How To Contact Agencies For Model Testing - A New Tutorial By PRO EDU

September 12, 2019

Elisabeth Wiseman and the PRO EDU team have just launched their latest tutorial, "Model Testing In Fashion Photography." Covering everything from the initial contact with the agency, to the photoshoot(s), and the business fundamentals!

Getting Colorful with J Word & Yev Z

November 14, 2018 in BTS, Capture One, Fashion, Photoshoot, Savage Universal

Starting with the awesome J Word, i’m going to be sharing pretty much all of my shoots over the last few years (and moving forward) on my blog here. The posts, will evolve based on what you want to see and your questions naturally.

This series was put together by my friend Yev Z Photography with Jewaun Word of TNG Models in Las Vegas with styling by Lisa Munns. Yev invited me to come help on the shoot and to create myself, and at the time I had been in a creative funk so welcomed the opportunity to help, shoot, and create something vibrant.

Between Lisa and J Word, and then the goofiness of Yev and Myself, we started doing some pretty crazy experimenting with looks, colors, and expressions getting some pretty incredible images as you can see below!

My only issue when working with Jewaun though….is he’s so freaking tall! Lemme tell you it can give a guy a complex hahaha. I actually…this is no joke…had to stand on an apple box (sometimes 2) to maintain eye level with this man for our shoot! later in the set you can see we talked him into sitting down so Yev and I could get eye to eye with him ;) hahaha. J is actually so much fun to work with. He’s so easy to create with and it’s VERY hard to actually get a bad shot of him!
As you can see we created 5 or 6 looks and got a boatload of images from them.

Here’s a complete list of the gear used:

Nikon D800
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G
3 - Profoto B2 heads
2 - 46” Photek Softlighters
36” Octabox
3’x2’ White Reflector
Savage Universal Red & Yellow backdrops
Manfrotto/Avenger Light Stands and Backdrop kit

And the Technical & Editing details

Retouched in Capture One & Adobe Photoshop
Shot at ISO 100, f4, 1/250s
Plugins;

Here’s a BTS showing our light setup. 1 B2 above in a Photek Softlighter with the reflector propped directly below, a 2nd B2 camera left and in front of the model feathered in another Photek Softlighter. The Last light is behind the model in a 36” Octobox Camera Right for rim.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Leave a comment below!

From the Shadows -- A New Fine Art Series by David J. Crewe (NSFW)

November 08, 2018 in Boudoir, Photoshoot, Prints, BTS, Press Release, Series

The Origin

I’m super excited to FINALLY share a series I’ve been working on now for nearly a year with a large variety of models, creatives, artists, and just expressive souls!

So….where to start? First things first, I’ve always been a fan of the cinematic and dramatic style of lighting you find in those classic noir films and shoots, and I’ve been especially a fan since creating a series back in San Diego years ago for a charity project. Being able to create something with that style of lighting and as a stand alone work of art….well…I am very excited.

This project started as an accident. I was working with a model creating some headshots and I had a lighting misfire which lead me back to my old school love of dramatic “film noir” style lighting. What happened? Well I had a multiple light setup going for some headshots and my “main” light, which would normally light up my subjects face and body, well it didn’t fire, and my rim/hair lights still did…This gave me the effect you see in the gallery above.

From there, it only took showing the image to my client (after we finished the headshots of course), to start playing with the shadows and creating some fun images. From there the shoot evolved into a fine art series of implied and nude shots after hours and hours of discussions and idea shaping and test shoots. The concept was open to everyone, male and female. There were no restrictions for this, other than confidence!

The Progression

It’s kind of funny how it was a VERY slow start to find that first model to shoot the concept. At first, I didn’t even consider the style a series. My intent was to shoot it and move on, but that changed after i did the first set and the model fell in love with the shots, I shared them with a bunch of colleagues and more people wanted to do the shoot! A few weeks after the first shoot I shot the second. From here, interest snowballed. I discussed the images with a fellow photographer while assisting him on a shoot, and his client asked to see the images. She also fell in love with them and asked to take part right on the spot! This is when I realized I was onto something. Over the next few months, I was introduced to new models, athletes, creatives, and artists who wanted to take part and I’ve tried to get them all in. Some, are still on a waitlist as we are hundreds, and for some, thousands of miles apart! OY!

They’ll make it in, just not in time for launch haha.

As I mentioned above, at first this wasn’t set to be a series so I didn’t give it much thought. As I progressed with the shoots, more of my subjects expressed so many different reasons for wanting to do the shoot. It really made me think about art and body positivity and I asked each person for their thoughts on the series and why (if they cared to share) they wanted to take part. Some felt they wanted to do it simply because it was a beautiful concept. Some did it to boost their own personal body confidence, (BIG props to you folks for that by the way! Hella proud of you). One of my subjects, a long time professional nude model, wanted to do the series simply because it was something she felt that for the first time she could print an image of hers and hang it in her home as a centerpiece for art and discussion. That right there was huge for me. Someone who is nude for a living, considered this image to be their first real “work of art.”

I’ve always wanted to have my images stop you in your tracks and cause a double take. The work we often do as working professionals doesn’t really get to be that way since we’re following our clients wants/needs, so as this shoot became a series, I became excited and proud at the fact that these images could line the walls of a gallery, hotel, night club, or more! (Well at least based on the feedback from my clients and our subsequent circle of colleagues and friends who’ve seen the set haha). So I hope that these images make you stop in your tracks and at the very least, open a discussion about confidence, body image, and fine art.

The Technical

So for those wondering, the setup was rather simple. A black backdrop (or dark) with some distance for our subject. 2 to 3 feet ideally. I used my Lastolite HiLite 5x7 on the dark side for mine. It was a lot easier to travel with versus a paper roll. The lighting was a simple setup of 2 lights (profoto B2), in 1x3 strip boxes and Grids behind and on the left and right of the subject with a Nikon SB-700 speedlight at low power on a boom directly above the subject for a subtle hair/fill light using a Rogue Flash Bender. The emphasis was to be backlit casting a lot of shadows to really highlight the shapes and curves of the human body in all its forms.

All of these images were shot on my Nikon D800 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G series glass.

For the selection and retouching process, I used several pieces of software. I basically used Capture One and/or Adobe Lightroom as a catalogue. We made initial selections on the day of the shoot, (excessively really). Those selections we converted to B&W and uploaded to an online gallery with Cloudspot for both myself and the subjects to help narrow down to just 2-4 images.

Once that was done I pulled those final few poses from each model directly into Adobe Photoshop and made my edits in there. I used a few tools like the Retouching Academy’s Panels, Infinite Color Panel, Nino Batista’s Frequency Separation Plugin (use code DAVIDCREWE5 for 5$ off), and Alien Skin Exposure to crop and ensure all the images were consistent across the board.

The Culmination

Please have a look at the collection. Like, share, comment, and message me directly for any inquiries, comments, print and gallery options.

Also, I’d like to extend my heartfelt and warmest thanks to each and every person who’s been involved with the project since it’s start. Every one of you have been amazing from day one. For each of the models…you, you folks are the biggest badassiest and awesome folks I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Every one of you had an amazing story and a reason for what you do and why you wanted to take part in this series. I love each and every one of you and am incredibly proud of you all!

If you’re interested in ordering a hard copy of this as a coffee table book, please click the link below. Currently available in Hardcover and Digital Download.

Exclusive Deal from Picr for Freelance Photographers! ONE DAY LEFT!

October 31, 2018 in Advertisement, Opinion, News, Press Release, Sales & Deals

Okay, this is rushed but it’s important! In celebration of Picr exiting their Beta Phase, they’re offering a LIFETIME membership / access for an insanely low price! How insane? The packages are over 80% off!!! What is Picr? Well, to put simply, it’s the first e-commerce platform for photography services.

So let’s get right to the good stuff…Here’s the link to get 80% off LIFETIME access:

http://bit.ly/2JrC3ht

Now onto the what’s so great about this service!? As my friend Frederick Van Johnson said, “Meet the “Shopify” for Photographers.” Now i’m only just in the beginning stages of setting my account up with Picr, but with just the minor features i’ve setup it’s improved my workflow and client leads immensely! They are quite effectively reinventing the way photographers do business by placing all the tools you’d need in one place online!

My favorite feature is the connectivity with your clients through the Picr Messenger. When you set this up on your website, potential and existing clients can connect directly to me, (or my team), through the desktop AND/OR Mobile app!

Screen Shot 2018-10-31 at 12.27.16 AM.png

Depending on how you set it up, your new clients can contact you and ask questions via email and a direct message through the mobile app for Picr. I’ve got them setup for me to show up like text messages so I’m notified immediately and can then choose to respond accordingly via email or creating a “chat” through the app and picr messenger.

This feature alone has helped my grow my client base a bunch!

The stuff that i’m now just getting into and i’m super pumped for, is how you can create service packages so your clients can buy directly on your site…but that’s not all. You can also enable your calendar to be live so that clients can see conflicting dates in real time and book you when they need. The Picr system can even handle taking payments & deposits AND automate your contracts & countersigning!

Seriously, there’s more (as if that’s not enough), that Picr has to offer and i’m already overwhelmed in a good way. I’ve already pretty much sworn away the rest of my week dedicated to setting up everything I can!

We have ONE MORE DAY from the time I got this post live.

The Deal Ends Midnight Wednesday, Oct 31st, 2018!

Magazine Publications and where to buy them!

October 29, 2018 in Ad, Fashion, News, Opinion, Purchasing

In 2018 I set a goal for myself to get at least one magazine publication. I had no real clue where to start other than to create new images and see where it lead. Well, as of the publication of this blog post, i’ve managed to get over 17 magazine publications with at least 3 covers, not to mention an article in Maxim!

The year isn’t over, and there are more publications on the horizon, so stay tuned and check back often. For now, have a look through the gallery and click the links to pick up some copies for yourself!

Check out some of the images here and check the links below to buy a copy for yourself!

Kansha Magazine featuring Zuzana Varkondova and Oly in Wonderland

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1522842

S-Nation: Fashion Model Showcase - Zuzana Varkondova http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1500917

Surreal Mag Issue #534 with Alexandria Eissinger

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1493039

Maxim Italia - Featuring Zuzana Varkondova

https://www.maximitalia.it/zuzana-varkondova-anni-di-battaglie-per-i-suoi-sogni/

Art of Nude - Issue #1 with Oly in Wonderland

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1504327

Elléments Magazine Body Issue #3 with Oly in Wonderland

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1492348