Can You Take a Decent Photo…Please?
Image courtesy of Next Door Studios; click for full gallery
The saying that a picture says a thousand words has never been truer than it is when it comes to porn. As a visual medium, what the images and models look like are the most important thing to creating a great porn product. That being said I still have no idea why everyone who makes porn doesn’t know that in order to be the best you have to have the best images. I get that some people may be attracted to a more seedy, gritty quality of photo that keeps the “realness” to the subject matter as opposed to the high gloss photo layouts that are associated with top named companies like Falcon and Colt, but even then, there is composition and just the general idea of showcasing the model in the best possible light that should be considered when wanting to make people come back for more. If you look at successful internet companies like SeanCody.com, CorbinFisher.com, Suite703.com and NextDoorBuddies.com you will see that tons of time and effort have been put in to making the photos a priority and even if the models are a little too clean cut or “white bread” looking, people want to keep going to these sites because you just can’t ignore a great picture. Not only do they hire great photographers, they find people who know about lighting and how to edit a shoot, as well as, throw a little photo shop in just to make everything looks as clean as possible.
Can you imagine the cover of GQ, or Entertainment Weekly, or the Advocate using shoddy pictures to help sell the magazine? It drives me nuts when I see a photo of a guy on a site where he looks spectacular and then you see him somewhere else and the photos are so bad that you just don’t even want to bother seeing how he performs in the sheets. My friend Mick Hicks has been shooting porn for years and has worked for every successful company out there because he knows how to make a boy look great in photos and his expertise has helped launch a thousand stars and has helped develop a look that people want to see. The bottom line is that if you want to get an audience, it is important to have great guys and great sex, but if you can’t get good pictures then you are shooting yourself in the foot. Anyone who is thinking about starting a porn company should know that time spent on the photos is never time wasted and is an essential part in making a great venture.
-Dylan
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