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StanMcKenzie · Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Canada

So I visited that Net-Models website that was mentioned by StuartE in the $200 / month forum and was amazed to see just how bad alot of these "models" portfolio photos really are. Now I'm not a great photographer but I'm pretty sure I could do better than that!

Does anyone have any good tips on how to find local models willing to do "Trade for Photos" work? And what is common practice for this? Should I just be providing prints? How many and what size would be fair do you think? Or maybe just digital files on a CD? What should be done, besides the obvious model release, to protect myself, and even promote myself, as the photographer? Any tips / suggestions would be much appreciated.

jlye · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 229 Location: Singapore

I also looking for tips on this topic ..

StuartE · Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:29 am

Well, for a start, contact any models on there who are in your area - the search is very easy to use - and yes, many of them have really bad photo's - they're not imaging experts, they don't know how to resize, and often it's the boyfriend/relatives telling them they could be a model - many of them have no modelling skill either - it's up to you to direct them...

Show them the quality of work you do - take a look at my portfolio there - stuarte.net-model.com - the shots don't have to be perfect glamour shots, just good clean images... look for people who are already willing to do shoots for photo's, before you try your skills on 'models' who are negotiable - they expect better work... :-)

Always act professional - one bad experience and your name will be mud on all the model sites... :-)

Get them to sign a model release before you start the shoot - make it clear what they will get for their time - how many shots, a cd, prints, etc... give them full size images, and good quality resized images for posting - help them look good and they'll help you look good...

Cheers,
Stuart

StanMcKenzie · Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Canada

Great portfolio Stuart,

Unfortunately for me there is nobody on that site in my area... But I suppose a paper ad. or flyers on community boards might work? I only have 1 or 2 relevant photos in my portfolio - how do you get started and build such a portfolio? I suppose actually being really good in other areas may help :-)

You are always so quick to help out Stuart, much appreciated...

Can I ask what you personally offer in terms of photographic compensation?

StanMcKenzie · Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Canada

OK, guess not ;-)

StuartE · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:49 pm

Hi Stan,

Sorry, I missed a heap of posts when I dropped in and didn't get to view/reply to them all, and they all end up marked as read now each time you visit...

There are other sites for models to list on, too - net-model.com works for me because they have Australian Models - but I know another friend found a site that had 35 in his area, and net-model only had 4, so it's worth shopping around...

Ad's anywhere can work - I've found models looking for more for their portfolio at the cafe next door to a talent agency here in the city - word of mouth between them helped pay for my 10D... :-)

If there is a camera club in your area, shots at them can help build your portfolio up - but so can shooting family and friends - you don't need model perfect features in all your shots - just the ability to show your skill - offer to do a 'free' shoot at an old folks home, so they can get prints to give their families - near Christmas is a no brainer for that one, btw... find a club or organisation locally and offer to shoot them all for their 'membership' files - give them a CD rather than prints... there are any number of ways to build up a portfolio to give yourself credentials...

Photographic compensation - for a model doing TFP with me, they'll get a selection of the best shots, which I'd use myself, as 6X4's, or a CD of the whole shoot... with a CD, I'd prep a few shots, usually those I want to use anyway, and give them those too, so they can see the difference editing makes... lately I've given proofs as A4 colour laser prints - people are happy with them, and under plastic in a portfolio they're up there with inkjet prints... I have joined with 4 other guys in a two hour figure shoot for $25 a head, and we all got good images out of that, and some experience on how others work - and in club shoots, we usually all chip in $2 plus some prints to cover the models travel expenses, and to give them something in return...

Cheers,
Stuart

fncdigital · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:58 pm

www.onemodelplace.com is a great place to start...

I started by putting up flyers at the college......but now i get all my models I go after from the site above. If itr isnt from that site its through word of mouth and they contact me.

I offer cd only and make sure they know what I want before the shoot happens and get a release.

Simply ask...worse thing that will happen is they'll say no.

;)

D

StuartE · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:05 pm

Thanks Dewayne, a good lead is always appreciated... :-)

Cheers,
Stuart

StanMcKenzie · Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Canada

Perfect! Thanks alot guys - for the very helpful ideas & suggestions. It is great to be able to tap into the experiences / expertise of others on these forums... I have found these last two posts most helpfull...

BTW - congrats on the promotion fnc ;-)

Thanks again to both of you.

canonguy · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 45

This is a great thread. Thanks guys for all the tips.

JTeffects · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 294

I am both photographer and model. I have arranged TFCD as well as paid shoots through the internet for some time now (on both sides).

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To find models:

You can sign up and search from many online modeling sites:
The largest and most well known is www.onemodelplace.com it costs $10 to join as a photographer. There are a LOT of models on there, mostly from the states, but a lot of them dont seem to be too serious.
My favorite is www.musecube.com they just went from having free accounts to chargeing a min of $36 a year. Thats not bad when you think about it, especilly since the models seem to be more resposive and the forums are also quite nice. (similar to these forums, but more models and less stock)
There is also www.net-model.com as previously mentioned, might pick up now with mc being pay. But there is too wide a variety of models (as in location) and personally I dont like the way the portfolios are set up.
www.premiermodels.com is ok, I like the portfolio set up, but the forums suck, they have little activity, and you have to be a certain leval to post in a lot of them. They are also one of those "oh we dont like what you say" *poof* type places.....
Others:
http://www.modelingpage.com/index.html
http://freelancemodels.com/
http://www.glamourmodels.com/

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TFP vs TFCD

TFP is old. Back in the day photographers shot film, there wernt as many pics and it was expensive to provide a copy of each image to the model, so the model would get 2-5 8X10s for thier book. Now with digital becoming standard (even for photogs that shoot with film) TFCD is waaaayyy more common. I have done lots of shoots, and only once did a photog give me prints, and those came along with the CD.
As a photog my standard TFCD release includes:
Raw images of the shoot on CD. (sometimes I ask if they want these or not, they are useuful if the model is trying something new and wants to see how it turned out)
Some touched up/edited images ready for print, on CD.
Permission to print images from CD for portfolio.
Permission to edit/crop/manipulate images when used for own self-promotion

Once as a model I recived a disk of images that were only 500pixles across or so. What use are these to me if I need to print them for a tangible book? (this was a full day shoot btw, if it had been a paid shoot I should have made a min of $600)

Some photogs dont give raw images, only thier best work is sent out. Some dont like the idea of the model croping thier work. That is fine too but make sure the model knows this before the shoot, and the images you give her should still be a decent resolution.

------------------

as the photographer you own the copyright. Most online modeling sites let you link to the photogs/models port on the site. If the model choses to put your pics in her port then she should credit and link to you (if you are on that site as well). This will let other models and phtographers see who shot the image and promote you.

I always include a .txt on the cd with my online ports and how to link to them, as well as a reminder that the images are all copyrighted by me. Even on the cd face I put a big COPYRIGHT JTEFFECTS 2005. Some photogs put the copyright right on the images, but that can get annoying, and its not good for a printed book.

StanMcKenzie · Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Canada

Wow JT, what a great response! Thank you so much for the info, exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping to learn from this topic :-)

500 PIXELS ??? Yikes, that sucks! But hey, on the up side you could post one on this forum and not have to resize ;-). It's great to hear from an actual model on this topic - thank you so much for your post.

Now I just need to hone my skills some more on friends / family and work up the courage to actually ask a REAL model to work with me ;-)

JTeffects · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 294

Glad I could help.

Strangely enough my photography and my modeling developed compleatly sepratly, they only started to come together about a year ago.

some of my models:
my friend Alicia
a friend from high school who is now an actor
Krissy, a model I met by advertising on MC
Krissy's sister Paige
my hand
my eye
my cat Cailin
my sisters friends ferret Casper
the refrigerator repair guy (my sister just happened to have a broken fridge when I was over)

if you have any more questions about models and such just ask.....

dkmcdonald · Joined: 27 Dec 2004 Posts: 32 Location: colorado

Excellent thread; thanks so much for sharing the information.

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

You can find lots of models on craigslist

http://www.craigslist.org

I used to find mine there! (models in the first 30,000 photos on this site)