Plan a shoot!

Hey FashionPhotographyBlog.com readers,

Last time we discussed what is a creative team and how to find one. Once you have assembled your creative team, it’s time to plan a shoot together. I’ll be using the experience from one of my previous shoots to talk about this process. 

I’m going to walk you through some of the planning behind my editorial for Kenton Magazine, “Surrealia,” however, the same basic principles apply to planning a test.

Get Inspired! 

Come up with a concept and do your research. The idea behind this shoot started when talking to an illustrator, and good friend, Matt Tedford. (Check out his work, he’s awesome!) We wanted to collaborate on an editorial so took some time to sit down and look at other editorials which incorporate illustration.

These were our two favorites:

– Defragmentation of Beauty by Marcin Tyszka for 25 Magazine

– Abbey Lee Kershaw by Greg Kadel for Numero

One thing we planned on doing was to use seamless and have a simple background. This way nothing detracts from the illustration. This idea of a non-distracting background was apparent in both the editorials we favored and reaffirmed our initial plan.

By dissecting what we saw in our two favorite stories, together we decided on a general direction for where the illustrations should go. From Greg Kadel’s images, we loved the use of bright pops of color and cutouts around the model. From Marcin Tyszka’s shoot, we loved the organic, free feeling the illustrations had and the use of line. I left a lot of the illustration to Matt, without too much guidance, because I trust his aesthetic. Good thing too, it turned out amazing!

 Marcin Tyszka

Greg Kadel

Find your team

After deciding on what type of style we want for illustration, we decided to keep the clothing simple as to not distract or fight with the artwork to be added later. Being a bit inspired by Givenchy’s Spring 2012 collection and current trends, we decided on high contrast clothing and the use of the peplum. Simple, classic and chic. Hair was to be simple, down with beautiful curls and body. Makeup was decided to be pretty natural with a light smokey eye to define the face a bit, in order to compliment the hair and clothing.

We had our idea, now we had to find our team. Be sure to look for creatives that will compliment your concept. If a hairstylist is fantastic at big, beautiful waves but doesn’t favor doing up-dos (which is what you’re planning on doing), perhaps keep them on hold until you have a shoot that requires that big, beautiful wavy hair that they excel at. If someone is enjoying what they’re doing, it will show.

Styling was easy. Jocelyne, a stylist and all around awesome person that I’ve worked with before was the obvious choice. Her style matched exactly what we were looking for. She is great at keeping it simple and classy without over styling with accessories or trying to do too much at once (which is quite common, especially among stylists just starting out.) Fashion doesn’t have to be about excess! Often, less is more.

For hair and makeup we got lucky and were able to find one artist that is excellent at both! I had seen Mayela’s work around and loved her portfolio. I contacted her with details about our shoot and next thing we knew, she said yes and it was time to shoot!

So now that you have planned your shoot, got inspired and found your team it’s time to get ready to shoot. However, with a team of people on board. How do you communicate your photographic vision effectively with your team. Stay tuned, because next time we will be discussing how to communicate your ideas clearly using mood boards.

IMAGE SOURCE:

Feature image: Defragmentation of Beauty by Marcin Tyszka for 25 Magazine (left) & Abbey Lee Kershaw by Greg Kadel for Numero (right)

Image 1: Defragmentation of Beauty by Marcin Tyszka for 25 Magazine

Image 2: Abbey Lee Kershaw by Greg Kadel for Numero

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