.

I was recently approached by FOTOGEN Model Agency in Zurich to shoot some tests for their new faces. Tests(?) some of you may ask? A test shooting is basically a model (with or without agency representation) asking you to shoot some material with her in order to build her book. Sometimes photographers get paid to do this, sometimes not… actually, the latter most of the time - which brings me to the point: There’s been a lively discussion about the issue of working for free these last few days… The photographic blog sphere has been talking about little else. It all started with The Strobist (aka David Hobby), suggesting free work can be a good thing in these economically difficult times. Following up was Seattle shooter Chase Jarvis, actually looking for free work! While John Harrington and Vincent Laforet more or less raise their voices against Hobby’s idea, saying it is misleading most readers. (Follow the links to read in detail what they have to say about all of this…)

Personally I’m rather torn on the issue. I have worked many jobs for free (or close to nothing) in order to build my own book, which is David Hobby’s point. The idea is that you get to shoot the stuff you are interested in, but would never get hired to do so due to the lack of such work in your portfolio. Break the viscious cycle if you will… And then in return get paid to shoot the same type of stuff again (paid by some other client, because they see it in your book). Sounds good and well… and yes you can build your book that way and yes you get your name out there. Problem is: At some point you need to find a client who is light headed enough to pay you, when he could have had the job for free, had he knocked a little earlier or simply went to another guy who followed The Strobist’s mantra…

More after the jump…

In general the concept is an industry killer to me. But exceptions may be made. IMO shooting tests, especially with agency involvement is one of them. You get to choose from a usally broad range of professional models, you have absolute creative freedom, you run things by your schedule, you build your portfolio, you get to try out things you haven’t yet AND you are not hurting anyone doing so. In most cases these tests will be done for mutual usage rights (except any commercial use!) Most importantly there is no semi virtual (and supposedly paid) follow up job. Model agencies simply don’t have the next gig to assign you to. That way potential clients don’t get used to the idea that high class photography is free!

Another huge benefit is that you get to know very talented models you may recruit for your next personal project, without any tiring casting procedures.

But enough of the political stuff for now, let’s look at the test shoot I was talking about:

I chose two of the suggested models, Rekha (the top image) and Alexandra (right above) to shoot the same day. Originally we had planned to work in a loft downtown, which got cancelled last minute. So what do you do when your location falls through? You go to the best back up location there is (at least for me): The forest! I regularly stroll through the woods, as I find it very inspiring and I’m constantly on the look out for new spots to shoot at. There’s always a different type of light, different moods, different backgrounds, loads of textures and colors to work with! We were especially lucky with the light on that gorgeos autumn day. Rachel, my make up & hair artist, did the looks on the two girls at my place and we arrived around 3pm, just in time to catch the golden, glittering light through the branches. At this point I was happy that the loft didn’t happen

I had thought up some more or less elabourate lighting setups, but with such beautiful available light I decided to reduce my Elinchrom Ranger strobes to a minimum - just filling in to balance out. I was mostly working with the Canon 70-200 on the long end @ around f/4 and dragging the shutter at 1/90th to catch enough of the available light. My Elinchrom Ranger was running on the lower third of the power range. On the shot above I filled in from the front with a Beauty Dish and gave a slight rim light from the right with a strip light, just out of frame. The rest did the sun…

On the following shot with Rekha I had the sun as a natural light from the left. I had to omit the Beauty Dish from the front as it didn’t play well with her darker skin tones, producing somewhat exaggurated specular highlights. You will usually find that dark skin doesn’t play so well with harder light. Throw up a softbox or diffusion and you’re rolling! Which is what we did here… added a strip light from the right and rolled a few frames on a long lens.

Below is my favourite shot from the day. Alexandra after a change of hair and make up… with blue lips. (Rachel went out on a limb on this one, but I love it!)

We’re back to hard light here. Sun from the back, adding a rim and separation from the background. Filled it all in from the front with a beauty dish. Simple! Add a long lens wide open (200mm @ f/2.8), an inspiringly talented model and a wonderful autumn afternoon: A money shot - for free!!! Myself, the models and the agency have a few killer shots in their book. Everybody happy

---

Posted by nicolas_henri on December 8th, 2008 :: Filed under Artist Technique, Making Of, On Location, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags :: model agency, strobist, work for free
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

---