photography

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A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.

This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.

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Best resources to learn to photograph women as a GWC? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by MojoMinistry@alien.top to c/photography@viewfinder.pro

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One of my buddies is a club promoter who has girls wear merch for his company and takes pretty mid photos with his phone.

I think I could do a better job with my camera and selfie ring lights, told him so, and he said to roll with him on Wednesday.

Where can I learn how photographing women works? I feel like there is an etiquette I don't know and the special only trick I know is shooting from below the waistline - which I learned from a Brazilian dude.

Like, I just straight-up tell my girlfriend "stick your butt out" or "do a sexy pose", but I feel like that's probably unprofessional cause I would never imagine my anime cosplay photographer buddy doing that.

The only photographer commands I know are:"Turn your chin [direction]"and "Turn your hip towards me"

I was given, "Turn your hip towards me", by a dude I know who throws photoshoots to replace what I normally tell my girlfriend. He made it sound like it's the only move I need and explained that the models know more about posing than I do.

I also watched a YouTube video from a portrait lady, and she said you can tell people to, "sit comfortably". I don't know if that's good for what we're doing, though.

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[–] RedditNomad7@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So. Much. Wrong.

No real model likes working with a GWC. They may do it because they have to, but I promise you they hate it and make fun of you behind your back.

Nobody is going to tell you how to shoot models. You have to learn from someone, even if it’s from watching a video. Giving them basic commands like they’re trained dogs just pisses them off and tells them you have no clue what you’re doing. Don’t. Do. It.

Find someone who shoots models regularly. Work with them and learn what you’re doing. And always, always, ALWAYS treat the models like people.

Source: Shot models for fashion magazines, artwork, ads and more for years. Have many model friends. Have been dating a model for years. Most GWCs just creep them the fuck out. If you really want to do it, learn to do it right. You will have a much better experience, and so will they.

[–] P5_Tempname19@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

A small addition for anyone else starting out/worrying about being a GWC:
If finding someone already experienced to follow around is not an option, it can be helpful to atleast have your first models be someone you already know/are friends with.

It will help you with the "seeing models as people part" (and yes that sadly is a problem for some "photographers"), it will sensitize you to the models feelings and your impact on them as a photographer and it will also help you see the whole thing as a cooperation between people and not you posing your "puppet" to your own likings and exact specifications. Just keep in mind that between friends the comfort levels will obviously be different then when shooting with a stranger/new model, so adjust for that when making the switch.

Being friends with models has offered me a lot of interesting perspectives on my work and also taught me a lot of things. (Although please dont use shoots as an attempt to get close to people that arent interested)