A few pointers for newbie shooters. - GoFuckYourself.com

Paul Markham · 02-07-2006, 03:45 AM

I'm talking blunt so forgive me. Getting a lot of idiots recently submitting content to us. Or asking dumb questions.

Seems recently more people are looking to get into the content game, either by shooting themselves, opening a content store, offering content to brokers or established content stores or shooting custom.

So to save you all a lot of time let me give you a few pointers to help maximise your income. As this side of the industry is very competitive and the surfer, when he's jerking off, does not care if you started last week or been doing three decades.

Photography.
Go out and buy some decent lights, camera and accessories. Simple as that, budget from $10,000 upwards.

Equipment today is so fucking easy to use it's untrue. Use cameras that get the pictures/video in focus and good quality. Most sites will compress images and videos, if they compress crap it looks like shit.

Exposure, so fucking easy a 5 year old should be able to do it. Take test pictures, put them on your computer and get it right.

Color balance, again a fucking dream to get right. Don't even think the surfer gets off on a green tint image. Test the color when you're testing the lighting.

Pornography.
Please don't tell me I don't understand your niche. I've been shooting porn nearly three decades and jerking off to it for four decades. So if I don't understand it how the fuck do you think a surfer will? I'm assuming your not shooting some weird niche like bondage, BDSM or something. Please don't even attempt to shoot niches you know zero about.

Go out and buy a few magazines and DVDs, in the niche you will shoot, and look at what they are printing. I say magazines because on the Net a lot of what you will see is from people basing their business model on traffic not content, also how many sites will allow you inside. Slightly better chance of seeing how it should be done with magazines and DVDs.

Learn, learn and learn again. Then go back and revise. We all sell pornography if you don't understand what the difference between pornography and photography is be assured the guys spending $30 a month do.

And again please don't tell me you're shooting some niche that's about crap content. There is no such niche when you're spending $30.

Lastly go see a lawyer about the legal situation of what you're doing. I'm not a lawyer.

Now before you send me pictures or ask what's the best way to sell content read this a few times and get it right.

End of rant.

xenigo · 02-07-2006, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Exposure, so fucking easy a 5 year old should be able to do it. Take test pictures, put them on your computer and get it right.

I don't claim to be an expert, but metering to get perfect exposure balance between ambient light and flash can sometimes be difficult. Especially so for a beginner. Adjusting ratios so your key is 1 stop higher than your bg lights, and so your hairlight is one stop higher than your key is something a lot of beginners won't understand either. Basically what I'm saying is that determining correct exposure and correctly metering all of the lights is quite complex.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Color balance, again a fucking dream to get right. Don't even think the surfer gets off on a green tint image. Test the color when you're testing the lighting.

Color balance is a science that is a challenge for most photographers. There's a lot of techniques that people use, including 16% grey cards and post processing white balance tweaking, etc. In order to obtain perfect color balance in situations where two temperatures of lights are used (ambient and tungsten, flash and ambient, etc) the complexity is even moreso. Anyway, neither exposure nor color balance are easy for anyone except the most experienced photographers.

xenigo · 02-07-2006, 04:05 AM

Correction: 18% grey, not 16%.

Paul Markham · 02-07-2006, 04:08 AM

Quote:

I don't claim to be an expert, but metering to get perfect exposure balance between ambient light and flash can sometimes be difficult. Especially so for a beginner. Adjusting ratios so your key is 1 stop higher than your bg lights, and so your hairlight is one stop higher than your key is something a lot of beginners won't understand either. Basically what I'm saying is that determining correct exposure and correctly metering all of the lights is quite complex.

Quote:

Color balance is a science that is a challenge for most photographers. There's a lot of techniques that people use, including 16% grey cards and post processing white balance tweaking, etc. In order to obtain perfect color balance in situations where two temperatures of lights are used (ambient and tungsten, flash and ambient, etc) the complexity is even moreso. Anyway, neither exposure nor color balance are easy for anyone except the most experienced photographers.

I'm not talking about getting it to a complicated lighting set up or the color perfect. I'm talking about basic exposure and color balance.

Plus as I said do you think a surfer with $30 to spend seriously gives a fuck if you are a novice or experienced as he's jerking off?

I've never seen a niche called "Crap Photographer".

Except when a few crap photographers are trying to con me.

xenigo · 02-07-2006, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

I'm not talking about getting it to a complicated lighting set up or the color perfect. I'm talking about basic exposure and color balance.

Plus as I said do you think a surfer with $30 to spend seriously gives a fuck if you are a novice or experienced as he's jerking off?

I've never seen a niche called "Crap Photographer".

Except when a few crap photographers are trying to con me.

I'll try and touch on what I believe to be the fundamental problem you're pointing out. Our media portrays pornography as an industry where you don't need much of a brain to exist, and make millions. So I believe this business attracts a lot of people who have no talent, simply for that reason alone. The other aspect is that this business attracts a lot of dudes who simply want to see naked chicks.

Perhaps that's too general of an analogy, because I've seen the same crappy product across the entire spectrum of photography. Everyone that owns a camera calls themselves a 'photographer'.

Paul Markham · 02-07-2006, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenigo

I'll try and touch on what I believe to be the fundamental problem you're pointing out. Our media portrays pornography as an industry where you don't need much of a brain to exist, and make millions. So I believe this business attracts a lot of people who have no talent, simply for that reason alone. The other aspect is that this business attracts a lot of dudes who simply want to see naked chicks.

Perhaps that's too general of an analogy, because I've seen the same crappy product across the entire spectrum of photography. Everyone that owns a camera calls themselves a 'photographer'.

You hit the nail on the head. Also look at the "Hot Chick" threads. Most of these girls would find it hard to get a magazine shoot, but 100s here are telling us how hot she is.

Oh I forgot this is not the magazine business, this is the Internet.

Good magazine set returns $3,000, a whole days solo girl custom work returns $1,500. A site signing up 500 a day is mega site. A magazine selling 15,000 copies a month is small.

Your site captures exactly what I would imagine the niche needs, photography seems more than adequate.

ssp · 02-07-2006, 04:32 AM

Who are you to decide what works and what not?

xenigo · 02-07-2006, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

You hit the nail on the head. Also look at the "Hot Chick" threads. Most of these girls would find it hard to get a magazine shoot, but 100s here are telling us how hot she is.

Oh I forgot this is not the magazine business, this is the Internet.

Good magazine set returns $3,000, a whole days solo girl custom work returns $1,500. A site signing up 500 a day is mega site. A magazine selling 15,000 copies a month is small.

Your site captures exactly what I would imagine the niche needs, photography seems more than adequate.

Thanks for the compliment, Paul

Would you be willing to talk to me about how the magazine business works? It seems as if there might be some good opportunities there for me.

xenigo · 02-07-2006, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssp

Who are you to decide what works and what not?

He doesn't decide what works and what doesn't. The market decides, and there are certain common characteristics of media that everyone finds attractive. Color, composition, exposure, etc. These are what form the 'rules' of photography.

Paul doesn't write the rules.

Paul Markham · 02-07-2006, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssp

Who are you to decide what works and what not?

I'm not the one who decides, the porn buyer is the guy who ultimately does that. And I'm not talking about a sponsor or editor.

Quote:

Paul doesn't write the rules.

I just learned them from people who had more experience and I follow them.

Paul Markham · 02-07-2006, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenigo

Thanks for the compliment, Paul

Would you be willing to talk to me about how the magazine business works? It seems as if there might be some good opportunities there for me.

Yes.

Hit me up on ICQ.

02-07-2006, 03:45 AM	#1
Paul Markham Too old to care Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: On the sofa, watching TV or doing my jigsaws. Posts: 52,943	A few pointers for newbie shooters. I'm talking blunt so forgive me. Getting a lot of idiots recently submitting content to us. Or asking dumb questions. Seems recently more people are looking to get into the content game, either by shooting themselves, opening a content store, offering content to brokers or established content stores or shooting custom. So to save you all a lot of time let me give you a few pointers to help maximise your income. As this side of the industry is very competitive and the surfer, when he's jerking off, does not care if you started last week or been doing three decades. Photography. Go out and buy some decent lights, camera and accessories. Simple as that, budget from $10,000 upwards. Equipment today is so fucking easy to use it's untrue. Use cameras that get the pictures/video in focus and good quality. Most sites will compress images and videos, if they compress crap it looks like shit. Exposure, so fucking easy a 5 year old should be able to do it. Take test pictures, put them on your computer and get it right. Color balance, again a fucking dream to get right. Don't even think the surfer gets off on a green tint image. Test the color when you're testing the lighting. Pornography. Please don't tell me I don't understand your niche. I've been shooting porn nearly three decades and jerking off to it for four decades. So if I don't understand it how the fuck do you think a surfer will? I'm assuming your not shooting some weird niche like bondage, BDSM or something. Please don't even attempt to shoot niches you know zero about. Go out and buy a few magazines and DVDs, in the niche you will shoot, and look at what they are printing. I say magazines because on the Net a lot of what you will see is from people basing their business model on traffic not content, also how many sites will allow you inside. Slightly better chance of seeing how it should be done with magazines and DVDs. Learn, learn and learn again. Then go back and revise. We all sell pornography if you don't understand what the difference between pornography and photography is be assured the guys spending $30 a month do. And again please don't tell me you're shooting some niche that's about crap content. There is no such niche when you're spending $30. Lastly go see a lawyer about the legal situation of what you're doing. I'm not a lawyer. Now before you send me pictures or ask what's the best way to sell content read this a few times and get it right. End of rant. __________________ Blowout deal. 880 videos, 2,400 image sets, plus many RAW videos. $500. PM me for a deal. Skype Paulmarkham70

02-07-2006, 04:05 AM	#3
xenigo Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 8,067	Correction: 18% grey, not 16%.

02-07-2006, 04:32 AM	#7
ssp Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 7,990	Who are you to decide what works and what not?