Excelling in your photoshoot is essential to your position and career as a model. In the modeling world, 90% of new models fail. Why is the failure rate for new models so high? Quite simply, they do not impress the photographer, the customer, and most importantly the consumer. Modeling is a sales market. If it’s a catalog listing, you’re selling the clothes, shoes, and accessories. If it’s a men’s magazine, you’re selling sexiness and class. If you’re shooting for a women’s magazine, you’re selling class, style, grace, and whatever product the ad brings; whether that be make-up, perfume, or cleaning products. If you cannot excite the customer and the photographer, you will certainly not excite and entice the consumer to want what you sell as a model.
The most important element when posing for a photoshoot is mastering the emotion of beauty. Emotion is what binds us together as a people, it unites us. You want to be able to convey emotion through your body, through the camera, and to the consumer. To achieve this, you have to practice all kinds of different emotions in the mirror; sensual, glamorous, mysterious, sophistication, self-confidence, shyness, happiness. Remember you want them to feel what you feel. Move your face sideways, tilted up, tilted down, sideways and down, and sideways and titled up. Watch your face, your eyes, your lips, your chin, and your neck.
Look straight ahead in the mirror at yourself and put the emotion of confidence on your face. If you think you look confident, tilt your head up a little. Do you see how the emotion changes, even though you have the same facial expression as before? Now tilt your head slightly down and to the right, maintaining the same expression. You will reach a different emotion. This is the area where new models fail. They don’t know the emotions, don’t know how to achieve them, and don’t know how to translate that into a photo. That said, during a photo shoot, you don’t want to keep the same look on your face, change your mood! This gives the customer a variety of great options to choose from.
Your eyes are a great translator of emotion in photo shoots. You have to perfect the art of emotion using only your eyes. To help practice using your eyes, tie a bandana or scarf around your head, covering your nose and mouth so that only your eyes are visible. Now try to show emotion again. Intensify your eyes, smile with your eyes, smile with your eyes and sparkle with them. This is another area where new models fail, they can’t control their eyes. They smile and grin in their photo, but the emotion doesn’t reach their eyes.
If you are unable to make your shoot a success, the client will demand a reshoot. A reshoot is something every customer loathes and wants to avoid. A reshoot just doubled their production costs, and you can bet they’ll pick another model that can deliver. To avoid this situation, set yourself above your competition by having a high conversion rate on your photoshoots. You want to fascinate, be different and be unexpected. This translates into more jobs and gives you a better reputation as a model.
Besides practicing all your emotions, angles and body language in the mirror, another great tip to prepare for a shoot is to look in a magazine or catalog. For a bikini shoot, Sports Illustrated is the best magazine to grab, and a Victoria’s Secret Swimsuit Edition catalog is perfect. As you scroll through the pages, pay attention to the movement of the model. Look at the emotion in their faces and their body language. Imagine in your mind how the photoshoot could have happened. What pose was for this one? What pose came next? See how you could have handled the pose differently and made it unique? If you see a pose you like, try to mimic it. But you want to remain fascinating, so try to make it your own. Make it better!
Before starting your photoshoot, research your photographer. See what works he/she has done in the past. Who have they collaborated with? Which photos do you like best? Which model did you like best? You should also grab a book on photography. Know what cameras are used, what lighting effects are used, how many people are needed to perform a successful shoot. As a model you want to be unexpected; most models don’t know the ins and outs of the industry. They don’t know their photographer’s past work, the right equipment, the steps required for a photoshoot, the hiring process, and the countless designers.
You will impress your photographer if you know what they have done and what they are capable of. Everyone loves to get compliments, and this will set you apart from the other models. You are now the model who knows what the photographer has done, complimented him on a specific photo and knows about photography. Try not to give a false compliment, the photographer will know if you’re just sucking or being sincere. Know what you’re talking about when you give your opinion! Always remember to be friendly and courteous, everyone likes to work with a nice and polite model!
When preparing for a photoshoot, the mirror is your best friend. You can’t stand in front of the mirror for an hour and decide that you are ready for your photoshoot. You can only achieve this with practice! It may seem tedious and repetitive, but it gives you explosive results. You have to know every corner of your face and your body. Know which emotions you can control. When it comes to emotion, everyone is connected to it, so you have to master the emotion of beauty. In this profession, ability + skill + preparation = success.
Brian Cannone started promoting fitness with enthusiasm and a genuine love for the sport. His approach and feelings about bodybuilding is that it is not just a sport but more of a way of motivating yourself and others to achieve results of losing body fat and gaining lean muscle along with improving overall health. By participating in natural bodybuilding you are challenging yourself to be in your best possible shape of your life. In fact, he believes it’s more about the results you achieve than the trophy you get to take home. With fitness results in mind, Brian trained almost every participant who took part in the Milford County and Mr. and Mrs. Connecticut events, most of these new bodybuilders were first competing and they were blown away by their achievements.
