Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Updated 2/13/25: This post was written after the COVID-19 pandemic and has been updated. The on-line modeling scene has loosened up but it is not even close to getting back to normal. I was optimistic…not so much anymore based on my recent experiences.
In a series of blog posts I wrote about finding glamour models, I suggested that one way to find models was through,modeling websites. Based on some of the email I received on this topic, one of the biggest questions that readers repeatedly asked was: Are Modeling Websites worth the time and money? The answer is yes but mostly no.
Yes, they are. If you are willing to pay the models and sites…
That is not to say you can’t find glamour models on these sites; you can if you’re willing to pay—bigly. Even inexperienced models with portfolios filled with cell phone selfies are asking for a payment of $100/hour and other, slightly more experienced models charge $250 per hour. If you have the money—and I don’t—you may be—key words—able find models on these sites and if you do. I wish you all the best.
No they’re not. There’s no value for the time and energy.
My real world experience with these sites over the past several years is that they have turned into a marketplace of models more interested in the quantity of money they can make than the quality of the images they can get from a photographer. I understand at least somewhat because in the economy we find ourselves in these days, you have to do what you gotta do to make a buck
Because of these realities, all this goes for the fees these sites charge too but I’m tired of giving these company my money… for nothing. That’s why I changed my paid, premium VIP membership to the basic free account and have let it languish just in case a model I previously photographed wants to contact me. I won’t update it (much anyway) and won’t add new photos because I think there must be a better and more affordable approach to finding models. Which ones? Check some of my other posts on this subject and look for me to share some new ones here sometime in the future.
How I made this portrait: I photographed the incredible Internet model, Maria Cedar in the doorway to (what real estate agents would call) a Butler’s Pantry that’s next to the dining room of my current home. The lighting used was from a combination of daylight coming through a large large South-facing window at camera right that’s on the second floor of an open foyer along with fill from the camera’s pop-up flash. I turned on the incandescent light in the butler’s pantry to fill any shadows behind her and add some warmth. The camera used was a Panasonic Lumix GH4 with an image-stabilized Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/F3.5-5.6 lens (at 45mm) that I bought used from a camera store in Japan. The exposure was 1/15 sec at f/9 and ISO 400. The RAW file was retouched using Imagenomic Portraiture and tweaked in Color Efex using the Glamour Glow filter.
Although she is on that same modeling website that I complained about, I didn’t find Maria there. Even though she lives 500 miles away in Utah, I found her through a combination of mutual acquaintances and her social media presence. Our last shoot together was on a few years after which she, apparently, retired. Nevertheless, I’m hoping to photograph her again sometime.
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Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography with used copies available from Amazon for around ten bucks, as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those who prefer a digital format.