This was my first shoot with Rhian, so we hired a hotel room for the occasion. She’s one of the country’s top glamour models for a reason, she genuinely looks fabulous with or without make-up, & needs very little retouching. She is naturally that slim, despite eating like a very hungry horse.
The photos were all shot with window light with an occasional reflector.
Shot on location in Lancaster Gate, London. Hair & Make-up by Natasha Daniel
This is one of my favourite locations for a shoot, in fact I liked it so much I bought the same chaise longue for my own place. It was actually a friend’s apartment, sadly she’s moved now so I only got to use it a couple of times, but the quality of natural light there was something I’ve rarely seen since. There were a couple of cats that kept wandering into shot (they weren’t happy about being moved from their natural place on the chaise, so took revenge by appearing randomly whenever I got everything else just right) but apart from that it was pretty much perfect.
All these were shot with natural light, with the help of an occasional reflector.
Shot on location in Baron’s Court, London. Hair & Make-up by Natasha Daniel
I shoot the vast majority of my work in my home/studio, so it’s always nice to get out & about to well, pretty much anywhere different. This week I went to the most amazing place ever for a shoot, Film & Medical Services. They hire out medical equipment for film & TV productions, but parts of their enormous warehouse are set up as period hospitals, operating theatres, & even an autopsy room. I had some spare time to wander around the place, & here are a few iPhone shots I took there. Be warned, some are a bit gruesome.
Shot on location in London
As most of my published work has been with natural light, I’m still very much learning when it comes to studio lighting. I’m pretty happy with where I am for beauty, art nude & basic fashion lighting, and I’ve had plenty of work published that was flash lit, but until I can look at any photo in a magazine & tell straightaway how it was lit, it’s important for me to keep practising & learning.
As I’m a sharing kind of guy, I thought it might be fun to write about my experiences along the way. I’m not claiming to be right or wrong, or trying to teach, as this is new to me, just telling you what I did & showing you the results.
I can’t tell you how important it is to start shoots with a clear plan of what you hope to achieve. It’s hard to be creative when you’re halfway through a shoot, maybe tired, maybe distracted by other people in the room, so having a clear focus in advance helps filter all that out. It doesn’t have to be complicated, & you don’t have to stick to it, it’s just there if you need it.
For my shoot with Vicki I decided to start with some natural light shots to warm up, & also to get some good shots in the bag. If you can show a model early on that you can take great pictures of her, she’s much more likely to relax and commit fully to things you suggest later on, and also be patient while you’re fiddling around with a lighting setup you hadn’t tried before. We also decided to shoot something for my Glitterboobs project & finish by experimenting with gels, which I’d never tried, despite having them for a couple of years.
Vicki was great to shoot, she has piercing eyes, a really long neck & striking red hair, plus she makes some great shapes.
So, for the gel shots I wanted to change the colour of the room but leave Vicki at least a little bit natural, especially that fabulous red hair. I used a blue gel (you may have worked this out all by yourself) & barn doors to light the room, & a snoot to create the spotlight on Vicki. I really like the effect, & I’ve already tried it in other parts of the house.
Oh & the lighting diagram was drawn with an iPhone app that Vicki introduced me to called Strobox. Thanks Vicki! 
The natural shot is just using window light. I sometimes use a reflector, but I prefer the light without it where possible.
The black & white shot has a gridded soft box on either side, & a snoot behind bouncing off the glitterball just next to her boobs.
Model: Vicki Blatchley
Blog: http://www.vickiblatchley.blogspot.co.uk/
Location: My studio in London E1
Matt
x
I met Adreena socially & decided she had an interesting quality I wanted to shoot; it’s always good to see models in real life, seeing how they move & what’s going on behind the eyes isn’t always something I can pick up from a portfolio. Sadly interviewing everyone before I shoot them is a tad unpractical, so I’ll have to continue forcing myself to go out occasionally, just for research
These shots are quite fetish-orientated, I think it’s important to try different genres of photography & push yourself creatively; it’s easy to default to what you know already, but you don’t grow as a photographer that way.
Model: Adreena Winters
My photography kit isn’t huge, as I firmly believe that it’s not what you’ve got, it’s where you point it It’s easy to feel that you’d be that much better a photographer if only you had one more piece of kit, but if you can’t get great pictures with what you’ve got, upgrading won’t help. I’d recommend starting with little or nothing, & mastering each new piece before buying anything else. Believe me, it never ends once you do start spending, no matter how expensive & shiny your kit is, there’ll always be *something* else you have your eye on.
I’ve always been a Canon boy, so the 5DMkII is the body of choice. I doubt I’ll see a reason to upgrade till someone lets me have a play with a Mark III & I suddenly decide I can’t live without it.
50mm f1.4 Most of my work is shot with natural light indoors, so I need a lens that will let in a lot of light. With the 50mm 1.2L costing £1700, this does me just fine, & I find the pictures as sharp as with an L series lens. If you’re on a tight budget, the 50mm f1.8 at under £90 is a must-have. The next thing I buy will be an 85mm prime.
Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM This is what I use for my studio work, & anything out doors where a flash is needed. I have a fairly small studio, so it’s never been worth splashing out for a 200m lens, but it’ll happen at some point.
That’s really it. I own other lenses, but I haven’t put them on the camera for years.
I have two lighting kits, 2 Bowens 500W & 3 Lumen 400s. As all my published work until a year ago was natural light, I’ve only recently started spending more time in the studio, & as yet haven’t felt the need for anything more powerful. It’s amazing how quickly you can find a use for five different lights in one shot though!
I’ve never managed to get a decent quality of light from an umbrella, so gridded softboxes & a beauty dish cover most of my needs. When there’s enough space for it, I have a 6-foot soft box which gives fantastic light, but does tend to take up most of any room you put it in. I also have a couple of ring flash attachments, one which goes over my speed light, which is great for portability & a steal at £150.
I changed to Apple three years ago & would strongly recommend you do the same. For any practical purposes except gaming, macs far outshine pcs, & they’re just so much easier to use. I currently work on a 27″ iMac, with a 17″ Macbook Pro for location shoots. If you don’t have a graphics tablet (mine’s a Wacome Intuos 3), put that at the top go your shopping list, it’ll make retouching incomparably easier. There’s no need for a huge one, in fact anything over A4 would be too much.
Matt x
This is from a few years ago when Lauren was a full-time model, before TV whisked her away to Essex, & her DJ work whisked her all over the world. I think she was the first model to turn DJ, & it seemed like a bit of a gimmick at the time, but fair play to her, she’s made a career out of it & they wouldn’t keep asking her back if she wasn’t keeping the dance floor full.
The shoot was at a nightclub in Leicester Square & was lit with a combination of ring flash (for the stairs & wallpaper shots) & natural light (on the sofa & in front of the window).
There’s also a flyer in there from a night I hosted in the West End with Lauren DJing (& Kellie Acreman). That feels like a lifetime ago now, before I’d moved back to London. It’s been a long while since I’ve been clubbing in the West End!
Hair & Make-up by Natasha Daniel
This was a pilot for a TV show, I forget what, they just wanted someone to take a few behind the scenes shots. It was a shame not to pose anybody in such a great setting, but you get some great natural shots this way.
It’s quite tricky shooting on a boat as the light’s really harsh, I used flash to allow the backgrounds not to bleach out.
The girls & crew were all great fun to work with, & we had a mojito-fuelled night out at the end of the shoot. They were only about 3 euros in the hotel, it’d have been rude not to! And I got to drive a helicopter! (not after the mojitos though
Shot in Gran Canaria around Anfi del Mar with Claire Leatherbarrow, Porchia Watson, Hannah Shetler, Melissa Ambrosini, Saoirse Cassidy & Rachel Ritfeld.
This Fashion TV shoot was notable largely for providing the only video of me on youtube (I *think*!) It was fun shooting somewhere different, & the old planes were pretty spectacular, though finding a decent backdrop with blue sky & no building works proved tricky.
Model: Lara Accison
Hair & Make-Up: Natasha Daniel
Styling: La Belle Neri
Most photographers are lovely. We will welcome you into our place of shooting, make you cups of tea & send you on your way feeling fabulous about yourself. However, there are inevitably one or two guys with cameras out there who may not have the best intentions, so just because someone is offering you free pictures, or even paying you, don’t forget to follow basic safety rules.
1) Check someone out before shooting. Google them & get a reference from someone they’ve shot. It only takes five minutes.
2) Always let someone know where you are. Let the photographer know you have to check in from time to time.
3) Be very wary of offers that seem too good to be true. If you’re stopped in the street & offered a free shoot, check the small print; often the shoot is free but you have to pay for any photos you want from it.
4) No good agency charges models to join. Ever.
5) Agree before the shoot what level you’re comfortable shooting to. Don’t be shy about saying no very firmly if someone tries to push you beyond your limits.
6) If you feel uncomfortable, say so. Some photographers are better at communicating than others, & a quick explanation can help enormously.
7) Model Releases. If a photographer is paying you for a shoot, he’ll probably be planning on using the pictures somewhere. With all artistic works, the creator owns copyright, so if you’d like the use of the photos to be restricted, get it in writing beforehand. Agree this before the shoot, don’t just turn up with a list of conditions you hadn’t previously mentioned & expect the photographer to be happy to sign it.
A note about chaperones: It seems an obvious thing to do (to bring one), but the truth is I don’t work well with someone there who’s not part of the shoot. I need to focus on you, & it’s hard-wired into me not to ignore people so they end up distracting both of us. Plus it’s not usual to take someone to work with you. I’d suggest taking the above steps instead, & if you’re really worried, let someone drop you off & meet the photographer at the beginning. I also always have a make-up artist on set. If you really feel so concerned about a particular shoot that you feel like you need a chaperone, maybe you shouldn’t be accepting that shoot.
If all this sounds alarming, don’t worry, most of you will sail through your modelling careers without a hitch, but it’s always better to take precautions.
Matt x
