In this article, I thought I’d share with you what it’s like to setup and run a photoshoot.
We love fashion, and love it when it is time to take some images to share with people.
The first thing to say it that’s its really fun!
We get to hang out with some very talented people and have the chance to wear the clothes that we love making. All of this in some truly beautiful locations.
So what comes first when planning a shoot?
Location
Usually top of our list is location. We really want to show off our clothes in their best light, and choosing a beautiful location is key to doing this. It also mean we get to spend the day somewhere beautiful too, which is an added bonus.
Being in Bali this part of the process is actually quite easy as we are really spoilt when it comes to awe inspiring locations.
If we have not visited a location before we’ll take an exploratory visit and bring our photographer to get a real idea of the venue and the key places we feel will get us the best images.
It also gives us a chance to meet the managers of the location face to face so we can chat through with them what it’s all about, what will happen on the day, changing spaces, where and when for breaks and lunch, and to go through any special needs or requirements.
This includes power requirements as often we use additional key and fill lights, and unless we bring our own power solutions we need to plug them in somewhere!
We chose to host our most recent shoot at Serenity River Side in Bali
Bali,The location is inspired by the harmony of a traditional village and the villas are set within a sprawling landscape that encompasses native greenery and meandering waterways.
A great location where we had so much choice for where to shoot to get some amazing pictures.
Clothes
Of course no shoot would work without the clothes!
We usually start planning a couple of weeks before the shoot date, working out which items we want to showcase and making sure we get things ready.
We also use this time to review which accessories we think will complement the collection we are showcasing.
Models
We use various models who are on the island, and over the years have built up a great working relationship with everyone we work with.
So much so that our shoots, while super professional, have also kind of turned into mini social events where we all get the chance to catch up and swap stories about what has been going on for ourselves since we last met.
Clothes also need to be selected that are the correct size for the models we are working with on the day! So a little pre-planning is needed to make sure they are comfortable and looking their best.
Photographer
We work with Tash Serena who has been assisting us over the last few years on our location shoots.
We love working with her as she brings a real creative angle to the shoots, being able to communicate clearly and work with our models to get the best results with them.
Tasha Serena is a fashion & portrait photographer who was raised in Bali. Her multicultural background being Canadian and Indonesian reflects through her work, as she also represents a soulful energy. Her home of natural surroundings has influenced her art, and exploration with shadow play and moods. She incorporates this into fashion, presenting a one of a kind artistic twist.
Daily schedule
We draw up a schedule for the day, which covers which clothes we are focusing on, which models we will be using for particular outfits, and a shooting schedule.
This shooting schedule includes specific location ideas we have from any previous visit we have made.
The big day
We usually make an early start of things, partly because we have a lot to do, but also because the early morning light can be so beautiful.
We assemble together and run through the outline for the day and usually within 30 or40 minutes have the first images being taken.
We break the day up into outfits, so we’ll focus on one outfit, take the images, and them most importantly review.
With a digital camera it’s possible to take lots of images and see the results instantly on the preview screen.
However we also bring a decent laptop, and at the conclusion of each outfit we load the images up so we can review on the bigger screen and make preliminary choices for the images we will keep.
Only when we’re happy to we move onto the next outfit in out list.
We’ve found this a great way to work, as everyone is included in reviewing and it makes the whole process run smoothly (and gets us the best results!)
Post shoot
With the images from the day we spend some time on some digital touchup work in Photoshop, such as contrast balancing, colour temperature of the images and any image cropping.
We are a real believer in getting the best images on the day, and this is where Tash’s skills come in.
While it is possible to ‘fix it in post’ we feel this is a poor approach to take, and make sure any post processing we do is not to fix a bad image, but to show off the best of a good one.
The best way to illustrate this is of course with an image.
Where we use our images
The most obvious use is on this site as product images for items we sell, but we also use the images in a number of other places too.
These include printed material for marketing, such as posters and brochures.
We also use the images for digital purposes, such as on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
And of course in our digital articles such as this one.
Summary
I hope you enjoyed reading about what it takes to put together a successful shoot, and if you have any questions get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.