Photographers, Here's How To Prep For Your Next Shoot!

Preparing for your photoshoot can be stressful. Trust me, I know! Especially when you're first starting out. When I was starting out I didn't know what preparation I needed, and I had a little voice in the back of my head telling me that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. It was scary. Especially if you don't have very much experience to refer back to so you can figure out what you need to know.

I'm here to help. I've been doing this for a long time now, and I've hit a lot of what we will call 'learning opportunities' to set me straight. I don't doubt that I still have a ways to go because we never stop learning, but I will tell you what my experiences have taught me thus far.

Requirements

If you're working for a client, you need to know what they want. If your client is a brand then they are likely to provide you with a brief to describe exactly what they need, use it. Study it. You need to make sure you are comfortable with what your client is asking for because this industry is incredibly diverse. There's a lot of variables within photography, and your client will probably be looking for something pretty specific.

What type of photographs do they want? Editorials, portraits, beauty, family, event? This is the first thing you need to know before you can narrow down any styling ideas for your work.

From there if you don't have a studio, you can decide on your location. Maybe a beach, maybe a park or a field? It depends on your client's aesthetic and what they're using the images for. If it's a sports brand you can reach out to gyms or sport centers to ask if they will give you access. Seriously, do not be scared to ask. The worst they can do is say no and what difference would that really make to you? All you would then need to do is reach out to someone else or just pick a different location. Where you shoot is important. Shooting for a swimwear brand in a big city for example wouldn't make sense. But at the beach or pool seems much more logical. I know this seems simple but context matters. Pictures tell stories and it's your job to make sure you're telling your story accurately.

Now we don't always get given a brief, that shouldn't stop you; writing your own isn't as scary as it sounds.

Writing a brief

If your client hasn't given you a brief or you are working on a personal project, don't fret. You just need to take the matters into your own hands, write your own brief! It doesn't have to be as daunting as it sounds. Writing a brief keeps you on track and it helps you fully realise your own concept. Your brief doesn't have to be long and complicated as long as it has the information that you need. Plus it will get you into the practise of following a brief which is a key skill within this industry.

First thing's first; when and where? Your client or model will need a time and a place to meet you for the shoot. Later on, if you need or want to, you can detail why you chose this but keep it separate. The time and place should be at the very top to make it easy for the model to find and refer back to.

Do you have a theme or a concept? Get that written down next. Keeping your concept in mind will stop you from getting carried away with the countless thoughts and ideas that I'm sure you have!

The next thing I usually add is a project overview. Why are you shooting? What do you hope to achieve, and how are you going to do that? For example my current project is to help women realise how powerful they are. The way I'm going to accomplish this is asking my models what makes them feel powerful, and build my concept based on their answer. I use location and styling to help make them feel powerful so I can really capture that emotion.

Do you have any styling requirements for your subject? If so, great get that down too. What will they wear? How does the clothing reflect the concept? How should they have their hair and makeup? Will you want them wearing jewellery and accessories? How about props you or the model should bring? As the photographer, its important for you to know these things so you can relay the message to your subject or model. After all, this is your vision! Or it's a client's vision and they're paying you to bring it to life. You should also consider whether you need to bring anything to touch up the hair and makeup, whether you need it to be waterproof, that kind of thing.

What is your objective? You should detail what you are hoping to achieve from this photoshoot. This could be how you want your work to make people feel, to expand your portfolio, to help you get more work, to give your client material to use in advertising. What do you want to get out of this shoot?

Who is your target audience? Knowing who you want to show your work to will help you with your marketing when you get ready to post your work online. The more specific you can be about who you want to present your work to, the better. If it's mothers you want to reach is it new moms or moms who's children have grown up and are looking to record these memories of their children growing? If it's magazines, what type of magazine? Better yet what specific magazine would you love to feature in? If it's brands, what type of brand? Small and local or a big well-known brand? What do they sell? I'm sure you get the idea by now.

Your key message is also a good thing to get written down. Knowing what message you want to convey will help you to tell the story through your images. The message could be as simple as telling potential consumers why they should buy the clothes the model is wearing. It could also be a more creative message that reflects your concept.

Deliverables. This would be where you describe what your model or client will receive after the shoot. This is important because the bottom line for most people is wanting to know what's in it for them. What are they going to get from you? You should give reminders to your clients in as many ways as you can about what they are going to receive. There is a line though, you don't want to be rubbing in their face and mentioning it in every message or email you send to them but little reminders here and there. When they book with you, tell them in full at that point. Detail it again in the brief and sprinkle small reminders into conversation so that your client has it in the back of their mind that your service is good for them.

The final thing to add into the brief is your budget. How much are you going to be spending on this photoshoot? A lot of things can come into this like travel, renting equipment, hiring MUAs and/or stylists. If you're working for a brand and they're paying then you have to make sure not only yourself but your team is being paid fairly for their work.

Create a moodboard

A moodboard will help you visualise your concept more. And getting a creative block mid-shoot is one of the most painful feelings. If you have a mood board you can look back at for inspiration about how to use your location to it's full potential or poses for your model, then you have much less to worry about. Just make sure it's just for inspiration and to copy, trust your intuition and know that you have some incredible ideas in that brain of yours.

Check the weather

The weather can have a massive impact on your images if you work outdoors so make sure you know what you're working with and make sure you're prepared for it. If it's raining, you may need to protect your camera and potentially reconsider the location or styling of your model. And you'll want to check this every day so if the forecast changes you're ready for it.

Gear

This may seem obvious, but pack your gear the day before the shoot. This way you can make sure you have everything you need, all your batteries will be fully charged and you have everything ready to pick up and go instead of scrambling the morning of, panicking to make sure it's all there and then forgetting your props and spare memory cards. You don't need that stress, especially on shoot day. You want to be feeling your best so you can do your best work.

Feeling your best

Speaking of feeling your best, leave yourself enough time to have a nice breakfast and to freshen up with a shower before you leave. And shoots can take a long time, it's easy to get carried away and lose track of time when you're really on a roll. I highly recommend bringing snacks, this keeps moral high, keeps you feeling satisfied so your focusing on the photoshoot instead of your stomach. For me, there are few things more stressful than being late. So aim to be at your shoot early. Account for delays such as traffic. If it helps, start thinking of it as a race against your model and/or team to be the first on site.

Did you find this helpful? Do you have any more questions about how to prepare for a photoshoot? Send me an email (tijayphotos@gmail.com) or a message on Instagram (@tijay.photos) and we will either talk about it or I will answer your question in my next blog.