Happy New Year Everyone! Oh wait it’s January 31st as I am writing this blog tonight. I know, I know, I’ve been slacking on my blog posts but I have been so incredibly busy.

Anyway I just can’t wait to share what I believe are some essential pointers into having a successful photo session.

First off have a clear idea on what you want your photo session to be like. I see this as always being the last thing we think about when putting a shoot together.

Believe me even the very best photographers look for inspiration and ideas to help shape their photo shoots. You can search for great ideas on Google or even Pinterest. I personally love Pinterest to create mood boards that I can send to models, makeup artists and stylists.

Okay once you’ve created a mood board of ideas you need to decide on clothing. What are your models going to wear on the shoot. Over the past few months I have been shooting a couple of different portrait series that I actually bought the outfits for.

As you can probably tell by now this portrait series is of redheads so when I contacted my models I communicated the look and feel of how the shoot would be. I sent over the mood board and discuss clothing. I prefer the models to bring their own outfits because it would be in there size but sometimes the outfit works and sometimes it does not. So I go and hunt for outfits to insure we have the look we want.

Makeup and Hair are just as critical as the outfits selected. Whether you are working with a makeup artist or the models themselves it is very important to communicate what the makeup and hair should look like. In this series of portraits I really wanted little to no makeup applied. I told all my subjects if you have freckles I want to see them. The results were great so much so that we have to remind ourselves that less is more in some occasions.

Lastly have a pre-checklist of all that you need for your photo session. Other than the obvious your camera and lenses you may be surprised what is forgotten when you show up for a photo shoot.

1. Sensor Cleaning Kit - you be surprised on how easy dust finds its way unto your sensor.

2. Charge your batteries! - Not only do you need to charge the batteries on your cameras but also if you have rechargeable batteries for your lighting equipment. You will learn how quickly your shoot will end.

3. Utility Toolbox - This box is essential to all my shoots. It carries all my knick knacks like tape, safety pins, A Clamps, AA & AAA Batteries amongst other items.

4. Lighting Modifiers - I recently had a very large photo shoot where I did not go through my checklist and went by memory and of course I forgot to pack my light modifier for this job. Fortunately for me I always leave early for my shoots and had just enough time to head back to my studio and grab one.

   Well thanks a lot for stopping by and checking out my blog. I hope this was helpful and informative. Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

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