I got a question in my in-box the other day:

I'm looking to get into photographing people as models, but the sites I've joined (3 of them) that allow models and photographers to contact each other and arrange shoots (1 is model mayhem and the other 2 are similar to it) but nobody seems to be willing to be my model. It almost seems as if I need experience for them to be willing to model for me, but I have no experience doing so.

With his permission, I'm making my answer to him public:

It's the old "your portfolio is not good, I only want to shoot with photographers that are impressive" catch-22 situation!!! Everyone who works with human subjects has been there at some time or another.

There are a couple of ways of getting around this, and the biggest impediment (if any) is going to be whether your ego can take it or not. It's almost certainly going to take some cash or some serious chutzpah. My friend Olaf is amazing at talking people into posing for him because he has a British accent that acts as a +5 tonic of modelling. Or, you could be a wickedly handsome devil like Mehmet Turgut - unless you're special like those guys, your best tool, hands down, is honesty.

What you need is an experienced model who is not afraid to shoot with a beginner. Some of the models I've worked with know a fair bit about lighting and pretty much know how to pose themselves and do their own "look" - when you're working with someone like that you can give them a broad idea and let them take it from there. Just for example, with my "deconstruction" series, I usually give the model the costume I want her to destroy and let her spend a bit of time thinking about it while she works on her make-up and changes into it. See? Now, if the model is creative and experienced, all I have to do is set the lights up, calculate my exposure, and worry about my composition!! It's not cheating if you explain to the model what's going on, and that you're looking for her to carry that part of the load.

A model like that is expensive! ($400-$500 for a 4-5 hour shoot is typical) but if you can arrange things so that all you need to worry about is a bare minimum of things, then you're a lot better off as a beginner. What you need to do is consciously decide what you want to invest your time in. You can't be good at everything right away, so keep the number of variables to a minimum and there are less places for things to go wrong.

Really popular or widely-known models get upset at the idea of having bad pictures of them in someone's portfolio. As one of my model friends says "I am my product" - and she's worried that nothing makes her product look bad. So what you might do is offer the model a modified version of a release that says that you'll only post images from your shoot if she agrees that they are OK to post. When I was a beginner, I used that approach and it worked great - I shot a couple very experienced girls under terms were that none of the pictures would ever be used - and some the models gave me feedback about them. It was a bit ego-deflating, but I'd rather get my criticism in private from a partner who is just as interested in good results as I am. (And, honestly, being a guy, I'm going to be more inclined to listen if my work is being gently dissected by a pretty girl)

What I'd do, then, is approach some experienced models and tell them that you're a beginner but you want to shoot with someone experienced because you don't (yet) know how to direct posing and want to just have to worry about your lighting and exposure and composition -- and you need her experience to take care of "the girl stuff". You could also just lay it out in a casting call - say how much you're willing to pay and be clear about what you're trying to accomplish. There's no shame in it, everyone was a beginner once and the kind of models you want to work with are the ones who'll respect your clarity and honesty.

Typically, the way beginners start hooking up models is by going to one of those "photo gang bang" group shoots. The resulting photos from those are almost always unbelievably bad because of the lack of control over the situation, and the lack of mental clarity that results from having 15 people with different agendas all in the same space at once. I don't recommend it, really. For what you wind up spending to do a group shoot you may as well hire an expert for an afternoon and not have all the extra distractions.

The important point in all of this is to remove as many things as possible from your list of things to worry about
- If you're not at a group shoot you don't have to worry about other photographers, time, or crowds.
- If you're clear to the model that you're not going to use any of the shots without her permission first you don't have to worry (as much) about her not wanting beginner-quality pictures of her out there.
- If you're working with a very experienced model, you're not going to have to worry about her make-up or directing her into poses.
All that's left is worrying about your lights, composition, and exposure. You can learn how to set up lights from any number of places on the web (including my gallery). So that leaves composition and exposure.

I'm not going to name names, because I'd have to go on for a half a page, but most of the models that you see in my gallery are experienced to the point where I can tell them a broad idea, give them an outfit (if costumes are involved) and worry about my lights and camera while they go do Girl Magic. When they're ready to go, they do more Girl Magic while I sit there on a milk crate with my camera and a beer and fine-tune things a little bit - otherwise I just sit, push the button on the camera, and let them make me look much more talented than I am. I'd guess that half of my better images were the model's idea more than mine. Maybe more than half. (Shhh!) You can tell from looking at them, most of the girls I work with have studied enough photos of themselves to know how they look best, and they probably have a better idea how to pose themselves than you ever will, anyway.* Hire a model like that and let them make you look good.

So, to summarize:
- Don't be afraid to ask for help!
- It's OK to be vague about your ideas if you're working with experienced models and they understand why you're being vague
- Make sure your model is comfortable that you won't embarrass them by publishing bad pictures of him/her
- Minimize the number of things you need to worry about simultaneously

Have fun,
mjr.

(* I've had one memorable exception to this: one model I work with used to like to try to hide her backside from the camera because she thought it was maybe a bit big. I thought it was maybe a bit glorious and got her to do some poses that showed it off. I was, of course, right.)