7 steps you need to take to ensure a Successful Photo Shoot!
Ensuring a successful photoshoot is every photographer's end goal. It's something photographers want to keep consistent for every shoot. As a matter of fact, only a successful shoot will ensure client satisfaction and get word of mouth happening. But we all can agree that it isn’t the easiest job, especially when we are just starting out. Well, at least that was the case for me in the beginning. There were times when I had to reschedule or when shoots didn’t go as planned, but it was those experiences that taught me the do’s and don’ts. And thanks to that I was able to figure out all the steps I needed to take to ensure a successful shoot. Today I wanted to share those steps with you, so that you can figure it out faster than I did and ensure success. Let’s get on with it shall we?
#1: Plan ahead
Planning ahead before every shoot is very important. And for you to do that, you need to have pre-consultations with your clients. During the pre- consultation, let your clients tell you their expectations, if there are any specific setups they are looking for, if they have any do’s and don’ts etc. Obviously it will be difficult for you to cater to all their needs, so set expectations. Let them know what you will do to take care of the needs they specified. For example, clients tend to show reference images from Pinterest and it can be difficult to re-create the exact same set up. So you need to tell them very clearly how you will do this set up and what differences will be there and make sure they are okay with it. During the pre- consultation itself, confirm all the setups and set expectations. This way you can start to visualize and plan how you want to work through the shoot.
#2: Ensure all the props and materials required for the shoot are there, one day before the shoot.
This will honestly keep you at ease. Order everything you need, especially the props from vendors (if any). Ensure you have spare batteries, lights charged, camera battery charged, empty SD cards ready, everything cleaned and sanitized. Keep the clothes you are offering your clients dry cleaned and ready. And always check if there is anything else you could have possibly missed out. Check, double check, triple check and cross check!
#3: Always have back up plans.
Not back-up plan but back-up plans. See the difference? It's best if you have more than 1 backup plan. When working with children especially, you will never know what can go wrong so always be prepared for the worst-case scenario. To draw out an example, during a cake smash, some children will enjoy it to the fullest while some might just hate it. You need to know how to calm them down if they hate the texture, what alternative steps you can do to help them enjoy the session, what prompts you can say to make them smile. Be extra prepared. And as time goes by, with all this experience you gather you might not even need to prepare backup plans, because you just know what to do when.
#4: Be confident during the shoot.
This confidence you bring to the shoot, is going to decide the type of energy that will be present throughout the shoot. Only if you are confident, will your clients feel assured, because they know that you are truly an expert who knows what you are doing. Imagine you are fidgeting around with the lights and camera on the day of the shoot, and you are unable to begin because you are not getting what you visualized. Some clients might begin to worry.
And what do you need to do to be confident? You need to equip yourself with knowledge, be it through courses and/or through constant trial and error practice. If you are doing a shoot that is out of your comfort zone, then make it a point to practice before the actual shoot. It will definitely help you build your confidence.
#5: Have an assistant.
Have an assistant or an intern to help you out during shoots. Brief them before the shoot, regarding the poses, the light setup and safety instructions. This way you don’t have to continuously answer their doubts during the shoot. The whole point of having someone to assist you is so that you can take your mind off the smaller worries and just concentrate on your clients and help them pose comfortably. The assistant can take care of setting up for the shoot or handling anything that comes your way during the session. This way you also get extra help and the assistants also get to learn a lot.
#6: Remember you are not working with professional models
This is a very important point that you should always remember. You could have pre-visualized a beautiful pose but when it becomes difficult for your client to execute, that doesn’t mean that you lose your patience with them. Guide them through the pose slowly and ensure that they are comfortable throughout the session. Even more so when working with babies. More tips on posing is available on my posing guide. Summing it up, communication is everything here.
#7 keep realistic timelines
Ensure you have realistic timelines for your shoot duration, editing time and delivery date. The last thing you want to do is promise your client and not be able to deliver it to them. Also always inform your client regarding this timeline, during the pre-consultation itself. So let’s say they have some special request and need the images earlier, you can try to see how you can work it out for them and not panic at the last minute. Don’t just say yes to everything and not be able to do it when time comes. Be realistic, learn how to say no or rather find a workaround to make it possible.
Really hope these 7 tips will be useful for all the photographers out there. Some of the tips might be obvious, yes, but it’s the obvious that we always fail to observe, until someone spells out the obvious for us.
