Click to enlarge

Last week I participated in a “Models and Photographers” Meetup event where I took the photo at left. If you’re an aspiring photographer, or even a pro looking to meet new models or experiment with new techniques, I highly recommend using Meetups (www.meetup.com) as a low-cost, low-stress way to get out in the field and work with like-minded people.

In my city there are at least a dozen photography Meetup groups, many of which hold events at least once per week. Some Meetups charge a small fee to help cover administrative costs, but usually everyone involved is working for trade to build their portfolios (called TFP).  At last week’s meetup I found half-a-dozen would-be models and a similar number of photographers all working hard to create great images together with no financial pressure, and no expectations except that any good photos would be provided to the model afterward.

My photo above got some attention from the group, because other photographers who shot the same model in the same location did not get equally good results. They asked me to explain how I made the shot, and I happily obliged (sharing our techniques is one purpose of this group).  I thought you might enjoy the explanation as well.

This was shot with natural light in the mid-afternoon, with sunlight striking the model directly from the high left side of the frame.  I usually try to avoid direct sunlight on a model’s face, because it’s too harsh, but we were shooting fast and I couldn’t get a better position, so I worked with it.  I had an assistant holding a silver reflector at camera right to bounce in some fill light.

Unretouched original - Click to enlarge

Back at home, after importing the photo to Lightroom, my first concern was the harsh sunlight on the model’s face. (See the original, un-retouched photo nearby.) This kind of hard, raking light is almost always unflattering, and the model deserved better treatment.  After all, it’s my job as the photographer to put her in flattering light, not her job to be flawless in harsh light.

So, to correct for the hard light, before doing anything else I decided to apply some softening to her skin. I took the photo from Lightroom to Photoshop and applied what I call “glam blur” softening to her skin.  (I won’t detail the process here because I cover it in both my headshots course and my Photoshop course.)

After that softening, I returned the photo to Lightroom, where I increased the Exposure and Fill Light slightly, then increased the Blacks to regain lost contrast.

I wanted to crop in fairly tight, because this photo is all about the expression on the model’s face.  But I also wanted to keep enough of her clothing and body to make an interesting composition, and I wanted enough of the railing to keep the interesting triangular effect, so that set the boundaries of my crop.

Finally, since the background was a boring gray wall, I applied a slight vignette to de-emphasize the wall and bring the focus forward to the model.

This all took just a few minutes in Lightroom and Photoshop, but it made a huge difference in the final photo, which now looks like something planned and created, rather than just another snapshot.

That was just one of several worthwhile shots I got from this Meetup, not to mention spending a few fun hours with other photographers and models. An afternoon well spent.

And if you don’t have any Meetups like this in your area yet—anyone is free to create one and become an organizer. Even you.

For me, this feature alone was worth the $99 upgrade from Lightroom 2. And it’s just one of many improvements. If you want to buy me a beer, use one of the links below when you buy or upgrade.

Click Here for Lightroom 3 at Amazon.com

Upgrade from Lightroom 2 to 3 at Amazon.com

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is the premiere photo managment software for digital photographers.  It can handle your entire photo workflow from importing images, to organizing, editing, printing, and exporting to websites like Picasa, Flickr, or your own custom-made web galleries.

I just created a free 23-minute video tutorial illustrating the process of working in Lightroom. If you’re considering buying Lightroom, or if you’re a new Lightroom owner looking to get more out of the software, this video is for you.

In this tutorial, I walk you step-by-step through my own Lightroom workflow, narrating as I process a set of photos from camera import through organizing, renaming, editing, and exporting as a fully-functional flash web gallery.

If you’re curious about Lightroom, I invite you to check it out on my photo tutorials page.

See Lightroom at Amazon.com