Shooting porn.
 

As I was writing my life story in porn, I got to the part of describing what a pornographer really does. It was true then when more skills were required to get film exposed correctly and cameras didn't have auto focus. And still true today. All the photographic skills in the world, won't cover up a crap model going through the motions or worse looking bored.

Those who think they know better are welcome to :321GFY

And start their own thread.

So a little about what it takes to shoot pornography. It has little to do with photographic skills, especially today with digital cameras. Yes it's required you get the image in focus and properly lit, these are not rocket science. With a digital camera for stills a shooter can take a test picture and see what the light is doing. With a light meter he can do it faster. With movies, since the introduction of video it has been possible to see the image you're capturing. Up until now in my story we were working with film and had to know the lights were right. Focusing wasn't automatic, neither was it hard.

The aim of a porn film is to create an illusion from the models actions, like directing a mainstream movie, except our actors were not trained. So getting the emotion depended on the directors motivation of his cast. Be it an amateur housewife in a home style movie or a top porn star in a full blown big budget porn film, the director has to motivate actors to get the performance required.

He also has to know his niche and style well. Know what setting, clothing, make up and props to use. How to lay the fantasy before the audience. Even if it's an amateur girl next door porn film. The viewer wants to be convinced she is an amateur girl next door girl doing a porn film for the fun of it. Or a top porn star in a full blown big budget porn film the viewer needs to believe in her and that she fucks for the fun of it. Sounds easy, try doing it with a girl who wants to go home early, not interested in the guy, movie or anything but getting paid.

Motivating her is the hard part. The guys are mainly pros, they need to be if they want to be booked for the next movie and the next and work regularly.

I will write more tomorrow.

see my siggy for shemale content

hi paul!

Paul Markham Thread. Not nearly enough of these. Post More Paul Markham threads Paul Markham.

Kudos to you my good man, keep up the good work.

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2852/180lq.jpg

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some fresh new insight there. thanks.

and if you are really good at it you can retire, send your wife to work and be a troll on gfy

yay!

Who needs to know how to shoot? Just make loads of cash, spunk it all the claim welfare. Not from one, but two governments!

Do some posts about means tested benefits and how you hide your stash!

No dialogue, just preaching then? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I can see by all the replies from people who are keen porn shooters the eagerness that awaits this thread.

What would you say was the worst shoot you have ever done and why did you dislike it?

I agree with you

why take credit for the models work?

Can you post a *variety* of your work. Summed up real quick? My thoughts are from visiting your store was all the light was too bright and girls very euro bland looking. Nothing really popped.

I've seen so many of your posts and I really want to see the incredible pics to back your statements.

90% of the porn produced today takes minimal camera skills. With a light meter, reasonable set of lights, for video and stills, 2 good cameras, decent off camera mike and a little practice most should be able to master the skills required to shoot everything up to a low end Glam niche level. In terms of the image.

Learning how to separate the background from the model, high lite certain areas on the model, eliminate flair, depth of field are all things a light meter costing a few $100 will get right for you.

http://www.chi-photography.com/wp-co...ight-Meter.jpg

For instance. Separating the background from the model.
With the light meter set the background to 1/2 to 1 stop over the subject by directing the light meter at your light source. You can also light the back of the model with a rear light pointing down at her, the light positioned behind and above her. Or a light to the side/rear of her. That's the simple way, there are others that are not really required. Every location will be different and determine the placing of the lights. Get this right and your up in the top levels of porn.

High lite certain areas on the model
Not used a lot today. It's how a shooter gets the glow on the models head, or/an side. Carefully placing your light source and setting the power to above the power of the main lights hitting the model will soon achieve this effect. Use a light meter.

Eliminate flair
This is caused by reflected light hitting the background and bouncing back into the camera lens. Most light meters have a special viewer or the ability to remove the white cap over the meter part. Read the manual the meter came with. Stand where you will stand to shoot and read the reflected light off different areas. Then adjust your lights positions accordingly. Use the technique of imagining a mirror behind the model. If you can see the light from where you're standing. You are in the path of reflected light. Setting lights high as possible and at angles will eliminate this. Using a hood over the lens will help.

Depth of field
Is the area of sharp focus and if the site wants to deliver huge images the depth of field is important. It's governed mainly by the lens F Stop. F2.5 will give very little depth of field and not recommended for all but the most skilled. F16 will give a good depth of field and recommended for most.

Someone was asking about gels recently, these will tint the light. Useful piece of kit if you arrive at a location with bright red or yellow walls. Still white balancing a camera will help as well. They are great to give a background a bit of color, warm up a cold room. The light temperature not the actual temperature.

Now all you have to do is adjust that to the niche. You're not going to be taking on Suze Randall or Hank Londoner, so most of you will not need much more info. Seriously most can get this right with some practice.

oh god no one cares.

The set we only sold for $500. Not counting the "Readers Wives" sets.

Because it's the shooter who generates the models output. And all shooters know this.

Very rarely do we get a girl who wants to be in porn. Contrary to what they tell some, they're doing it for the money. And this is the only reason that makes them manageable. Girls who want to be in porn, would be a nightmare to deal with in most instances. Upset her in any way, give her the wrong color T shirt, boy, dildo, sofa to sit on, make up or cup of coffee and without the money element the shooter could be in line for a problem.

So a good shooter needs to understand models, whims, moods, monthly cycle, personality and character. A timid girl might need building, an over confident one needs bringing down. Many girls need to be brought out of a shell they wrap themselves in. Professional wrap themselves in a shell of "I've done this a 100 times before and you'll get that performance." Some girls have never been stopped and told it's not what the shooter or client requires. Telling them without putting their back up is tricky. Yes she will sit there and look very attentive and take in all you're asking. then get in front of the camera and you wasted your time.

So build a bridge to her. That's the best way to describe it.

Shooters need to make sure they know exactly what they need from her, the scene is set out in his head, or/and on paper. Scene is built and lit, clothing if required laid out, drinks, dressing gown, towels, shower, shower soap, douche, razors, foam, everything is ready and waiting for her to arrive. So when she does, or they, arrive you can sit down introduce yourself and get to know each other. If it's a girl you know rebuild the bridge that's already there.

The shooters state of mind is essential here. If he thinks he's someone important, or superior, subservient, etc. He will come across badly. If he thinks she's a goddess, slut, whore, unfeeling, made of glass, made of steel, etc. It's a team job a team trying to achieve a goal. The shooter is the captain of the ship. He respects his crew, doesn't fear or dislike them.

The first 20 minutes is the time to establish yourself as a good leader.

This is the little thing that separates someone who points a camera and someone who creates a pornographic fantasy. And the toughest part of shooting porn. The best advice is to read a book on body language and charm. All the great shooters I've know had a charm unique to them. Viv Thomas, Steve Colby, John Mason, Jack Harrison, etc.

The quality of a shooters work isn't his charm on a board with a bunch of people who never bought porn working from their spare bedroom or Mum's basement. It's the charm his or her models get when the walk into the location.

its raining here paul

Good post. These are the types of threads you need to make. That said, why attack non-shooters? Who is going to sell the porn that you shoot if your wish came true and they all disappeared?

Sort of off topic question for you Paul: why can't any camera simply take a picture that looks like reality? I have yet to use any camera, no matter the settings, that can make the picture look exactly like how the area really looks to the human eye. I guess I am expecting a camera to work as well as the human eye, but why not?

The village idiot

Seeing as we have over 10 different shooters work on the site. I guess you're talking out of you ass again.

Maybe you should put up some of your work so we can see what you criteria is. Otherwise. :321GFY

Paul may not have the most posts on GFY, but I bet nobody comes anywhere near him in terms of words or characters posted.......

It's called the paulmarkhamcontentstore not paulmarkhamandothershooterscontentstore. So why would you attack him for making that assumption? He simply asked you to show some of your work but you chose to attack him and tell him to go fuck himself.. and you wonder why you get attacked the way you do on here.. sigh.

I sale sanity. Hit me up.

I must agree:thumbsup:thumbsup

Last night, I had Chicken Pad Thai for dinner and a free pints of Doombar at The Mason's Arms with my mate Adam.

Considering some of the one line idiots I'm being stalked by, it's an easy competition to win. :thumbsup

The amazing thing about this thread is the number of people who have never shot a set in their entire life commenting. Actually, nothing amazing about that for GFY. :1orglaugh

stalking? don't flatter yourself you narcissistic old fool.

And how many threads about topics you know nothing about have you replied in? Get a clue man and stop being such a damn hypocrite.

I really tried to make some posts in this thread that had some substance and weren't simply poking fun at you, and you chose to ignore them. I'm almost positive you would rather see a bunch of "one liner" replies attacking you than have an actual discussion on the topic at hand. Get over yourself please.

I was making a serious point, not trolling.

people remember elle macpherson, claudia etc for their umm "talents" not the guy behind the camera.

Paul, there's no competition to type the most lines of shit no one is interested in. Sorry to disappoint you.

All you win is being laughed at.

turn the camera on, stick it in her ___ and go from there.

no need to overcomplicate things its just a fucking movie. i used to try and follow a format for filming scenes, ie: pickup/interview/strip/dance/bj/fuck sequences but i gave that up. just go with whatever flows naturally have fun with the girl keep her in good spirits and you've got a good movie with no stop and go, and minimal editing.

Comparing professional models with porn models was your first mistake, posting it here was the second. :1orglaugh

and so do so many. Which is easy to spot.

Some have the personality to make that approach work. Even shooting amateur requires the girl to not think you're some kind of idiot who can only point a camera at her.

Maybe all the girls you get are raring to go and don't need any motivation, respect for you, trust, etc. I highly doubt it.

Shimmy has brought up a very good point.

Should someone shooting Amateur "turn the camera on, stick it in her ___ and go from there" act the same as someone shooting teen, or Playboy?

Can anyone shoot "just go with whatever flows naturally have fun with the girl keep her in good spirits" without thinking?

He might be drop dead gorgeous, full of animal charm, only deal with girls who think this is going to a load of fun, have the ability to kick a girl off the shoot if she's not right. Some of us are not so lucky. We get a girl walk int a casting, nervous or full of her own importance or thinks we're all perverts or think she's done it before so knows what to do. And we end up with a product that's not going to convert, retain or be worth wasting our time on.

When I was shooting amateur readers wives sets for the mags, I did just what he did, point and shoot and let my charm, jokes and knowledge of what I needed carry me through. When I shot Sandra for Manwin, you saw what I did and the end results were different.

Pervert? Or charming?

YOU decide.

I'm sitting at home with time to troll and will never need to worry about money. while people who need to work to pay the rent are wasting time giving their opinions on something they know nothing about.

And I'm wrong???????

GFY - the place with a lot of people with little to say and say little a lot of the time. LOL

''It is VERY important that you get a contact with your model'' - Paul Markham

I say Pervert! :thumbsup

Wow, hold on a minute there, idiot.

You know as much about shooting porn as a taxi driver knows about driving F1 cars. The fact is that you got lucky back in the day when things were wide open. As things advanced and times changed, you were very very quickly squeezed out by people who DO know how to shoot content.

Trying to pass yourself of as someone who knows anything about shooting content properly is like a first aider trying to pass as a neurosurgeon. Any fucking idiot knows that you need an operating theater and a scalpel. Then what? The fact that you believe you know what you're doing and that you have some kind of innate ability to "turn models on" is both ridiculous and scary. But please, tell us more about how you need a camera, some make-up and a few lights. The part of your little story that will be missing is the happy ending... you know, where you actually manage to build a successful business and don't end up spending the end of your life broke and living on government handouts, plus whatever little cash your hard-to-do mail-order bride brings in from her part-time cleaning job.

Imagine a world with only Markham content... after a couple of days guys would just say fuck it and give up wanking. Seriously, we'd just stop.

Nowadays, camera don't use film. They use DIGITAL. WHich is eithe a Compact Flash (not small flash LOL), or SD, not sure what that means, but it's in a book somewhere.

When you buy a camera, remember you want to use it to take pictures. More on that later.

Cameras have BODIES and LENSES. You wil need both. Use them together to take a picture.

Put the LENS onto the BODY, this is step one. Although your camera may come with the lens already on the body. More on this later.

You will also need a flash.

Then you need to learn about f stops and exposure, there ar ebook you can get with that in. Seach google for it.

more on that later.
__________________

Some shooters have a HOT BUTTON, this is a button that is a button. Some cameras have HOT BUTTONS too, more on that later.

Te shooter needs to lean his HOT BUTTON - might it be a tree, or something else?

Wen you know the HOT BUTTON you can use it to take pictures or.

More on that later

When you have worked out the Hot Button for your camera, you can use it to take pictues.

TAKING PICTUES
For this you need to put your eye (either on) on the bit you look through. After focussing (more on that later) you ned to press the Hot Button.

There are many books and inter web artices about this. I suggest you go read them. More on this later.

Now onto the basics.

There are three things you need to know about

Aperture - This is how fast the film speed is
f-stops - These things dicate how many pictures you can fit onto one memory card
Exposure - This is about how big the hole is opened in the camera which dictates how much light is let in

When you have mastered these three things you will be well on your way to being a top notch photographer.

Tomorrow I'll be posting about how to use auto focus to make people focus on one section of your picture and also explaining the rule of fifths.


Camera settings are imoortant to understand. I'll talk you tough them all

M: movie mode. Use this mode to shoot moving picture
Av: amateur view. This give an amateur look
Tv: no, not trannies LOL it means timer vlog. It's for self shot timed pics
P: professional mode. T his is when you understand an f stop means our film is faster. Although its not real film LOL

Very very funny, you are wasted in adult....

Thank god for digital...when I was younger I worked for a large (now bankrupt) camera/film company who refused to get with the times and always made the comment that digital cameras would never replace film and the quality of film...now they're kicking themselves in the ass because they were to stubborn to see what their customers/photographers really wanted.

I also shot for a photo studio that primarily dealt with children/young teens and it was such a pain in the ass shooting them with film because you had to deal with so much at once when you had a kid crying, not smiling, throwing up, running around in circles, etc...then they switched over to digital and it was so much easier...someone who had no idea what they were doing could learn the basics in an hour and shoot GREAT pictures (and if you just rapidly took them you were bound to catch a good smile so you didn't even have to get the child comfortable)

dvtimes makes better threads than you do now. think about it.

If digital allowed a person to take decent pictures in terms of image quality. He was the most stupidest person ever.

The EOS film cameras had auto focus and 3 auto modes. Getting it right was simple. Well for those with 2 working brain cells.

Photography is 10% camera skills, 90% eye.

Porn skills are 5% camera skills, 5% eye and 90% getting a model to give a performance worth buying.

Quoting Damian, shows your level of knowledge. So good bye.

Damian is being deliberately stupid. Anexia quoting him, shows his level.

Like the guy who thinks all a good shooter does is point a camera. Because a model can be trusted to turn out a good scene. :upsidedow

so many comments and opinions in this thread from people who have never shot a porn video or set.

They should of done what I did if it was so easy, then they wouldn't be posting from their living rooms. Or their bedrooms. :1orglaugh

Damian get back to spamming, your GF will be home soon and expecting you to have earned some money to pay the rent on the house you share.