From My Portfolio

J'ere at ease, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

The meet-up held with members of the Mile High Digital Photography School social group last month was a goldmine for fashion portraits for me! The models were versatile and fun to work with. And I'm finally starting to feel more confident about using strobes and blending flash with ambient light.

This shot of Model J'ere Hicks is one of my favorites from the day, as well as a signature candid portrait. I think J'ere is looking and smiling at his girlfriend, Model Pinay Bella. He is natural and at ease in this shot.

One of the things I realized during this meet up is how few male portraits I have in my port. Not only do I not have enough, but I had a hard time posing the male models as well. I kept making the mistake of accidently putting them in classic feminine poses. So I asked J'ere to help me learn how to pose men. I let him take the lead and paid attention to how he sat, what he did with his legs and his hands and how he positioned his body.

In an article with ePHOTOzine, portrait photographer Michael Alan Bielat, offered these tips for posing men:

1) pose (men) with arms crossed or standing shoulder length, with thungs in their pocket.
2) have (men) squat down, knees bent, arms resting on the knees and shoot down on them
3) although he avoids this particular angle, Bielat says he can get away with "shooting up at a man....to make them look powerful"

I found these suggestions on campusmen.com regarding how male photographers make male models look good:

1) emphasize a models assests (such as toned abs, chest and buttocks) while avoiding problem areas such as scars, birthmarks or pimples
2) when stressing muscular poses, make sure the model's body does not appear distorted or twisted unnaturally.

STN Photography offered these tips for positioning males:

1) male hands should be closed while females shoudl be more open
2) make men a little taller than women
3) tilt the top of a the male's head toward the far shoulder
4) pose men to the right of the frame and women to the left

I think I got some good shots, but I want to work with more males so I can learn how to shoot them in ways that flatter their nature. Plus, the space available at North Denver Photography Studios was plentiful so we could all branch out and have several shooting stations going at once. So if you are looking for a place to shoot, I would definitely suggest it. The studio has expanded.