First locations for fashion/glamourshoot : how did you start ?

I did only 3 modelshoots in past : an abandoned village (great memories), a studio workshop about modelphotography (nice learning the details), in an abandonned open air monastery (small fee).
I'm very satisfied with these shoots, on the other side i'm a bit worried that my next shoots will be less good, modelphotographers probably also have a bad days sometimes
I must admit I'm cheating a bit, always picking good looking women so that half of my pics are good allready

For the rest I followed a lot of interesting youtube workshops of great photographers.
I invested in the best portrait lenses, a strobist set, beautydish, even model accesories and I collected a list with nice models and tfcd mua's.

So i'm ready to start with glamour/fashionshoots on tfcd base.
My main photography was urban exploring in team and we where picky about nice locations, in my shoots I always wanted the model & location both in the picture.

But for modelphotography you have to concentrate mainly on your model, I still have to learn to be less picky chosing outdoor locations.
Urban locations are superb, but the nicest ones are too risky, paying to hire castles is a bit early, I still have to do a lot of fieldwork to gain more experience.

I know a wedding photographer that says background is not important, as you shoot mostly wide open.

-With which locations did you start or what type of outdoor locations are your favorite ?
-You all probably go early or late, not for the light only but also to avoid as much tourists so that everyone feels comfortable?
-A lot of photographers simply shoot in the woods, don't you find this too simple ?
I definitely will do a shoot in the woods, but it's not really autumn yet, the leaves are still to green, the brown/warm colours are better.

Maybe i'll have a look at panoramio to find more tips...

I shoot a lot on our land (we have 25 acres), we shoot a lot around our property in early and late hours. We also go by boat (our boat) to an island in the middle of our local river, it’s never hard to find a stretch of beach, grass land, or fallen trees to shoot on.

Yesterday we went to a side street in an industrial area, stayed off private property and shot in the street. If the model is not nude you can shoot almost anywhere. As the clothing starts to become less and less the options for locations also become more challenging. For this reason (and because we get 9 months of rain) we turned an out building into a decent sized studio.

You are correct when you say the photos are more of the model than the location. I have taken a few years off from model portraiture, and looking back at my early shots I can see they are often a great and photogenic location with a model placed in it which in itself isn't bad, but is limiting in the variety of shots you can pull off.

I find myself choosing locations based on the following criteria:

1. When is it in the shade? (I live in the tropics, the sun is very harsh)
2. How busy will it be? (I don't like working with an audience, and assume my models are the same)
3. Variety. (If you are going to go to the effort of getting to a location, you want to make sure it has more than a single shot in it - different elevations, different textured backgrounds, stuff the model can interact with etc)

For me personally, I prefer to stick with the KISS principle.
Open a couple of fashion magazines and/or look for good editorials online (http://www.fashiongone​rogue.com/ is a good place to start), how often is it a very specific, hard to find and recognizable location? Half the time those shoots are in regular streets, backalleys, parks or fields.

I think the main focus is to make sure location-model-styling match and can blend with each other. Since you mention urban exploring in your opening post, one of those cliché modelshoots in that scene that has been done a billion times is putting a model in lingerie and let her stand in the middle of one of those run-down buildings. 99% of the time it looks like poop and the only thing I can think of is "Why!?". It just doesn't add up.
If you include a very specific, recognizable location in your shot, it's often hard, certainly as a beginner, to not make it look like a simple tourist picture where you randomly placed a model in the foreground with mismatching styling. And missing that important blend between model, styling and location is imo one of the biggest beginner mistakes.

A challenge I once did with a photography-friend was to only plan shoots within a 5 km radius from our houses. One of the most interesting and learnfull challenges I ever did and I can totally recommend doing something similar

It's only some testing for my future website, even menu's aren't ready yet, press the minus symbol on the right for fullscreen, you can slide with mousepointer + left mousebutton as on a tablet.
There's some sort of thin grid over the pics, some don't like this, I do like it (without grid it looks a bit flat, especially with glamour pics this will look great).

Everything was taken with 35L & 85L in connection with the environment, so more storytelling.
I don't like lingerie cliché shots on urbexplaces either, I have many interesting locations like castles, houses,...but sometimes too risky with models.
Just discovered this great photographer who also shoots at abandoned places : http://momentsjournal.​com …souls-rebecca-litchfield/

But I'll start with simply woods/nature (hopefully the result will not be too simple and not too much tourists walking around staring so i'll go early.
Clothes will probably be jeans with a leather jacket.

I think it's interesting to scout the environment before, so that you don't loose to much time with this, I'll have a walk with my daughter in the woods this weekend

When looking for locations that I do not have total control of, the lack of people is the #1 priority when shooting scantly clad ladies. Sometimes this means getting to the location real early. Sometimes it means finding someplace else.

Well I plan just shoots in stylish clothes & accessoires, no outside lingerieshoots
But like you say, to avoid too much tourists on the nicest locations you have go real early, then you probably have the problem that the model finds it too early (youth & going out) or it's to cold

Today I did a walk in the woods to check a location in advance, but I found it really boring place.
I stlll need to make the 'mental switch' to drop thinking that I need awesome locations...

-I know a photographer that only makes halfbody & closeups and the rest a small part bokeh.
-On controrary Dankata (Mr.135L here) has superb shoots, unbelievable how he combines the location with the model (and such a long working distance).
But where he lives there are dreamlocations everywhere.

Maybe I need to search somewhere between the middle... or just go to the boring woods and try it (hopefully it won't be a fail, cause it's a very nice model )

CanonYouCan wrote in post #17171340
...

So i'm ready to start with glamour/fashionshoots on tfcd base.
My main photography was urban exploring in team and we where picky about nice locations, in my shoots I always wanted the model & location both in the picture.

But for modelphotography you have to concentrate mainly on your model, I still have to learn to be less picky chosing outdoor locations.

I think you'll want to look into "environmental portraiture". That is a style of portaits that might suit you more.

CanonYouCan wrote in post #17171340
I know a wedding photographer that says background is not important, as you shoot mostly wide open.

-With which locations did you start or what type of outdoor locations are your favorite ?
-You all probably go early or late, not for the light only but also to avoid as much tourists so that everyone feels comfortable?
-A lot of photographers simply shoot in the woods, don't you find this too simple ?
I definitely will do a shoot in the woods, but it's not really autumn yet, the leaves are still to green, the brown/warm colours are better.

I started out with Urbex locations (just like you) and we (also a group) wanted to take advantage of the location to set the model in. We definately didn't focus on "just the model" or anything. Most of us were shooting really wide angle.

We used the entire day for shooting. Still do. Sometimes the lighting is just right during the day. Sometimes you'll need to wait for sunset.

Shooting in the woods can be rewarding, but for a certain kind of look. If I plan to shoot someone who's into all things industrial the woods are a bad choice. I think location needs to suit your model and photoshoot.


About the wedding photographer you mentioned... She might find she's relying a little too much on thin DOF. I actually think she's not using some fantastic assets if she doesn't put too much thought into the background. To each their own I suppose.