Booking and Working With Models

Here are my tips for booking models and working with them in a shoot:

1. Be polite and professional in all communication
2. Be clear about what level you plan to work to (lingerie/implied nude, nude)
3. Agree a price and duration. Models will usually have an hourly, day or 1/2 day rate plus travel expenses.
4. Agree the location.
5. Agree to a chaperone. If you are shooting at home or working with a model for the first time, her safety is paramount. I go one step further and invite a chaperone!
6. Once the shoot is agreed, exchange telephone numbers (including mobiles). Communication is a key element in building trust.

With these elements in place you have a tacit contract between you and move on to the next step: the shoot itself!

1. Be polite and professional again(!)
2. Provide the model with somewhere private to change and fix her make up
3. Try to have a clear idea of what shots you want to achieve, and in what order.
4. If shooting a mixture of lingerie and nudes, lingerie can leave marks on the skin so shooting nudes first may help.
5. Try using pictures or sketches to help explain what you want to the model
6. Give clear direction and encouragement. It is very easy to get lost in the technicalities of the shot and forget to compliment the model. Before you know it, energy levels drop and the shoot can spiral downhill!
7. Look but don't touch. As a rule, I do not touch the model at all during a shoot. Occassionally you may need to move stray hairs for her if she is holding a pose - in these cases ask first. It is a simple sign of respect.

Posing The Model

This is an enormous topic in itself, which I cannot do justice to here. If you have hired an experienced model you can just ask them to run through a series of poses as you snap away. When you see something that particularly catches your eye, ask them to hold it and perhaps try different minor variations - such as the angle of the head, where they have their hands or where they are looking. The more time you spend with the model the more you will see which angles, expressions and poses look best.

If you have the opportunity to join a group shoot then this is an excellent way of learning how to direct the model. You will also find that sharing the models time with other photographers gives you more time to think; typically you shoot for 5 minutes or so and hand over to the next photographer. At which time you can review your shots to see what is working well and think through what you will do in your next 5 minute slot.

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