How to plan your first photo shoot
This past year when I was living in Europe I had the opportunity to actually create lookbooks and catalogues for clients. I’m going to give you some my tips and my tricks for sessions that with children.
PEOPLE ON SET
There are so many people on set. Often there are stylists, hair and makeup, lighting, someone doing video and kid wranglers/entertainers. Make sure if you are like me and have to do almost everything. The most important thing is to look at the clothing first. Steam and iron the clothing because as a photographer there will be less post photos production on clothes. For HMUA keep a brush/comb with you and some Vaseline for lips. I also have blotting papers for oily skin.
Location
If you are shooting in a studio setting, tried to keep the background to 3 looks. Keep the areas not so busy with decour so clothing is the focal point. I find that depending on the season you are shooting you can provide the correct style. You can do Fall/Winter with Christmas colours, or go to beach for summer collections. If the brand is more cool and edgy you can provide cool neon lighting or shoot in an arcade. The options are endless.
THE KIDS
I wrote a blog post earlier about tricks of working with kids. The biggest part is children. You have to get kids that are really comfortable with the camera. If a child is easy to cry or takes a long time to warm up there’s going to be a problem. Now to explain to you what you need to look for. If you can’t get any professional children models, make sure that children are not too stiff or not shy. I don’t care if kids don’t smile because for the most part I love natural photos. For me a child who wants to pose too much is too affected to work with. Models need to respond to the camera and to show the clothes to their best ability.
