The Chemistry of a Photoshoot (part 2)
The last post went over with such a positive reaction (other than people not liking the font - which I am changing for further posts) that I decided to move up the schedule and write the 2nd part of the series.
The next thing I'd like to touch on is the energy of a photoshoot. This is really an unspoken thing in classes and seminars on photography. However, I have found that this can make or break a shoot.
What is so important about energy? Energy is what keeps a photographer going creatively. Energy is what keeps the subject(s) attention. Energy maintains a feeling of comfort and fun. All of these things are important to producing quality images.
I'd like to suggest some things to do to maintain a good level of energy, as well as some things to avoid.
The first thing, and often something that can be overlooked, is the atmosphere.
This mainly applies to an indoor shoot, as you can't always control the atmosphere of an outdoor shoot, especially if it is for a grunge theme and you are shooting near demolished buildings or dumpsters.
Imagine walking into a room that is darkly lit, quiet, and just looks bare. This is a perfect example of a negative energy atmosphere. It makes me sleepy just thinking about it.
I understand that it is sometimes important to shoot in darker conditions, however I believe you will find that most of the time you can leave all the lights on in a room (and even add some) and your photos will not be affected much.
For example, you may find that to shoot a properly exposed photograph in a room lit by tungsten lights you need to be shooting at 1/60th, f/2.8, at ISO 400. Most home lights do not have the power output that studio lights or even speedlights can put out. So you see, if you are shooting at 1/250th (the most common flash sync speed) and ISO 100 you will not come anywhere close to having interfering lights from the room. It is intimidating enough to stand in front of a camera and lights if you are not used to doing so. If the subjects are standing in front of bright lights in a dark room it could feel like an interrogation room, which never puts anyone at ease!
If you can, have upbeat music playing. Sometimes, if you are shooting a model, it may be a good idea to tell them to bring their ipod or a CD with music. This way you know for sure the music is something they will like and feel comfortable with. Play it loud enough to where it isn't just background music, but not so loud that you can't hear each other talk. This obviously doesn't apply to shooting on locations where you can't have music playing (outdoors, office environments, etc)
Another thing that will keep the energy going in your photoshoot is the photographer's energy. That's right, YOU can affect the shoot in a positive or negative way depending on how you are acting. If you are moving slowly, and talking quietly it will affect the mood of everyone there. The photographer should be the liveliest, most peppy person at the shoot. Your mood infects everyone present. If you are upbeat, it will show in the images you take. Try to get as many people smiling as you can while you are going through introductions and preliminary stuff.
If they remember you as the "fun photographer" they will want to work with you again and will cooperate with you more easily.
A common pitfall of some inexperienced photographers is to chimp after every image shot. Unless you are shooting light tests, or shooting inanimate objects, I beg you, don't do this!! It sucks all the energy out of the room by breaking the rhythm of the shoot.
Once you have set up the lights, inform your subject that you are going to do a series of light tests and that they don't have to pose or anything until you are done. This allows them to stay relaxed as long as possible, and also gets them used to the idea of how bright the flashing lights will be before they have to jump right in and start posing for your camera. Once you have the lights set up the way you want them, let your subject know you are ready to start shooting. From this point on, the lights will not change from shot to shot, so there really is no need to check your screen after every shot.
Imagine you are the subject and you're not used to having your photo taken. (This is common in corporate environments). If your photographer stops after every frame shot, you will start to feel like the shoot is going to take forever. So now, not only do you feel a little awkward or uncomfortable in front of the camera, but you are fully expecting it to take 25 minutes just to get one usable head shot.
Chimping after every frame also affects the rhythm of your shoot because every time you take the camera away from your eye several things happen on the subconscious level. First, the subject sees the camera is not pointed at them anymore and they will stop holding the pose you just worked so hard to get them into. If it takes you 30 seconds to chimp, and 30 more to get your subjects back into position before you can shoot, you waste 60 seconds every time you take the camera away from your eye. In any kind of high-pressure environment, a minute between frames is much too long!! Sometimes all you get with a subject is 5 minutes. If you spend 3 of those 5 minutes chimping you aren't going to walk away with much to work with.
Second, if there is more than one person posing for you the time between frames encourages them to start interacting with one another (usually out of boredom from waiting for you to finish looking). This is not necessarily a bad thing as it can put them at ease with one another, but it encourages movement and at times the subjects break out into uncomfortable laughter which is often hard to stop. There is nothing worse than needing someone to look serious for a photograph and being met with uncontrollable laughter on their end. It is both frustrating and time consuming to get them to get their head back into the shoot. This isn't to say you can't have fun while shooting, but it all depends on the shot. You don't find many Forbes covers where the CEO is rolling on the floor from laughter...
Finally, it affects you as a photographer, because every time you stop to chimp you slow your creative flow. Your mind is no longer concentrating on capturing images. It gets away from making great photographs and then has to concentrate on getting the camera back into the exact spot it was in, making sure the subjects are where they should be, etc. There's really no way to avoid chimping all together, I'm not suggesting that. But there is no reason to do it constantly after every exposure. Shoot 3, 4, 5 frames and then glance quickly at what you have. Shoot 4 or 5 more frames, and glance quickly. The main reason for glancing at this point is to make sure that your subject(s) had all their eyes open, that they were smiling, or to make sure the posing was what you had intended.
One other point I'd like to stress is to always sound excited about your images. This contributes to the positive energy of the shoot.
After you've shot 5 or 6 frames, as you are checking them for closed eyes, etc, just comment on how good the photograph looks. Compliment the subject on their appearance, or their pose, or anything that comes to mind. This eases their mind and makes them feel more confident. Unless it is a truly amazing photograph I usually hold off on showing them any images until the very end. Again, walking away from the spot you are shooting from means you have to rethink part of the process when you get back, which eats up time and takes your mind off of getting what you came for. However, if you feel like the subject needs to see the image they are helping create then by all means - go for it. Having a subject who won't cooperate or doesn't feel comfortable being photographed can and will ruin a potentially great photograph.
Hope this is helpful and informative. I know it was a bit long but there was a lot to go over.
Stay tuned for more!
(Merry Christmas)
R.
The next thing I'd like to touch on is the energy of a photoshoot. This is really an unspoken thing in classes and seminars on photography. However, I have found that this can make or break a shoot.
What is so important about energy? Energy is what keeps a photographer going creatively. Energy is what keeps the subject(s) attention. Energy maintains a feeling of comfort and fun. All of these things are important to producing quality images.
I'd like to suggest some things to do to maintain a good level of energy, as well as some things to avoid.
The first thing, and often something that can be overlooked, is the atmosphere.
This mainly applies to an indoor shoot, as you can't always control the atmosphere of an outdoor shoot, especially if it is for a grunge theme and you are shooting near demolished buildings or dumpsters.
Imagine walking into a room that is darkly lit, quiet, and just looks bare. This is a perfect example of a negative energy atmosphere. It makes me sleepy just thinking about it.
I understand that it is sometimes important to shoot in darker conditions, however I believe you will find that most of the time you can leave all the lights on in a room (and even add some) and your photos will not be affected much.
For example, you may find that to shoot a properly exposed photograph in a room lit by tungsten lights you need to be shooting at 1/60th, f/2.8, at ISO 400. Most home lights do not have the power output that studio lights or even speedlights can put out. So you see, if you are shooting at 1/250th (the most common flash sync speed) and ISO 100 you will not come anywhere close to having interfering lights from the room. It is intimidating enough to stand in front of a camera and lights if you are not used to doing so. If the subjects are standing in front of bright lights in a dark room it could feel like an interrogation room, which never puts anyone at ease!
If you can, have upbeat music playing. Sometimes, if you are shooting a model, it may be a good idea to tell them to bring their ipod or a CD with music. This way you know for sure the music is something they will like and feel comfortable with. Play it loud enough to where it isn't just background music, but not so loud that you can't hear each other talk. This obviously doesn't apply to shooting on locations where you can't have music playing (outdoors, office environments, etc)
Another thing that will keep the energy going in your photoshoot is the photographer's energy. That's right, YOU can affect the shoot in a positive or negative way depending on how you are acting. If you are moving slowly, and talking quietly it will affect the mood of everyone there. The photographer should be the liveliest, most peppy person at the shoot. Your mood infects everyone present. If you are upbeat, it will show in the images you take. Try to get as many people smiling as you can while you are going through introductions and preliminary stuff.
If they remember you as the "fun photographer" they will want to work with you again and will cooperate with you more easily.
A common pitfall of some inexperienced photographers is to chimp after every image shot. Unless you are shooting light tests, or shooting inanimate objects, I beg you, don't do this!! It sucks all the energy out of the room by breaking the rhythm of the shoot.
Once you have set up the lights, inform your subject that you are going to do a series of light tests and that they don't have to pose or anything until you are done. This allows them to stay relaxed as long as possible, and also gets them used to the idea of how bright the flashing lights will be before they have to jump right in and start posing for your camera. Once you have the lights set up the way you want them, let your subject know you are ready to start shooting. From this point on, the lights will not change from shot to shot, so there really is no need to check your screen after every shot.
Imagine you are the subject and you're not used to having your photo taken. (This is common in corporate environments). If your photographer stops after every frame shot, you will start to feel like the shoot is going to take forever. So now, not only do you feel a little awkward or uncomfortable in front of the camera, but you are fully expecting it to take 25 minutes just to get one usable head shot.
Chimping after every frame also affects the rhythm of your shoot because every time you take the camera away from your eye several things happen on the subconscious level. First, the subject sees the camera is not pointed at them anymore and they will stop holding the pose you just worked so hard to get them into. If it takes you 30 seconds to chimp, and 30 more to get your subjects back into position before you can shoot, you waste 60 seconds every time you take the camera away from your eye. In any kind of high-pressure environment, a minute between frames is much too long!! Sometimes all you get with a subject is 5 minutes. If you spend 3 of those 5 minutes chimping you aren't going to walk away with much to work with.
Second, if there is more than one person posing for you the time between frames encourages them to start interacting with one another (usually out of boredom from waiting for you to finish looking). This is not necessarily a bad thing as it can put them at ease with one another, but it encourages movement and at times the subjects break out into uncomfortable laughter which is often hard to stop. There is nothing worse than needing someone to look serious for a photograph and being met with uncontrollable laughter on their end. It is both frustrating and time consuming to get them to get their head back into the shoot. This isn't to say you can't have fun while shooting, but it all depends on the shot. You don't find many Forbes covers where the CEO is rolling on the floor from laughter...
Finally, it affects you as a photographer, because every time you stop to chimp you slow your creative flow. Your mind is no longer concentrating on capturing images. It gets away from making great photographs and then has to concentrate on getting the camera back into the exact spot it was in, making sure the subjects are where they should be, etc. There's really no way to avoid chimping all together, I'm not suggesting that. But there is no reason to do it constantly after every exposure. Shoot 3, 4, 5 frames and then glance quickly at what you have. Shoot 4 or 5 more frames, and glance quickly. The main reason for glancing at this point is to make sure that your subject(s) had all their eyes open, that they were smiling, or to make sure the posing was what you had intended.
One other point I'd like to stress is to always sound excited about your images. This contributes to the positive energy of the shoot.
After you've shot 5 or 6 frames, as you are checking them for closed eyes, etc, just comment on how good the photograph looks. Compliment the subject on their appearance, or their pose, or anything that comes to mind. This eases their mind and makes them feel more confident. Unless it is a truly amazing photograph I usually hold off on showing them any images until the very end. Again, walking away from the spot you are shooting from means you have to rethink part of the process when you get back, which eats up time and takes your mind off of getting what you came for. However, if you feel like the subject needs to see the image they are helping create then by all means - go for it. Having a subject who won't cooperate or doesn't feel comfortable being photographed can and will ruin a potentially great photograph.
Hope this is helpful and informative. I know it was a bit long but there was a lot to go over.
Stay tuned for more!
(Merry Christmas)
R.
Labels: camera, chemistry of a photoshoot, chimping, eductational, fun, lights, model, music, subject
posted by raydetwiler at
1:24 PM
2 Comments:
What a great post. Thnx
I posted about a first assignment over at www.lighting-essentials.com - I will be linking to these two posts as well. Nicely done.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home