Today’s Post by Blue Moon Staff
I made my career off posing in swimsuits and doing all the swimsuit issues and posters, but I will tell you that that little bit of material on an itsy-bitsy bikini – taking that off was very nerve-racking the first time. —Cindy Margolis
The number one concern that some of aspiring models have about their first intimate portrait session is not about their appearance but that they don’t know how to pose. After all, this may be their first portrait session since their wedding photos or maybe their high school yearbook picture…and they’re going to be wearing a lot less clothing, maybe nothing, during this session. Here’s the good news: You don’t have to worry about—we’ll take care of the posing.
The choice on an in-home session or on-location session is up to you and both offer opportunities for different kinds of posing options. And it doesn’t matter how large or small your home or the location that you choose may be because we can make it work, even for an intimate portrait like the one at left, that was shot on location in the home of the client’s friend.
The real secret—if there is any— is for you to relax or as least try to relax. To help relax, you may be tempted to use an alcoholic beverage but here’s some advice based on many year’s experience: Don’t do it. Our experience shows that you will automatically relax as the session goes along. That’s why, if you’re concerned, we’ll do series of warm-up exercises/photos so that by the time we’re finished the session, you’ll be relaxed and your portraits will show it.
How I Made this Shot: Shooting available light portraits under low and mixed lighting conditions can be a challenge too. This featured image is a portrait of Amelia, a student chef at Johnson & Wales University, who was referred to me by another model; referrals are a key part of a traditional portrait business getting referrals from models who you worked with before is one of the best, especially in these post-COVID time when the modeling business, like almost everything, has been badly scrambled.
This portrait was shot in the dining room of my former home with most of the light coming from a window in the door she’s standing next to. The camera used was Canon EOS 50D with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens. Exposure was 1/200 sec at f/2.8 and ISO 200 with a plus one-thirds stop of exposure compensation.
