It’s Friday so it’s Q&A Friday. These are questions sent in over the past week that we’ve chosen to answer here. Details about Q&A Friday’s are below after the question and answers.

Question: I love the look of one of your photos under “Recent”- the one with the girl driving the ski boat. How do you achieve that glowy, glossy look? I’ve seen it all over these days & was wondering if that’s done in camera (& if so how) or if it’s done in post-processing? - KS

Answer: You’re referring to photo 42 of 46 in the Advertising/Lifestyle section.

That photo was taken on an extremely sunny day on a lake. The sun is mostly responsible for the shiny look. The sun is a very hard source of light unless you diffuse it. Hard light gives off a real nice glowy, glossy look as you call it.

The sun was so bright the shadows needed to be tamed. With the limited space we had on such a tiny boat, the only way to deal with the harsh shadows was to throw some light at her. So I used my favorite portable outdoor lighting set-up; a Canon 580 flash shot through a cheap white, shoot-through umbrella. It gives off enough light to overpower the shadows but leaves a pretty natural look and doesn’t overpower the suns harsh light.

I did take the photo into Photoshop and some tweaking. The entire shot is real but I didn’t like the water so I took some water from some random photo I had in my archives and dropped it in. What I did in Photoshop was add a curve layer to bump up the contrast. I don’t do it much but on this I also duplicated the layer, ran a hi pass filter on it, set the layer to “soft light” and faded it back using the opacity tool. A lot of people abuse and overuse the hi pass filter, but used correctly it can produce great results.

To answer the question in a nutshell, use hard light sources like bare heads, speedlights, sunlight and beauty dishes. Things like softboxes, umbrellas, light banks and such are usually too soft to produce this look.

Question: If I was to photograph Dolly Parton or some are star on location. What kind of gear would you bring? What kind of people come with Dolly such as hair, make-up, etc? -BL

Answer: (I think the question was asked because I just shot Dolly Parton a couple days ago and tweeted about it) Every situation with celebrities is wildly different. Sometimes you have a half or full day with them in the studio. When you do you get to play with lighting setups, try crazy things, etc.

But there are times as with my shoot of Dolly on location where you have very little time with them. You have to load the truck up with more than you think you’ll need because you have no idea what you’re about to walk into. I did a shoot in Portland, OR a few months ago and I rented way more than I ended up using. I mentioned it to someone and they replied “it’s better to be looking at something than looking for it.” How true.

For her I just used my Profoto pack and one head through a Profoto 2×3 softbox. Things like sandbags, extension cords, gaff tape, etc. are all misc. things that you’ll need to keep things safe and secure. You can easily pull off any portrait with a single light so that’s what I did.

As for hair/makeup, most of the time the person arrives on the set with no hair done or makeup on. My shoots don’t typically start until 90 minutes or so after the subject gets there due to the hair and makeup process. It can even be much longer sometimes. I waited 3 hours once for a band to get ready to shoot.

Question: What’s the best way to build up your portfolio for “commercial style” photography, when you can’t get anyone to model for you!? -AD

Answer: The first question is why can’t you get anyone to model for you? I admit you need people to build a portfolio of people photos. I would question your approach to the people you’re asking. Try to come across professional and reputable. If you can’t find friends try calling modeling agencies and ask if they need models to do “test shoots.” Models always need new photos and love to get them done for free in exchange for prints of them. Just make sure whoever you shoot that you get them to sign model releases.

The second part to your question is how to build up a commercial portfolio. The first thing you need to ask yourself is “what kind of work do I want to shoot?” If you want to build a solid portfolio that will attract art buyers, you need to make sure you not only have a distinct style of shooting but also a specific genre.

For example, do you want to be known for shooting: lifestyle, fashion, children, healthcare, music, etc. Even the genre of lifestyle can be broken down into so many sub categories. Some people only shoot child lifestyle, some only pertaining to the beach, some dogs but not cats. Ask yourself what turns you on as an artist. Whatever the answer is, that’s what you should shoot.

And don’t just shoot simple portraits but stretch yourself to come up with conceptual work. Pretend you’ve been hired to shoot an ad for The Gap, iTunes or whatever, as I said, turns you on. Give it a concept, go the extra mile, buy props, do location scouting for it.

Find yourself some models and shoot, shoot, shoot. Most successful photographers portfolios are filled with tons of personal work they’ve never been paid a dime for. If anything, they’ve spent their money to shoot it. You have to invest in your career, not only with time but with money and resources. If no one will model for free, you may have slip them some $$$.

But don’t ever stop shooting. The more you shoot the better you become. And as you develop your style and improve your technique, you’ll have people asking you to shoot them.

Question: What were your biggest revelations that helped you move forward in your career ?
(Technically and creatively speaking) -BR

Answer: Great question. Right off the bat I would say one of the biggest revelations was that there was no real right or wrong way to light. When I started I thought I had to follow the rules of lighting so much that it frustrated me when I didn’t like what I was seeing. I soon realized that, yes they’re we some basic principals, but lighting is an art form in and of itself and everyone puts their own spin on it. I now do all kinds of crazy things with light. I rarely light something the same way twice.

Also, realizing that being creatively safe is very costly to your career. Just like lighting, early on I tried to play it safe and please everyone with my work. You’ll never please everyone and the important thing is to shoot for yourself. Take risks and push yourself creatively. Successful careers are rarely built by playing it safe.

That’s it for this week, send in your questions and we’ll see you next time!

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DETAILS About Q&A Friday’s:
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I get many emails every week from people who ask all sorts of questions pertaining to the how’s and why’s of photography and the photo business. So Every Friday I will feature a weekly post called Q&A Fridays.

How it works is; people email their photography-related questions to Kelli and we will go through and pick a few each week to answer right here on this blog.

By default we will keep your identity a secret unless you instruct us otherwise. You can also post your questions below in the comments section.

Feel free to ask anything technical, creative or business related. I have no secrets and will do my best to answer them in an honest, straightforward way.