Thread: Show me your best professional photos!

I am having some pictures taken this week and I don't really know what to do as far as poses and whatnot. Show me your best pictures for inspiration! Tips and photoshoot advise also welcome!

advice: get a really good pro to do your make-up if you can - pay attention to the details more than normal, if you can get a mani-pedi, make sure your costume is in good repair and all your props are ironed and shined.

get some sleep before the shoot, you don't want to look tired

practice your poses and faces in front of a mirror

I like action shots so I'll bring music to dance to and then they will shoot while I dance. Try repeating the same movement each time seeing if you can get a natural look on your face and your best posture.

Try to always have your best posture at the shoot, lift the chest, engage and lift through your abs, lengthen the neck, lengthen the limbs. Bad posture will ruin any shot.

Print out your poses and bring them to your photographer. Discuss your ideas with them in advance. If you want to look like you glow, or you want to look like you are dramatically coming from the dark, if you want red back lighting or you want a soft feeling like a 1920s film star or some sparkly woodland fairy, give them those ideas.

On shoot day, you can have some fun with a fan. Or if you are on location, you can take advantage of natural winds and things like that.

Okay, I'll share some photos now...

Some of my favorites of me - some action, some posed:

Ditto to everything Shems said! I've only done one pro studio shoot and I'm so glad I had a make-up artist for it. Next time I will do more prep work regarding poses. I felt like I was running out/doing the same thing over and over.

Iron your veil!!!!! I have an iron with a steamer function that I brought with me.

Think about the purpose for your photos. To attract clients? If so, what type of clients (restaurants? Middle Eastern families for weddings and such?) and what would they like to see when seeking to hire you? Attract students to your classes? If so, what are your specialties that you would teach to them? Or are the photos just to document this time in your life? Then you have more freedom to experiment.

Kind of a standard shot, but I really liked it for me. It looks very posed, but the fringe on my hip shows that I really am dancing! (My profile pic is from the same shoot, I've linked this one to my gallery page where I have five photos from the shoot.):

Have you seen this article on my web site regarding how to plan/do a professional photo shoot?

Promotional Belly Dance Photos: Get the Most for Your Money

Don't forget to search for past threads, here's one:

http://www.bhuz.com/rest-belly-dance...otographs.html

Ditto what everyone else has said.
Hire the best photographer you can afford. Crisp clearly focused pictures, clear, warm communication AND a personality that you feel comfortable with.
Hire the best make up artist you can afford. If they have to photo shop fallen eye shadow grey "halo" from your cheek bones or photo shop to make your lips appear symmetrical (when in real life they are)... the MUA didn't do their job.
My fave pictures all come from this shoot Facebook

Oh, and choose a background(s) that is easy to use in a lot of different promotional situations. Meaning- for your first pictures I'd choose a seamless backdrop in black, white or other neutral... not a busy outdoor scene or anything. You can be easily cropped out and you can work with these photos in a wider variety of marketing ways.

[QUOTE=shems;904972]Some of my favorites of me - some action, some posed:

Shems, stunning photos...

I think, theese are my best fotos:

And with my snakes:

ditto to what everybody else said

here are some of mine:















and non-bellydance:

ZanaRaqs - love the picture sixth from the top! Very beautiful and natural.

Gorgeous pictures everyone!

wow! you guys all look amazing!
I haven't done a photoshoot for dance yet, but some small things I picked up while doing other photoshoots..

pay attention to the small details (Ie: If you have anything with tags make sure they are secured down so they don't pop out. If you wear shoes in one shot- make sure there are no size stickers on the bottom. etc)

be sure to have an emergency repair kit (needle and thread, face powder, lipstick)

and bring a few bottles of water.
and personally-from expirience, I ALWAYS bring an escort with me. I don't care how professional a photographer is, I always bring one. (and since Im a girl, I always bring a guy). (if you want to know, PM me)

I just had my first professional photo shoot, and there are some great tips I picked up from this thread.

I think next time, I will work on my poses a bit more. I was lucky that my photographer is also a dancer, so she was incredibly helpful! I think having a dancer as a photographer made all the difference for me. And when we got a great shot she would let me preview it on the camera before we moved on. Or if she got an unflattering shot she would show me so I knew why that pose did not work. Then she would direct me to a more flattering pose. I'm so excited to see all the pics and pick my bunch!

I hope to have pictures up in a week or two

Zana, the one of you in the center of the swirling turquoise veil is stunning!

I love looking at these! I have a photo shoot on Saturday. I am loving the inspiration!

Zana, that last one of you is BADASS!!

Here are some of mine:

Agree with everything above. Especially with having makeup professionally done if possible. Unless you are great at makeup! Always go a bit heavy on the makeup otherwise it will be too light in the photos. Also, get a manicure, not sure if anyone mentioned that..your hands will be showing so they should look pretty.

Posture is extremely important, always stay lifted. I don't like to stand straight on to the camera often, it is not as flattering, but when I do, I stick one hip out to create a nice S pose and then very my arm positions, then alternate the hip. You never know which pose you will end up liking the most. For the most part I stand with my hips on a slight angle and then I rotate my upper torso more towards the camera. (Like if I was going to do a hip drop). I actually drop that hip down slightly and while I pose and it creates I nice curve in the waist.

Def. practice poses and facial expressions/ smiles in the mirror.

I am a professional photographer as well, so I do most of my photoshoots myself now. My hubby and teenager are tired of helping me. Occasionally I do persuade them, but then I edit everything myself in Photoshop.

Make sure you check out the work of the photographers and go with someone who is professional so that you get quality photos. Good luck!!

Ahhhh - why do you live over that big pond? I would love it if you could take pictures of me...

hmmmm, my image won't take ughh

Here is a 'test' shoot I did of some other dancers out in the woods. Maybe it will give you some ideas:

Goddess Shoot

Can't wait to see your pics. Make sure you post some.

I think having a good understanding of not just POSE POSE POSE POSE.. is good. Be able to move from one thing to the next and not be uncomfortable in front of the camara- part of this means practicing at home.

Finding the light is extremely important.

And knowing what makes your body look good - lengthening and giving yourself structure is really important as well.


I don't have any with a full blown professional- my friend is a hard core amature hobby-ist but I have done two sessions with him and been really happy to have someone to play around with- second session we did with a friend- she did a set- the two of us had a set then I had a set.

I have to convince him to do full blown belly dance shots for me one of these days....

anyway

I may be a semi-professional, since I do photo shoots for my costume books. These are favorites of mine -two especially good shots from the Twilight Troupe shoot:

tayissa699.jpg
This one has exceptional capture of motion. I had her spin several times over before the lucky shot.

adriene688.jpg
This one is static but impressively iconic.

maureen-tribal-shadow-8inch.jpg
In this shot of Maureen, one of my filler sidelights was not on, but that accident resulted in a very dramatic shadow:

A shot of myself that is a favorite:
dina-multi.jpg
I like the movement and vivaciousness. I did shoulder shimmies to get the beaded fringe waving.

Girls, you are unbelievably beautiful! Here are some of my photos

One mistake that a lot of dancers make, I think, is to view their photo shoots in terms of "poses". Although SOME posed shots can be interesting, if done with careful thought to composition, all too often the posed shots lack energy / excitement / drama because the model "assumes the position" and then holds it with a fake smile until the shots have been snapped. Again, I'm NOT saying posed shots are always bad, it's just that they have quite a number of pitfalls associated with them that can ruin the pictures if you don't plan for how to avoid those pitfalls.

Since we're DANCERS, and typically using our photo shoots to promote DANCING, I personally prefer to see action shots when I look at other dancers' galleries. I personally feel that belly dance photos are much more interesting when they show swirling skirts, flying fringe, or moving hair. The challenge, of course, is that many photographers aren't comfortable with shooting action shots - many can't anticipate the prefect moment to capture the action. It's also easier for the dancer to have spontaneously interesting, non-frozen facial expressions if she's actually dancing when the photos are snapped.

I've just updated the photo gallery on my web site at:

Shira's Bellydance Photo Galleries

It now contains the new photos from my shoots with Pixie and Michael Baxter in June and August, respectively.

Originally Posted by _Lamis_

Girls, you are unbelievably beautiful! Here are some of my photos

I am hugely not a fan of the open front- looks goofie- but damn is this stunning- I love the simplicity of it and the color is incredibly flattering on you. Well done. :D

i am SO happy with my photos! Ive tried to upload some but they won't work. any ideas why I can't??