Preparing for your shoot day

Here is a list of suggestions to make the most of your business location shoot day. It is preferable that we don’t lose time on the day due to last minute location tidy-ups, prop sourcing, or personal presentation adjustments or other unexpected delays.

These tips will help you to spend a little time reviewing what you might need to consider to be as well-prepared as possible.

Environment

In the days prior to your shoot, take a good look around your location and environment. Now is a great time to have a big tidy up and present your workspace at it’s best.

Particularly note things that might be on walls/shelves that might appear in the background of images, and either fill them up if they might look too empty or tidy if they look too cluttered.

Bringing some plants/flowers from home to brighten otherwise dull areas is helpful also.

Clean off any very obvious marks from walls/mirrors, glass dividers, desks etc.

Individual Portraits:

Preparing yourself

It is rare that non-professionals feel entirely comfortable in-front of a camera. I will do my very best to make you feel as comfortable as possible. Preparing yourself psychologically will really help also.

Maybe people do what I refer to as the ‘tortoise’ – i.e. they pull their head back from the lens into their body to attempt to ‘hide’ from being photographed. It’s a subtle reaction to the discomfort of the moment. The result is that it is likely to give you an unnatural double-chin and/or make you look as uncomfortable as you feel! 

The best approach is to psych yourself up in advance. Some people find that taking on a persona in their mind, like an acting role, helps them to feel more relaxed. Standing tall and proud, with shoulders back and strong engagement with the camera (as though the lens is someones eyes that you’re looking into as you converse) will help you look your best and I will do my best to make you look fantastic also.

Personal presentation

Now is a great time for a quick haircut if you think you might need one.

If you wear makeup and you will be photographed in flash-light, I recommend preparing your makeup as though you were going on a special night out. You might feel overmade-up if it is daytime when we take the photographs but it will come across naturally on camera.

Make sure not to use foundation with light-reflecting properties unless you’d like to rock a sweaty-emo vibe!

Please make sure that your clothing is ironed/steamed, as wrinkles will show up more in flash-light. Try to avoid strong patterns in your clothing choice. Particularly avoid fine patterns, like fine stripes, or repeated dots.

If your hands are likely to be photographed in closeup activity shots please make sure that your nails are clean, and nicely trimmed and shaped.

Team Shots

Personal presentation

As above +

If you have a team uniform:

Please ask all team members to make sure that they are wearing their most presentable uniform items (e.g. one faded shirt will stand out a lot). Include a request for uniformity in accessories also, eg. All wear similar coloured shoes, same colour socks if visible etc. Ironing/steaming uniforms also please.

If you don’t have a team uniform:

Team members should be advised to wear similar colour tones to each other. A neutral palette often works well, particularly for tops. This would include light blue, soft pink, cream, white, beige, light grey etc.

You may also ask staff to all wear the same colour bottom half, e.g. black pants/skirts.

If you would like directors or key staff members to stand out from the rest of the team, you could potentially ask them to wear something contrasting to the rest of the team. For examples, if everyone else is wearing light colours shirts/tshirt, a dark blazer/suit jacket would create a strong contrast.

If you are assisting in ‘staged’ shots

Often we take shots of processes/activities and a few individual team members will be invited to ‘model’ for these shots. In this case I will be very directional and you can relax and do your best to pretend I’m not there! If I’m not directing it means that you are doing exactly what I hoped to achieve – so you really don’t need to worry about how you are coming across. I will assist you every step of the way.

Preparing products/props

If you are supplying products that should appear in shot (either foreground or background, please take a moment to make sure that labels are straight and without bubbles and that containers are without marks/scratches. It’s often best to have a few more than you think you might need to hand, just in case.

Finally if you have any questions you are very welcome to ask.

Looking forward to your shoot day! Fran