Beautifullyintelligent wrote:
Hey guys. I've been Modeling for a few months now. I'd love if some of you gave me serious critique on how to improve my work. I truly want to learn and grow in this industry and honest opinions could really help

1. Shoot with better photographers

2. Search youtube for videos on how to pose by professionals - eg Jill Billingsely's

Re. 1

- Photographers who insist on putting their name on their images are almost always bad. The "only" is there strictly because for eg wedding photographers deliberately messing up a web copy of a shot this way can make sense. It's something that should never be done to a copy of an image delivered to a client - and a model shooting trade is a client - she or he is paying for images with time and hard work! And if you ever signed with an agency, their shots would useless to you - you never see images ruined this way on agency sites.

- Images like this

https://photos.modelmayhem.com/photos/1 … 7ddc1b.jpg

...Shouldn't be in a portfolio. Your eyes are out of focus and over-sharpening(?) has created horrible marks on your skin - like tiny worms crawling over you. This one is ridiculously out of focus -

https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/44019641

This is your best shot in that your skin isn't washed out, your eyes are in focus, and the over-sharpening problem isn't too awful (but see how your neck looks like is a pebble dashed texture?)

https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/44019643

Before doing another shoot, you need to learn what good photography looks like - pick up a fashion magazine and study it, browse agency websites, whatever. Do not shoot with people who can't bloody focus a camera! (Unless they pay you - in which case take their money but don't use their images.)

Re. making a career of modelling, the Internet modelling business seems really slow these days. And actual fashion work goes almost entirely to agency models, who are usually 5'9'' or taller. So do be careful about committing too much effort.

LotteConcepts wrote:
Don't press your arm against your body that will make it look fat,
same holds for putting pressure on it, makes it look fat.

Fat arming:

https://petapixel.com/2013/05/24/dear-m … otographs/

That's excellent advice. Of course, any competent photographer would have explained this to her when they shot...

do a portrait or beauty shoot with a good photographer (just pay them).

I respect your obvious competence and goodwill but in this case I strongly disagree. There are an awful lot of portfolio mills that specialise in ripping people off and I'd worry that the OP would be taken advantage of. Paying for a shoot can work if you're a very ambitious model with excellent prospects who wants to several grades fast, and either you or your agent has enough knowledge of photography to know exactly who you should hire. The OP doesn't have the height to get signed by an agency and she's not a great picker of photographers, so I'd stick with practicing in front of the mirror and a smart phone.

LotteConcepts wrote:
try different angles of your face and not just the same
vary with expression

+1
My first impression was that you have a lot of images with side or back head tilt and a similar expression.

thiswayup wrote:

LotteConcepts wrote:
Don't press your arm against your body that will make it look fat,
same holds for putting pressure on it, makes it look fat.

Fat arming:

https://petapixel.com/2013/05/24/dear-m … otographs/

That's excellent advice. Of course, any competent photographer would have explained this to her when they shot...


I respect your obvious competence and goodwill but in this case I strongly disagree. There are an awful lot of portfolio mills that specialise in ripping people off and I'd worry that the OP would be taken advantage of. Paying for a shoot can work if you're a very ambitious model with excellent prospects who wants to several grades fast, and either you or your agent has enough knowledge of photography to know exactly who you should hire. The OP doesn't have the height to get signed by an agency and she's not a great picker of photographers, so I'd stick with practicing in front of the mirror and a smart phone.

You do make an excellent point, you have to consider if you want to invest, knowing that you might not likely get a return on investment. What I would suggest is looking into commercial photography, you have a specific look that people could look for. I get numerous jobs where people ask for your type of hair. As you do not meet the requirements of a fashion model, I would not invest too much time and effort into this if you would like to go any further. I would try do have some commercial shots taken, difference is that in commercial jobs you have to look like a "real girl" instead of a real model. It might benefit you if you could get pictures taken where you are smiling, laughing, having a cup of tea etc.

If you want to get any further with modeling I would suggest looking into the jobs that commercial models do, and see if this is something you would like to do. If so, I would still recommend doing a proper shoot, and pay a good photographer who does a lot of good commercial shots and who understands what pictures you need. It is indeed important to have a good understanding of what photographer is good and right for you. try and figure this out, maybe with help of models who are working fulltime as commercial models