by Nigel Ryan

Created on: February 10, 2009

So... your on the Internet modeling sites and you have some pictures up on your portfolio. now you're looking for some work. You have received some offers of work and the photographer has used some jargon that you are not familiar with. So what exactly does TFP mean? Below you will find the meaning of the most common jargon the photographers will use.

1 Paid shoots Model:

where the photographer pays the model and has complete use of the images and the model is not entitled to any images or use of same. (some photographers may pass on some images or samples but require that they not be used / published anywhere else). This also involves the model signing a model release for a particular magazine or use, or an open release, which may eventually allow the photographer to recover the model fees spent. As well photographic evidence of age (18+) may also be required. In this case the photographer takes all the chances.

2. Paid shoots Photographer:

where the model pays the photographer for the shoot and a certain number of images. The number of images and / or prints and also whether they are airbrushed or not needs to be settled on and agreed to here.
Theoretically the copyright of these images for a private purpose (just as with a wedding) should be with the model but some photographers want to be paid for doing the images and want to keep the copyright for those images as well and so they get the model to sign the rights and possibly a model release giving those rights back to the photographer so that they still have control over how images can be used and also make more money from possible reprints.
(I find that unethical, but it seems to be prevalent and many models are too uneducated to realise this. Imagine commissioning and paying an an artist to paint your portrait and then finding they want to inspect how you hang the portrait and also want to stop you from selling the portrait elsewhere.)
These are more or less makeover shots that you would get from specialist studios in some large shopping centres.

3. Trial shoots / Speculative shoots / Commissioned shoots:

where the photographer and model agree to shoot for a magazine or other purpose without either being paid up front and sometimes sharing some expenses of the shoot.

a) Trial Shoot:
a short shoot meant to provide some images to send to an editor / magazine for pre approval or for possible publication.
May also be used to see if model and photographer can work well together for possible future paid shoots or to

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