The Makings of a fashion shoot...Touch of Africa

When people see the final images, one often assumes photo shoots are all but glitz and glamour. Nobody really knows the pre-production of planning a shoot, the actual shoot, and the post-production leading up to the release of the images. And so, people often wonder what a professional photo shoot entails. Depending on the scale of production, each shoot will be unique with various requirements.

How it begins…

1. Quotations and Photographer

It starts with a request from a client, including details of the shoot. A typical request is as follows:

Date of shoot - weather, time and venue needs to be established here. Outdoor shoots differ greatly from indoor shoots, thus, establishing the right time to shoot depending on natural lighting is crucial.

Date of launch - the collection launch is dependent on whether it is a Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter Collection. Collections are usually planned a year in advance and it is common to do a photo shoot in 2014 in preparations for a S/S 2015 Collection launch.

The photographer then advises the client according to their request.

2. Photography and Images

Number of images – It’s better to take as many images as one can because not all will be suitable for the media platforms.

Usage terms - Determine how long the campaign will go on for, and which media platforms you’ll use such as a website, magazine editorial, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. This is where you also determine the visual reference/layout for how the campaign will look like:

·         What they’d like you to include for quotation.

·         From there a checklist is created

3. The team

This one is relatively straightforward. You should already have a few regulars you love working with, whether from doing editorials or test shoots.

4. Risks and back-up

Almost every shoot will have a small chance of something going wrong, be it camera failure, last minute cancellations, models falling sick, or the studio becoming unavailable. Always make sure you have a backup, a second and third option on hand for someone you can call. Whatever happens, stay calm and work it out in an orderly fashion.

5. Equipment

When everything has been confirmed, I usually have three checklists: 

·         The team: pretty much everyone that receives the call sheet, to confirm they know their call times and the shooting schedule (and that the date hasn’t been changed.)

·         Locations, etc. Whether it’s catering, additional equipment/props, or locations we’re renting by the hour, confirm all the bookings.

·         Equipment: a pack list of things to bring, as well the rental list for equipment you’ll be using.

Double and triple check you’ve got everything!

6. Shoot day

This is where you just do your thing — be confident, you’re thoroughly prepared and ready. You can’t control 100% of outcome all the time. So do expectation management now.

7.  Post-production

Regroup to discuss the day’s work – with a cup of tea or cocktail in hand! This is a team effort after all.

Last but not least, don’t forget to have your team invoice you so you can pay them! And that’s it! Hope it was all helpful. Contact us if you have anymore questions.

sales@touch-of-africa.co.uk

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