The Chemistry of a Photoshoot

Not too long ago I was asked to assist a friend who was doing his first photoshoot. It was to be a family portrait, for a family of 4. At the time I didn't think much of it as I assist on a weekly basis.
Plus, the friend I was assisting needed to use lights, which I was going to provide since he didn't have a lot of gear at his disposal. As we arrived on location, I realized that this was not going to be my typical assisting gig.

My friend is in art school, studying photography, but it seems there are still some things you just can't pick up in a class room. Some of those I have been fortunate enough to have picked up over the last year or so of having assignments on my own and assisting another photographer. This is in no way a reflection on my friend as a photographer, but these are the things, I thought, that should be shared on blogs. These are things that are often taken for granted as we skip on to more interesting things such as composition or lighting. Sure learning how to create good photographs is important to the business but if you can't manage a photoshoot then you will not get many opportunities to use your skills as a photographer.

That is where the concept for this little set of posts came from. I'd like to just walk through some of the aspects that are often overlooked, but are so key to having a successful shoot. Some of this stuff I've read in books, but most of it I have not found in text form. It has been picked up from watching others or from personal experience. I'm by no means an expert, but I think I can at least offer somewhat of a foundation to build on.

Some of the things I'd like to talk about include:
- pre-shoot thoughts
- energy
- controlling the shoot from start to finish
- making the subject feel comfortable
- some common pitfalls

First thing I'll talk about today is "Pre-shoot Thoughts".
By this I mean a mental check-list to go through before the shoot, as well as making sure the assignment is understood, etc.

The easiest parts of the check list are things like date, time, location, and subject. These are all things you will be discussing with your client prior to anyone's arrival. Assuming all of this lines up, there are a few other things you will want to discuss with your client prior to shooting.

One of the first mistakes I made as a photographer shooting one of my first assignments was to just start shooting as if I was shooting for me. I framed things the way I thought they should look. I lit them the way I thought they should be lit. I edited them the way I would normally edit a photograph. This is all well and good if you are shooting for yourself. But when someone else's expectations are to be met you can't just do everything as if it was for your own portfolio.

My first shoot resulted in a 4-hour reshoot because the client was not happy with any of my images. I had failed to ask one of the most important questions: "what exactly do you want?"
Turns out the client wanted wide shots of the interior of their house so they could see as many rooms as possible in each shot. What I had shot was more close-up, detailed shots of the rooms. He referred to it as something that looked like an advertisement for a furniture company.
Had I taken 3 extra minutes at the beginning of my shoot to find out just what he expected out of the day I would have saved myself 4 hours of re-shooting, which of course he was not charged for.

Things to consider are things like the useage of the photograph - is it going in a magazine, a mailer, a website, etc. Each of these can require a different type of shot. For example, a photo for a magazine could be, among other things, a cover, a spread, or a small insert. If it is a full page photograph you will need to know if it is supposed to have text printed over it. If so, it is a good idea to pick a background that lends itself to having something printed over it. A plain wall, or a blue sky are good places to start. Text is almost always printed in one color, so having half the background black and the other half white (for example) might require that a half of the text be an opposite color than that of the background. Always try to keep it simple, and keep the final product in mind.

Another important thing is the format. If you are shooting photographs for a horizontal banner on a website it would be a bad idea to shoot all verticals, as only about 1/1oth of the image will be able to be used once it has been cropped down to fit the banner. Likewise, if you are shooting for a cover of a magazine, shooting a horizontal image is probably not the best use of your time.

You are probably thinking that this is all stuff that seems pretty logical, and I would certainly agree. However, you would be surprised how easy it is to forget these details once you are on location and wrapped up in getting the subject to cooperate, lighting the scene, plus getting it all shot within 15 minutes so the room you are in can be used for something else as soon as you walk out of it.

Getting all of these details hammered out with the client before the shoot begins will save you many hours of post processing (trying to convert verticals into horizontals, etc) or worse, hours of re-shooting.

Another important question to ask is when the images are needed by. It would be easy to assume that if a shoot is scheduled for a Thursday that Monday would be an OK due-date. However, it could very well be that the client is on a tight deadline and needs the images by Friday morning in order to meet their deadline. Don't assume the client will let you know of the deadline they are under. They may assume you already have spoken to someone else about it. In which case, if you haven't, they miss their deadline, the images you have just shot become useless, and you will not look very good for having missed the unmentioned deadline. Save yourself the trouble and be sure to ask!

Your check list should also include a question about location permits, or security. Some buildings have security officers who have been instructed not to allow photography. In most cases if you are doing a shoot on location you will have someone with you who will alert security, however this is not always the case. Check with whoever you are working with to make sure all the proper permits and red-tape has been worked through or you may find that you have to come back on another day to shoot. This may ultimately be the responsibility of someone in marketing or PR, but they don't always have experience dealing with photographers and may not know to cover this. Asking ahead of time can prevent a lot of issues. Even if the person knows to do a lot of this, they will know that you are on the ball and are thinking ahead as well. That can never hurt!

Be punctual.

Finally, dress appropriately. Photographers can get away with dressing down a lot of times as they are seen as "artistic", and everyone knows artistic people are weird (heheh). But it speaks volumes about your professionalism if you show up in clothes that are appropriate to the location you are shooting in. Just like I wouldn't go shoot a wedding in jeans, I would never go to a corporate environment in old shorts and a T-shirt. Find out what kind of environment you will be in (business formal, business casual, etc). If the company is a very formal one, you should at least be dressed business casual. This shows them that you respect them enough to put in the extra effort and not stand out all day looking like someone they picked up off the street to shoot their annual report. I would even go as far as to say the same applies if you are dropping off images to a client. If they think of you in a positive light, they will be more likely to call you back for another assignment. It may not seem like much, but dressing professionally can make an impression on all the right people.

Hopefully not all of this was redundant information for you. I will post more soon and share more hard-learned lessons. I'd be interested to hear any comments you may have, or input on things I may have overlooked.