Shooting

Shooting your own content for your site or resale can be a dream or a nightmare. The better preparation taken can give you more dreams and reduce the nightmares.

When I started shooting porn, in the late Seventies, things were very different. Less competition and fewer places to sell. Today lots of people want to shoot porn and the Internet is an insatiable market for it. Add that to the price and ease of using a digital camera and you have a recipe for some to think that all they have to add is a nude model.

That's the first and biggest mistake most would be shooters make, because if it were that easy the market would be flooded with successful photographers and content suppliers. One look at the blow out deals being offered today shows this is not as easy as it looks.

Preparation isn't everything but it helps. Firstly equipment, a good SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera and lens are essential. The Canon EOS-10Dfor around $1400 or the Nikon D100 at $1800 are both excellent. If you think a $400 pocket camera will do, forget it. A good image can be reduced in quality easier than fixing a bad image. Both these cameras give the user control.

Then studio strobe lights and a light metre. Do not rely on a camera-mounted flash, you want to be in control not the flash. A good light metre will tell you where and how powerful the light is. Assuming you want to learn what effect light has on an image.

Also get some good books on photography, digital or film, they will help getting you started. Read the manuals and books front to back at least twice before you pick up the camera. Then go through everything again with the equipment, try using a chair as a model before moving onto a live one. While learning how to shoot chairs tend to be less hassle, more compliant and cheaper than the real thing.
There are no short cuts or easy routes at this stage, nothing can substitute practise. I have heard the cry that all you are trying to achieve is "Amateur Style" content. Well if you think Amateur is an excuse for rubbish then stop reading and go and shoot it. You are planning to shoot explicit pictures of naked females to make money and unless you offer more than the other 100 guys, who had the same idea this week, read on.

The main problem with "Amateur Style" content is it lacks something to put it apart from next guy offering the same thing. This is why you need to be in control of your equipment and not the equipment in control of you.
Now for the hard stuff, models. With the greatest equipment in the world and years of practise, if the shooter cannot find and control his subject he's in trouble. In a major city finding people to be models is easy, put an ad into your local paper read by the people you want to recruit. Tell them what you want, what you will pay and what they will be doing and for which market, do not think you can get them to turn up to be fashion models and then persuade them to pose nude. Do not rely on them posing for a slice of the profits, they answer ads to earn instant money.

Again practise is what is needed, think about what you are going to say on the phone. Who you are, what you are doing and what's in it for them. Unless you come over as a straight type of person from the beginning never expect anyone to turn up for a casting. Arrange to meet them at a neutral venue; your home is not a good idea until you are more experienced.

Think through what you are going to say, explain as much as possible, be open and honest. When finished ask if they have any questions and answer them honestly, then ask them what kind of work they will be comfortable doing. If they want to do something they're not suitable for or you do not do, say sorry and let them go. Be polite but firm, do not attempt to persuade them. You will just come over as desperate, pushy and even if they say yes they will either not turn up for the shoot or turn up and this puts the model in control.

Meeting more than one potential model for a casting is good, it gives confidence plus the feeling you are not after anything other than to take pictures. First impressions are everything you need models thinking you are a nice guy, winning trust and respect. A clean shaven guy in a laundered shirt and smelling good will get more than a guy with two days growth, torn Tee shirt and smells of body odour. Sounds like common sense? Well speak to girls who have been on a few castings and you'll know why I wrote this.

A good tip to remember is if there are more than two models and one is clearly not what you are looking for, very politely tell her at the beginning that she is welcome to stay and listen but you will not be able to offer her any work. This has the benefit of establishing who is in charge, that you have a set idea of what you need and that you are not just trying to see any girl naked.

This first meeting is also the time for you to sort out who these girls are, be wary of the models who want to run the interview, the girl who looks as if she is terrified and forcing herself to do this for the money, the girl who lets her boyfriend make all the decisions and obviously be wary of drug addicts. Unless you plan to shoot them in a location, you are going to be letting these people into your home.
Even with a very low fresh hold for what is acceptable for a shoot, calculate on working with one in ten that turn up for castings. Some will say no on the casting, some will not be suitable and some will simply not show up for the shoot. Patience is a virtue.

Some think this can be short cut by booking strippers or contacting the local models agent. Both bad ideas. Strippers usually make very bad models especially for someone starting out. They think all men who want to look at them naked are jerks, they are rarely desperate for the money, used to being in control and prone to not show up. Added to the fact that she could have been dancing until 4.00 am and this all goes to make a recipe for disaster.

A models agent can be a good friend or your worse enemy, it depends how you come across. Don't try to con him, he's been in the business longer than you and can spot a phoney. He will probably try to get top dollar for any of his girls and unless you get a really easy model do you want to be shooting one who can spot your every mistake?
So the equipment's ready, model is booked now comes the really hard stuff, the shoot. You need to plan everything down to the last detail. Working on the formula "If it can go wrong it will go wrong it will go wrong" is not enough; include the stuff that can't go wrong as well.

Decide what you are going to shoot, where you are going to shoot it, how you are going to shoot it, what the model will wear, how she will pose, what she will do, plan everything. Leave nothing to chance. I've been shooting 25 years and can do it in my sleep and ad-lib, but I choose not to, I plan. Do the same. Or do you want to run out of ideas in the middle of the session and take pictures of a girl thinking you are a complete loser?

What this girl thinks of you is all-important. Think in two minds, one the mind of the surfer, the other the model. The model is there to earn money and the surfer's guy at his computer instead of being out in the local bar picking up chicks.
So first the girl, she needs to think you are nice, know what you are doing and professional. She is costs money and you want to make as much out of the money as possible. If she gets the impression that you are some loser who does not a have a clue and only doing this to see her naked and she will give you the look a lot of your potential clients get asking a girl in a bar "Can I buy you a drink" Pictures of girls thinking "Get lost you loser, this is one pussy you can't even dream about". What you want are pictures of girls thinking, "Can I buy you a drink". The definition of good porn is not will I fuck her, it's "Will she fuck me"

And there you have it, all the equipment and preparation in the world will not help you produce real porn if you do not have the personality. It will help you shoot a better picture, but that's not porn. If you can't make her look at you as if she is saying yes, forget about making money from the shoot. This is why you need the equipment. Look at it as a 22 year old girl posing in front of a guy who looks awful with $400 worth of equipment and a girl in my studio, with all the professional equipment and me in my designer (expensive) shirt. I can shoot yet I still need her thinking I'm cool and not a loser.

Amateur niche is not the photographer it's the model. You are trying to make her represent the horny housewife, a hot girlfriend or the sexy girl next door, who strips and fucks for fun. Not one of the local girls who is so desperate for money she will show her pussy for $100. Which is closer to the truth.

Pornographers sell the fantasy that something will happen. Photography is about recording it. Remember anyone can shoot a good looking naked girl, few can get her to look like she wanted to be fucked.

Paul Markham
Paul markham Content Store