Model Shooting

[DANSimage]

Besides the obvious always focusing on the eyes what else is there to know to get that amazing shot ?

[Brian500au]

Make sure the batteries are charged?

[ricktas]

the location, the model, the pose, the composition, the styling, the lighting, the photographer, the gear, the photographers editing skills

[NikonNellie]

Exactly what Rick said. It's not a matter of just standing someone in a location - there are many factors that come into the equation. There are certain rules for posing, composition wise you need to make sure there are no other distracting elements and good clean backgrounds, appropriate clothing to fit the style of shoot, the length of lenses that are used. Most importantly it's about the light and your vision as a photographer as to what you want to capture in a shoot - all of the above elements come into play to make that vision successful.
ABOVE ALL - PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and lots of research!

[Pixley]

I also think that for good people shots you have to establish some connection with the person first - or at least during the shoot to get the best out of them. Marching someone up to a window and saying smile is not generally going to elicit the best shot or atmosphere. I think even talking to people while shooting is often enough to have them relax and go with it - particularly if they are not used to the camera or is a professional model. I also use the trick of showing them photos while shooting so that they can see what results I am getting. :-)

[DANSimage]

thank you all for the indepth response. rictas Just wondering in regards to editing what are the key areas are they the face of the subject or more just touch up where needed. And NikonNellie i will most defiantly practice as much as possible, probably one of the quickest ways to learn.

[ricktas]

thank you all for the indepth response. rictas Just wondering in regards to editing what are the key areas are they the face of the subject or more just touch up where needed. And NikonNellie i will most defiantly practice as much as possible, probably one of the quickest ways to learn.

Learning to edit well is a skill in itself and to be a good editor is going to take several months; learning to be a great editor can take years. It also depends on what you are hoping to achieve from the shoot. A bikini model can do well with the glamour look, smoothed skin etc, whereas an elderly model might do better with some slight blurring selectively, but then these two things do not generally work that well on male models. So you need to learn and practice a whole range of editing techniques and then apply them selectively to each image as needed.