Photoshoots especially when done outdoors are quite exciting. Exciting because of the fact that you will have to travel to different places in order to create your composition. In our recent photoshoot I actually was taken to places where i haven’t been in my thirty years stay in Baguio City. However, the experience was fun and tiring at the same time. Only regret maybe is that some of the concepts and compositions were done on the fly. We have to work with what we have and what the environment gives us, now that makes more room for creativity but sometimes it also does not coincide with what you want to accomplish. When organizing a photoshoot it does not require determining only the shoot location but it also requires careful planning, good thing some planning made before the shoot day itself made the activity fun. The following are some tips on how you can best prepare for your Outdoor photoshoot.
1. Determine your Theme – the theme will determine the overall outcome of the shoot, this will start the ball rolling in terms of planning the venue, materials needed and expenses. This will also determine the clothes that your models will wear and how they are to go about the make-up.
2. Strictly Determine the Venue – one problem that you may encounter is that you might spend a lot of time travelling to different places looking for a good spot, to avoid this, determine a spot or spots and stick to it, this will make you have a clean travel plan from one location to another.
3. Scout the venue – this is a must i think, once you have determined a venue you have to scout the area, check what the environment can provide and from there you can already conceptualize your compositions. This will prepare you on what you might what to happen on the shoot day itself and this will also give you an idea on what you want the models to do or how they would project on that day.
4. Prepare your budget – there will always be expenses entailed with photoshoots, one of which is transportation expenses, food expenses among others, it would be best to prepare rather than be sorry later on.
5. Hold a Concept meeting – prior to the shoot it would be best to orient the models and your fellow photographers, it would also be best if you can gather other ideas from the models or the photographers, brainstorm and get those creative juice to work. Several heads are better than one after all.
I am not saying of course that these tips are the solution to all your photoshoot problems but it could really help especially if you are planning a shoot for the first time. These tips were not taken from any other professional advices or websites but rather according to my experience in organizing photoshoots. And oh one last thing don’t forget to bring your sunscreen or apply sunscreen since you are shooting outdoors.
