A lot of us ladies often put off shoots for a variety of reasons, one of which is the unknown. So, what does a headshot / content creation shoot involve ? (The below also applies to family shoots, where, as mums, we are often faced with being on the other side of the camera for the first time in a while!)
Initially let’s have a relaxed chat about you. Tell me who you are, what you like to do – business and leisure time, what makes you sparkle, how do you relax. To be able to create images that will connect with your clients, I need to get a feel for who you are – whether we are going to be shooting ‘serious’ or adding in some quirky images too!
– Quite a few (well, most of us really!) are uncomfortable with putting ourselves out there, getting in front of the lens, even though we know that visibility is key to connecting with clients. Hands down, we will always be able to find a valid reason to put the shoot off. So we’ll have a chat about confidence and what you feel comfortable doing, using known locations and maybe props to reduce the anxiety and build up the inner belief that you can do this! A good start is when you see photos of yourself or look in the mirror, look for one nice thing first rather than looking for the thing you don’t like.
| – Clothing and make-up is another bug bear clients mention. I’m straight up here – my make-up consists of a mascara and foundation that are 10 years old plus at the back of a cupboard – so I am not the person to be telling anyone else what works here! But, we can take a look at what you’d usually do and get some professional advice if you’d like to. Clothing wise – we usually use 3 or 4 outfits during a mornings’ content creation shoot. Nothing new needs to be brought – clothes you are comfortable in is key. We’ll talk about the location and colour of shots, the feel you’d like in them and usually mix up some formal shots with a few more relaxed images. Dropping in a scarf, pulling on a jumper, starting with your hair up and then down – all easy to do little things that help to give variety in your images.- “But how do I stand ?” Is another common question. Being in front of the camera, brings a freezing to some of us, a rigidity of nerves and suddenly you’re super aware of your hands or shoulders or everything! We can look at some gentle poses beforehand and you can practice if you’d like at home. We’ll also chat on the shoot and clients start to relax and not notice the camera is there – yep, I know, impossible maybe at this point to believe but it’s true! – I’ll help you to look at your present content and future needs and together we can come up with a list of images to take that will give you a bank of shots to use in the future. Pinterest boards are great here and give us both a way of making sure we are on the same lines. By thinking about the shots, it also helps to break down the unknown. You are in control of what we come up with; knowing what’s going to happen means another potential barrier broken down. |
– Outdoors is always my go to for shoots. Natural light, with a touch of flash if needed is usually perfect. No big equipment to feel intimidated by here. Some images need to be taken indoors – desk space or laptops on the lawn are all well and good, but realistic? No. So, there may be a soft box (think white box on a stand where the flash bounces through) in the background that I’ll bring to give us a touch of light and reduce the shadows. But that’ll be it.
– And, always talk – if you want to change something or have an idea half way through, make sure you articulate it and we adapt to whatever it is. It’s your shoot, so you get to call the shots – quite literally.
– The last point that often comes up as an excuse is – “I have to take 100+ selfies to get the one shot that I’m kind of happy with, I’ll be paying money for so many useless images that I’m not going to be happy with.” Selfies are so different than a professional shoot – I’ll just leave it with this comment from a client – “With everyone taking selfies and looking at every single shot, good or bad, they maybe don’t realise the magic and skill of professional photographers!”
So, if you have been needing some new headshots or content or even been putting off that family shoot, hopefully we’ve put to bed a few of the excuses and reasons and you can make that step to booking a shoot !
With Covid still about, we can still shoot, like the wedding I did recently, with a long lens to keep the distance and an open window of 10cm that allows for lens space, we can work wonders!) Click below if you’d like to have a chat and get that shoot booked!
