An inside look into a photo shoot
It’s easy for photographers to bypass outtakes from their photoshoots as we typically only select the best ones to show. But there’s a story within every shoot.
I got together with Karlee not too long ago to do a shoot based on what she does best and needless to say, the best shoots are the ones where the model is in his/her natural element. When they’re at ease, you’re at ease and it shows.
For performers, of course, you don’t just turn up to a location and expect them to perform without warming up. So after explaining the vision to Karl’s, we took a couple of minutes to warm-up:
And while Karl’s was stretching, I was scanning the environment to find the perfect angle and dialling in my exposure.
The result was gold!
And that was our first stop (pardon the pun).
I really didn’t intentionally pick this spot to be a location for the shoot, but I saw grit in the station and when I see that in the backdrop and it works in the context of the shoot, then it’s time to capture the magic!
Each location had it’s own story to tell.
We both like grungy alleyways so I took Karl’s to one of my favourite tight nooks in the city (and it’s a bonus that location was quiet and tucked away from the crowds). We took a few shots in this location based on different dance looks until we tried something new: a jump!
After relaying the vision of where the light was hitting and how the leading lines would inevitably lead the viewer to the model, Karlee took over.
As a photographer, it’s always easier to capture action in burst mode and finding the right shot:
And it’s quite easy to select the winning photo from the above set:
You will notice the slightest of adjustments between the final photo and the original selected shot from burst mode. I kept the post edits short by tinkering with the:
- alignment
- preset (adding one)
- brightness
- vignette
- crop.
Going by memory and looking at the final, that’s pretty much all I did (using a combination of Affinity Photo and Snapseed).
And I do need to say that the colours that come out of the Fujifilm XT20 are that good.
And of course, Karl’s is an absolute STAR!
I have mental notes on MindNode for locations, keeping in mind that each spot had to look as unique and as ‘street’ as it possibly can i.e. natural leading lines, tight spaces (if possible), interesting light etc.
As a result of going to some of these places, there were shots we took on the side that was not part of the plan.
For example, for a planned shot like this:
There were other surrounding features that we took advantage of like this gold outtake:
At this point you may ask “how many locations did you do and how long did it take?” We had 9 locations in total, all around the city over 4-hour stretch.
I have thought about this a lot before and after the shoot. Prior to the shoot, I thought that this was all doable and that we could make time given a few of the spots were minutes of each other.
*Note: in actual fact, I over planned and had locations in double figures and thought, ‘we’ll get to what we get to’.
While it’s true to say that we managed to hit 8 spots, if I had to do it all over again though, I would like to half it, or even max it out at around 3 in oder to spend more quality time trying new things out (and take those side photo opportunities). Karlee and I are both quite creative and we could have come up with a lot more magic if we had a little more time.
On the flipside however, we were able to capture different environments and soak up the vibe in each place, which means that we have a more robust portfolio in the end.
All these things really need to be discussed and agreed before going on the shoot to ensure expectations are aligned.
Here’s another example of where I felt we could have take a little bit more time.
There are a few different looks here which we got through in approximately 20 minutes (a rush job in hindsight)
The photos still turned out quite well but I would have liked to have a little bit more thinking time in order to:
- give Karlee more time to think of new routines
- check different angles
- change my position i.e. move my feet either closer or further away just to give the shoot a few more diversified looks
- do more creative shots
- change my camera settings
The list is actually longer than that, but it’s a note to my future self (and hopefully anyone else out there) that it’s worth being conservative when planning the number of locations for a shoot (unless of course you fall in that other bucket and wanted a robust portfolio).
Final note on this topic: Also consider the distance between each location as it’s mighty tricky having locations too spread out if you have a set time.
The aim going into the shoot, is to let Karlee be herself. The best shots are the ones where the model is comfortable and in their element — that way, the moments captured convey their true and honest self.
So after the brief on each location, I let Karlee play and be herself — and the fun sure comes out in the shots:
And to celebrate a successful shoot, we decided to do a cheeky shot over the new train tracks.
Yes, the ‘ol run-and-gun jump trick (gets them all the time).
Although I misjudged the perfect alignment by centimetres, i.e. the bottom left shot was such a bastard to center, the results were fun nonetheless.
On the way back to the car, we took a small pause to take a shot at this quiet location by the steps.
I saw this spot when we arrived but decided to come back to it.
Luckily when we came back, we had the beautiful light spill over the steps with some equally gorgeous autumn leaves lying on the side.
After taking that first shot, a student of Karlee just so happened to pass by. The intimate moment under the steps took us by surprise and the scene turned into a “hello there girlfriend!”, “let’s vogue” pose-a-thon.
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan.
But it all came perfectly together in the end.
What an amazing way to wrap up our favourite shoot!
On a more serious note, our first location for the shoot was actually at the Sydney Opera House. Now I don’t have the photos for that here just in case it gets us up the shit. And what I mean by that is that on the day of the shoot, we were stopped by security guards who asked us for our permit (it must have been my gear, my suspicious scouting look, in combination with Karlee’s outfit that made it look like a pro gig).
I successfully argued that our shoot was for our own personal accounts and not for commercial purposes. I have faced these types of questions before when I had a shoot at Carriageworks and offered the same reason when asked. Despite that, I am refraining from posting those photos here.
So if you’re in Sydney and plan to shoot (e.g. Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House etc.) then it’s worth knowing the rules. It’s safe to say that most western countries will have similar rules.
And of course before I sign-out, you can follow me here.
Reach out if you’re a creative or an artist or into action shots (so that’s dancers, skateboarders, parkour athlete/free runner or anyone with conceptually weird mind — but we better talk more if you’re the latter) and in Sydney. If you’re any of the above, I’d be happy to collaborate!
You can follow our artist/model/dancer and uber cool girl Karlee on Instagram here. She teaches at Sydney Central here. And I can pretty much guarantee that you will feel the positive vibe that you can see here when you do meet her.
Over and out.
