Jeff Rojas - Photographing Women: Posing, Lighting, and Shooting Techniques for Portrait and Fashion Photography

POSING, LIGHTING, AND SHOOTING TECHNIQUES FOR PORTRAIT AND FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

JEFF ROJAS

PHOTOGRAPHING WOMEN

Posing, Lighting, and Shooting Techniques for Portrait and Fashion Photography

Jeff Rojas

www.sajorffej.com

Project editor: Maggie Yates

Project manager: Lisa Brazieal

Marketing manager: Jessica Tiernan

Copyeditor: Valerie Witte

Layout and type: WolfsonDesign

Cover design: Aren Straiger

Interior design: WolfsonDesign

Indexer: Maggie Yates

ISBN: 978-1-68198-174-1

2017 Jeff Rojas

All images Jeff Rojas unless otherwise noted

Rocky Nook Inc.

1010 B Street, Suite 350

San Rafael, CA 94901

USA

www.rockynook.com

Distributed in the U.S. by Ingram Publisher Services

Distributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941046

All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

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While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.

Printed in Korea

For all of the beautiful women in my life. Mom, Grandma, Fallon, and Melissathank you infinitely for being such a positive influence in my life!

A special thank you to Ted, Scott, and the rest of the staff at Rocky Nook for making this book a reality! I couldnt have done it without you guys! Thanks for putting up with my shenanigans all these years!

Miguel, thank you for being the older brother I never had! Lets keep hustling!

And lastly, thank you to each of you whove believed in me and continue to be such supportive individuals. Its through that support that I find the motivation to continually move forward.

Thank you all,

Jeff

JEFF ROJAS is a photographer based in New York City. His primary body of work includes portrait and fashion photography, although he has also directed fashion films and commercials. Additionally, Rojas is a photography instructor and educator who has taught on various photographic platforms, including CreativeLive, Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI), PhotoPlus Expo, Gulf Photo Plus, and American Photographic Artists (APA).

CHAPTER 1
Face Shapes

CHAPTER 2
Body Types

CHAPTER 3
Perceived Flaws

CHAPTER 4
Understanding Body Language

CHAPTER 5
Standing Poses

CHAPTER 6
Sitting Poses

CHAPTER 7
Lying Poses

CHAPTER 8
Styling 101

CHAPTER 9
Styling Difficult Features

CHAPTER 10
Introduction to Lighting Women

CHAPTER 11
Portrait Photography

CHAPTER 12
Commercial Photography

CHAPTER 13
Fashion Photography

Im currently sitting in my apartment writing this introduction, less than a month after the release of my first book, Photographing Men. Im proud to say that Ive received endless positive feedbackregarding the book and also from the innumerable men and women whove applauded my feminist perspective on photographing men. While that sounds contradictory because its a book about photographing male subjects, its actually quite fitting. After all, feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunitiesI just happened to apply that belief to photography. My stance is that both men and women should be able to look and feel their best.

As Im writing this, the inquiries are pouring in; I get a handful of emails every day, requesting that I put together a book on photographing women. Because there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of books on photographing women, I couldnt rationalize how my perspective would be any different from other authors. It wasnt until a close friend reminded me of a very important fact: as artists and individuals, we all have unique circumstances that form our perspectives in life and in art. Thats the beauty of being an artist. We are all inherently unique.

So, what makes my perspective on photographing women different from anyone elses?

I sincerely believe that my experience working alongside truly amazing peopleon both sides of the camerahas directly influenced the way that I approach photographing anyone. Ive had the pleasure of working with an eclectic mixture of subjects from all walks of life and also an amazing team of creatives, whove all spent decades working in the industry. All of our stories and experiences combine to create the work that youll find in this book.

Believe it or not, I never intended to become a photographer. On the contrary, my goals and endeavors were always aimed toward the corporate world. I truly never understood how artists sustained themselves without a guaranteed source of incomea paycheck every two weeks, if you will. Thats simply because the most creative and artistic people in my life all had full-time jobs in order to sustain themselves and their families. That disposition would later change, once I met my first photography mentor.

Before I committed to becoming a professional photographer, I worked in a corporate office, which afforded me the ability to purchase my first DSLRa Canon EOS Rebel 450D/XSi. I originally purchased the camera as a way to document the restoration of a classic car that found its way into my garage. As time passed, my interests shifted from the restoration project to my DSLR. I quickly became obsessed with photography and was extremely eager to learn as much as I could about light and composition. It was time to invest in photography classes.