By @ijyoyo | November 17 2020 | Envision
Photoshoots by yourself can be the funniest things you can do with a camera or a smartphone! I will share some the most important parts about planning a photoshoot and the creative process you can follow along with!
The first step before anything else is finding what the purpose or look of the shoot will be. This can be a combination of the emotional feeling, style and colors for the shoot.
Commonly people call the combination of many ideas a moodboard. These can combine a collage of images, graphics and colors to define the meaning of the shoot.
Mood Boards are the basis for any good photoshoot. Having one in mind before shooting will give you direction. Things to add to your Mood Board include photographs, portraits, texts of the meaning, color schemes and anything else that reminds you of the main photoshoot.
Some great places for visual inspiration include Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, 500px or google images online. However, looking at other places can be very insightful as well such as professionally published magazines for editorial photos such as National Geographic, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker for example.
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There are also color scheme pickers online to help you figure out what colors work well together if you are not familiar with color theory. These websites give you a variety of options such as complementary, analogous and triadic and split complementary colors.
Adobe Color is a free website that you can help determine the color scheme for your photoshoot.
Once you have all your favorite things saved you can use mobile apps and programs to combine these together as a collage.
You can use photoshop for this task, but if you do not have photoshop there are plenty of other free options online. Such as Canva , GoMoodBoard or BeFunky
Finding inspiration may take time, so don’t rush it. Remember that you can refine your idea as you think more deeply into it.
Location scouting can start with something such as google maps or google earth to find your locations. There are many websites that will allow you to find somewhere you would like to shoot at nearby.
You can use sites like Instagram and see different areas in your city where people pose, these are really great places to find prime photo spots.
Places like Flickr are also useful for finding locations within your area.
Another useful website is Shot Hot Spot , I’ve used this website all the time. This combines Flickr Images and images geotagged across the web with people submitting photos to great photo spots.
Do you have past locations that you want to save? Google has a service for this as well called Google My Maps. You can create Custom maps and layers to keep track of your maps. You also can see them on their IOS and Google Play App.
You can also location scout in person, perhaps drive,bike or take the bus around. Look for potential spots and mark them down as you go.
Another way to find locations is by searching for what you want to shoot such as a museum style vibe, Coffee shops, Parking Garages, Public access rooftops.
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Tip: if it’s somewhere that isn’t open to the public or you are unsure if you can shoot there find the businesses website and try emailing them asking for your inquiry and weather its a commercial or non-commercial shoot. I’ve done this and have found much success!
Location scouting is the next step to creating your photoshoot. Spend some time finding different locations that could work and bookmark future locations.
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Now that you have the mood board and location the next step is understanding the conditions and planning out the time.
Conditions include weather and time. Some questions to ask yourself include, Do you want to shoot during the day time vs golden hour? Does the lighting matter in the locations you have chosen? Does it need to be sunny or overcast?
Weather and time together work, making you know when to arrive for the best photos.
The time is important for the type of lighting. Types of lighting may include blue hour, golden hour, direct sunlight, overcast, shadows and indoor lighting.
Always check the weather before a photoshoot during the week, it may rain or get cloudy. If you can forecast rainy weather you can reschedule or plan so you capture the best photos. Although rainy photoshoots can be fun, if you have a certain idea they can surely offset the idea.
Another thing to think about is the busiest of the location and the time of operations. Is the place you want to shoot at going to be open on the specific date you planned?
Will these locations be buser or slower during certain times of the day?
This is completely up to the moodboard. Some things you might want to think about is the color scheme, how it coordinates with the location and time of day. Putting these together from shoes, pants, shirts and other accessories is extremely important.
Certain outfits make sense during different seasons and different locations. Also a really good tip is matching outfits with the background of the locations.
Take in account how much accessories you want on yourself or your model.
Figuring out outfits and accessories will help you later on in editing to reduce the time spent and the time on location to create the best look!
Now you have the plan. This is the last and final step before doing the real shoot. Get your camera or phone together.
It doesn’t matter too much if you are using a camera or phone these days. The Iphone and Google Pixel phones create stunning quality. Make sure to charge these devices before leaving for the photoshoot. Also remember to clear your memory cards for the maximum amount of space for your photos.
Other camera gear may include artificial lighting, reflectors, ND filters, lenses and extra batteries.. Also remember to bring something to stabilize your camera such as a tripod if you are doing self-portraits.
Camera tripods and iphone Tripods are important so you can step away from the camera and have stability in each photograph you take. Although it isn’t as common in outdoor locations for portraits, they are good to bring with.
Pack what you need and leave the rest so you aren’t fidgeting too much with all the gear you don’t immediately need at the photoshoot. Make a checklist and make sure to check it twice before leaving!
Make sure to arrive early! I would also suggest looking around the location beforehand again to get a sense of how the light is in certain areas and visualize where to take photos again.
Now that you have made it up to this point and have planned everything out get ready to start shooting. Make sure your settings are correct, you're on the correct SD cards and make sure to take off your lens cap!
Also make sure to check your output settings such as RAW or JPEG depending on what you want to shoot with.
Taking photos of yourself will require a timer on your camera. usually 10 seconds is a good length to get your full body in frame. Some cameras have mobile apps that allow you to take photos from your phone. You can also buy a remote to take photos when you aren’t near the camera.
Once you get home it’s time to edit your photos. You can either use Software such as Adobe Lightroom, Luminar 4, PhotoLemur, Capture one or Mobile apps such as Lightroom, Snapseed, VSCO or instagram.
Once you have your editing program decide what photos you want to keep and edit and which one to leave alone and not edit. Narrow down to the best photos of the shoot with a good variety so you don’t spend too long editing all these photos.
Determine where you want to share or use your photos. How many photos will you probably need?How many do you want to edit? How many will you be sharing in all?
Editing really comes down to the original inspiration you had for the photoshoot. Editing can take time as well. Try your best to stay key to your moodboard and keep shooting!