Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Claire. I'm a Berlin-based photographer, and today, I'm going to be teaching you how you can set up and shoot your first ever street style photo shoot. Although I'm based in Berlin now, I learnt ins and outs of this kind of photography in New Yolk where I assisted a number of photographers and I worked with a number of influenced and bloggers taking photos for them. Over the years, I've picked up some tips and tricks that I'll love to share with you today. Who is this course for? Well, if you're interested in shooting street style photography, this course is for you. What do I mean by street style photography? I just mean that these are photos taken out and about in your locality, perhaps in a city, or if you don't live in a city, then even just in local town, or out and about in nature. The reason I say street style photography, it's in-between portraiture and fashion. Portraiture is when you focus on the face, nothing to do with the clothes, it's all about the person. Whereas fashion is all about the clothes, and maybe you're working with a big team, it's for a magazine or something like that. Street style photography I see as in the middle. You could be taking in portraits as part of it, but it's not just about face. The clothes is definitely a part of it. You're capturing that person's personality through what they're wearing. Not necessarily fashion because it's not about the clothes, it's a mixture of the portraiture and the fashion in the middle. Basically, if you have a camera and you have a little bit of experience with this, then this course is for you. I'm going to be telling you how to set up these photo shoots, how to get a model, how to style the photo shoot, how to get inspiration, and then tips and tricks for the day of the shoot as well. But if you've already done your first photo shoot, if you've worked with model before, I would still recommend this course. I've got a lot of tips and tricks, so I think I'm going to be sharing some information that perhaps you've never heard of. In this course, we're going to be focusing on how to setup that first photo shoot with a model. It's not about monetizing. It's not about getting your first client or how to work with bloggers and influencers. If you're interested in actually getting paid for your photography, I do have a course on that. I would advise maybe watching this first, because this is all about collaborative, how to set up photo shoots, how to build your portfolio, and when you think you're ready, then you can definitely check out my course. I'll leave information for my other course down below. Now that we've been introduced, let's dive into the first lesson. We're going to speak about inspiration and where to find it.
2. How to Find Inspiration: To shoot, you're going to need some inspiration. You can of course, get inspiration from anywhere. Keep your eyes open and be open to new experiences and you will eventually be inspired. Look at the work of other photographers and let yourself be inspired by their work but don't let this be the only content that you consume when you're on the hunt for inspiration. Some of my favorite sources of inspiration are from: Art, design, travel and fashion magazines for music videos and music in general, from films on TV, from the natural world, and from architecture. I would encourage you to write your own list of what inspires you, away from photography. The thing about inspiration is, you don't know when it will strike. Always carry a notebook around with you or be sure to write your notes on your phone if you get any ideas when you're out about. Something that helps me is to start with one point of inspiration and then use this as a leaping off point to find other inspiration and to further expand on the visual or on the concept. For instance, I was really inspired by Duly period's music video, Break my heart, and also the general eighties aesthetic of her album, Future Nostalgia. With this as my starting off point, I began thinking about how I could do a fun eighties inspiration shoot. Like what are the eighties look was popular in 2020. People rocking eighties outfits on Facetime or in TikTok, that kind of thing. That's an example of how inspiration first struck for me but of course it's different for everyone. With the starting off point, you can begin to look for visual references and build a mood board, which will help guide you as you look for a location, a model and we'll also give you ideas on how to style your shoot. For me, I usually first build a mood board on Pinterest, using the starting off point of my inspiration and that's because when I pin one image, for instance, if I pin an image of Dua Lipa's album cover, it can give me similar images. So it's a quick way to find a lot of inspirational images and to really build out your mood board on the aesthetic that you are going for. At this stage, you are potentially looking for images that are going to capture the vibe of your upcoming photo shoot. You're potentially looking for ideas, for the styling, the make-up, the hair. Go ahead and pin a load of images that are inspiring you that you think could work for a photo shoot, even if they just have a color that's inspiring for the photo shoot or just something about it has the right kind of aesthetic or it's just fitting in with the general mood, you can go ahead and pin it. It doesn't have to be that this one image represents the whole shoot that you're going to do. It's more about a collection of images that guide the shoot and that serve as inspiration for the photo shoot. Once I have a lot of images that are inspiring me pinned on a Pinterest board, I will then screenshot the images that best capture the vibe that I want to go for. Using these screenshots, I will make a proper mood board in keynote but of course you can also do this in Photoshop or PowerPoint. It's just me pacing in these images, laying it out on keynote and saving as a PDF and then basically, I've created my mood board this way. The mood board isn't something you're going to share with the public on social media. It's simply for your own reference and also for any other collaborators that you are working with like the model stylist and makeup artist. You can share the mood board with them, of course. This was the original mood board and I was going to work with a female models, so I did the mood board with that in mind, but in fact, circumstances changed a little bit. Instead, I shot this concept with my friend Alan Toy, who is a stylist. He did the styling for the photo shoot, a lot of eighties prints and sparkle. So this is how the images turned out in the end and so you can see that the mood board was simply a guide. It's not like we are reaping off exact looks from the mood board, is not like the composition of the images is something we copy it exactly. It was all just to serve as a leaping off point, as a bit of inspiration, but then we take it in our own direction and that's what you should always be aimed to do when you are shooting. You're not copying other photographers, you're not copying visual references exactly, you're just using them as inspiration and you're building upon the mood board. So the mood boards, aesthetic and styling, is helping to guide you, but it's not something you're copying exactly. It's important that you have a mood board to give you a general idea of what you would like to capture as a guide, but you do have to be flexible and see where the shoot and the editing takes you. Now we're inspired. We have a mood board. Let's start looking for location for your photo shoot.
3. How to Find a Location for the Shoot: In this lesson, we're going to be talking about finding a location for your photo shoot. It's basically just about getting out and about and keeping your eyes open for a good photo shoot location. It is cheesy, but there is beauty everywhere. I'm sure your city has a nice place for a photo shoot. Even if it's as simple as a nice plain background, maybe a nice clean white wall or a wall that's in one color that you can use as a backdrop. You definitely have an area in your town where you can take photos and even on YouTube, lots of photographers like doing these challenges, whether it takes photos in like an ugly location and they still got amazing photos. Don't fret too much about the location. It's not the end of the world if you don't think it's the most amazing location. When you see an area that could serve as good photo shoot location, be sure to take photos of it on your phone. Most phone saved the location better. You will be able to find the exact spot where you took the picture. Of course, if your phone doesn't do this for you, then simply note down the address. When taking photos of a location, it's important to take photos of specific details and areas that could be an interesting backdrop for the photo or that your model can interact with. Instead of taking a landscape photo of the overall location, you need to zone in on one particular tree that you could place your model under, or instead of taking a cityscape photograph, maybe you [inaudible] in on a letter box that your model could lean on or sit on. By doing this, you're already starting to think about the framing of your photographs and how you can ask them interest into the shot, rather than simply taking a nice photo with a pretty background. Once you find a location that you think you'd like to shoot at, ask yourself these key questions. When will the light be best? What direction will the light be coming from at that time? Is there somewhere for the model to change or touch up their makeup? How busy is the area? Is it safe for you and your model to shoot here? Let's briefly go through each of the questions in more detail. Firstly, when will the light be best? Of course, it depends on the vibe you're going for. Golden hour is a really popular time to shoot. That's when the image will look really warm and the light is super flattering. But bear in mind that the golden hour isn't necessarily the best time to shoot for every location. For instance, you might have found a cool alleyway shooting in a city of high-rise buildings. The light might not actually reach that area at all at golden hour, because the buildings might block out the light at that time. Perhaps for this location, shooting when the sun is higher in the sky could work better. For peace of mind, comeback to location at around the time that you'll want to shoot at. At a slightly earlier days pops a week before the shoot and check that the light is right. You can also use apps like sun surveyor to track the sun and see when the best time to shoot at this location could be. Check out the resources section for ideas of apps for tracking the sun. Next, you should ask yourself, i s there somewhere for the model to change? Of course, this is most important if you are shooting multiple looks in one session. However, even if you're just shooting one look, it's always nice for your model to be able to have a chance to check their makeup and clothing for the shoot. Coffee shops could be great for this. You as a photographer, can go in and buy yourself a takeaway, tea or coffee, while the model changes in the bathroom, or even clothing stores can work. So the modal can simply nip into the changing room to change there. Not every location has an area with complete privacy. Perhaps you are shooting in a rural area with no shops close by. If this is the case, ensure your model is going to be completely comfortable changing in a less than ideal place, like in your car perhaps, or just behind the bush. This does happen a lot on shoots, the model will probably be fine with that. But of course you should double-check that they are going to be comfortable. Alternatively, you can bring a portable changing room. You should also think about how busy the area's going to be at the time you want to shoot at it. This is important because usually you don't want distracting people in the background of your photos. Also as much as possible, your photo shoot shouldn't get in the way of people just try to go about their day. Some models, especially a mature models, might get uncomfortable if there are a lot of eyes on them as they pose. Ideally, you want your location to be pretty quiet and private. Though that's not to say you can't shoot photos in a busy location, it's just that it can be a little bit more difficult. Bear in mind how busy the location will be, and if possible, choose to shoot at a time of day when it will be quieter. For instance, instead of shooting at golden hour before sunset, when a street is likely to be busy with people walking or going out. Perhaps getting up early to shoot at golden hour after sunrise, when less people are around, it's going to be a better idea. Finally, the last question, is the area safe? It is, of course, vital for you to check that the location that you're going to shoot at is safe. For me personally, I'm in Berlin. Here most places are very safe to shoot. But your locality might be different. If you're not sure ask the locals or Google the area to see if it's potentially dangerous or unsafe in some way. Once you sure the area is not overtly dangerous, you should also think of other potential risk factors of the location. For instance, a popular street style photography shop that's very popular with bloggers is a person walking across the road. I've done this in very busy areas like Manhattan, and it can be safely done that you need to be careful and keep your eyes open. If you're going to try something like this, you should either find a really quiet road to do this, or time your photos around pedestrian traffic lights, always variant on the side of caution. I only shoot when it's green and get off the road if the don't walk sign is going to appear. Once you've asked yourself these key questions and you sure you found yourself a suitable location for the shoot. You're almost ready to get out there and make some imagery. But hold up, we can't do street style photography without a model, so first let's look into that.
4. How to Find Models: Now let's talk about finding a model. If you've never taken a photo of anyone else, if you've only ever taken self portraits or you just are very new to it, then I definitely wouldn't recommend going straight away to try and get a model agency to work with you. What you want to do is ask your friends to take photos of them or your family. Some of my favorite photographers have said that that's how they got started. The great thing about working with a friend is that they have no expectations. They're not going to be judging you. You can be completely at ease. You can take your time and you can get some really great photos and of course, improve your skills. If they're really camera shy, then you might just want to keep asking around for someone else who will be able to help you. But if they are in any way comfortable in front of the camera, then you can definitely get some great shots literally by working with your close friends. Once you've built up some confidence and you've taken photos of your friends and family, you have a little bit of a portfolio, a little bit more of a portfolio than you had before, then you're ready to start working with some more professional models. Next, let's go a little bit further out of your comfort zone. A great way to find models is to make use of social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram. Here's how to do that. Put out a call and your own Instagram and Facebook profiles. Simply post your news feed or stories and say that you're looking for a model to work on a TFP basis. TFP means Trade for Print or Trade for Portfolio, meaning that you're both working together for free, for both of your portfolios. Be sure to use local hashtags like #berlinmodel, so that models in your area see your post. If you don't have much of a following, you can also do some research and write a list of models to reach out to. You can find models in your area by looking through location tags on Instagram, and also location-based hashtags. Send the model a friendly DM or email them and ask them directly if they'd be up for a collaborative photo shoot. Facebook groups are also a great way of finding models. See if there's a Facebook group dedicated to local photographers, models, or even just a general group of people who live in your area. Post in the group, and say that you're looking for models to work with on a Trade for Print basis. You'll probably get a lot of responses. So perhaps you can choose one model to work with on this particular shoot and then save the Facebook post and go back to it in the future when you're looking for other models to work with. Once you've built yourself a portfolio of work, you can go down a more professional route and find some more experienced models to work with. To do this, you'll need to be working with professional model agencies. This involves more research. Let's go through the process step-by-step. Write a list of modeling agencies that have models available in your area. Write a list of the email addresses that you could easily find. Ideally, you're looking for email addresses of specific departments at modeling agency, like the new faces department, or email addresses for a specific model agents. However, generic email addresses are also fine if that's all that you can find. Write your email. I've included a template in the resources section. Keep the email straight to the point. Say you are looking to work with a model for a test shoot and include details on the date and the time that you'd like to shoot and the location if you have it. Also, say whether you're collaborating with any other creatives on the shoot, like a stylist or makeup artist. Be sure to include a link to your portfolio of work, include your mood board, and that's your email, send it off. Email each different agency individually including the name in the greeting. So obviously don't just send a mass email with everyone cc'd or bcc'd. Agencies are always looking for photographers to collaborate with for new faces because it means that the newer models can build their books, which is their portfolios. So you should get at least a few replies with a few models to choose from. Don't be too picky at the beginning. In the future as you build your portfolio with agency models and as your photography becomes better and better, you'll get more and more options. But for now, it's all about creating work and building your own portfolio. Those are some routes for finding models. Now with the model booked, let's find some inspiration and get styling the shoot.
5. How to Style Your Shoot: In this lesson we're going to discuss the styling. How you should style your photo shoot. I thought it would be better to speak with an actual stylist, who will be able to give you some great tips, and advice on this. Because, of course I have done my own photo shoots where there has been some styling, and I've worked with that. Still, I am no stylist, so I thought it'd be better if we could get some expert advice. I've enlisted the help of my friend Alan Toye. Alan is a freelance stylist. He's worked for some really big names, and I think he's going to have some really great advice for us today. Let's get into the interview. First question is just about photographer who wants to do a simple photo shoot, and they're more focusing on making portraits, they're not as focused on the clothing. How would you recommend for them to style this? If you're styling for a very simple portrait shoot, keep it very, very simple, clothing wise. Avoid any accessories. Keep a very neutral tones like black, beige, some browns. White, you can use because it can look very fresh, but I sometimes recommend against it because it can look a little like stark photography. I would advice using chunky knitwear like a roll neck for one thing, gives nice character to the model without taking anything away from the shot itself. It's not going to distract from the model's face. I would completely avoid any graphic prints, or bright colors, or anything bold, because again, it will completely distract from the subject matter, which is ultimately supposed to be the face the model. Full-length clothing as well is the best choice to go for. Full-length sleeves, full-length pants, because any exposed flesh is also distracting. How can the photographer source his clothes? A lot of stuff you might already have yourself, because you're only looking something basic. You might already have it in your wardrobe, or ask a friend. You can of course ask the model what they have in advance. Only thing about asking model to bring something is, you need to see it in advance, because it's not their job really, to supply the clothing. As I say, just in case they arrive with something that's not usable on the day, you need to make sure you know what you're working with in advance, and how it's going to look. You said as well that maybe in your own wardrobe you might have something. But, I'm sure a lot of my viewers are male photographers who are shooting female models. What can they do, if they don't have any female friends to borrow from? If it's just for a portrait shot, you can use menswear. It's not going to make much of a difference. If it's a simple v-neck, or a crew neck top, it doesn't matter if it's men's wear or women's wear. Because you're not going to know really. If it's too big, you just pin it at the back with a clamp or whatever. Because it's supposed to be all about the face, so it really doesn't matter what the clothing. It just has to be something very simple, and clean. If you don't have anything at your disposal, I would highly recommend using charity shops, or secondhand stores, because you'll find something really simple, and very, very still, for super cheap, and as well be able to use it again and again if you're going to do portrait shots. I would also suggest us being really inventive with fabrics and cloths. If you have a really big scarf, belting it in an interesting way. It's such a simple, but really effective way to facilitate if you don't have the clothing. It's for a portrait shot, you want to keep it simple. I really just recommend t-shirts, knits, very simple like that. But if you want to actually style for a bit more character, then I would suggest moving on to introducing different fabrics, and different kind of layering, and being a bit more creative. At a certain point, I think a photographer needs to start building a team, and collaborating with different people. If they're looking to work with a stylist, how should they go about this? I think if you are looking to work with a stylist, in advance of even contacting someone, you need to be aware of what you're looking for from your stylist. Because you want it to be a collaborative effort. Because one of the most interesting things about working on the shoot with someone, is the collaboration. But you need to know, are you looking for a stylist just to style, or do you want them to come up with the concept for the styling as well? Do you have a preexisting mood board that you would like for them to choose from, or do you just have a setting and you want them to run with it? You just need to be aware of what exactly the expectations are, and let them know what the expectations are as well, so that nobody is overstepping the mark, and everyone knows what is expected of them also. You need to be aware of their strength as well as your own. Are they used to styling shoots? Are they used to styling for a particular brand? Do they usually do TV spots, or are they personal stylists? Or do they do fashion shows? Because, they don't always crossover that well, so you need to be aware of what their strengths are. Your stylist might pick up on certain areas where you're lacking and vice versa. It's always important to pick a strong collaborator for that reason. How should they even contact you? Would you find it under professional if someone slid into your DMs? No, definitely not. Nowadays Instagram is the biggest calling card for so many people. It's such an easy way to find someone whose style you really like. I don't think that nowadays, especially not in a creative industry, anyone would find it in any way unprofessional to reach out to someone via Instagram. Because it's the easiest way for you to show your work, for them to show their's, for you to access each other. I think Instagram is actually great on art. I'm also just interested in, what's an example of a good experience you've had working as a stylist. I think that the best experiences come from the collaboration. Whenever everyone is onset, and very open-minded, you have an idea of what you are aiming for, while you're open to other opportunities. Because it's a very dynamic atmosphere, and things can change all the time, and maybe, a shot isn't looking the way you wanted it to, but then the model might be like, well what if I did this? Or the photographer might think, well, what if I shot it this way instead? It makes for the most fun. It makes it the most creative, it's the most enjoyable experience without a doubt. When I styled Naoise Roo, for her music video, but I also did her promo shoot which was shot by Bob Gallager, and it's one of my favorite shoots I've ever done, because we were friends. Going on set was very, very comfortable atmosphere. Again everyone was open to different ideas in a day that we thought, what about this, what about that? Whenever everyone was open to collaborating, and everyone's opinion helped same weight. There was no, well you're just the stylist, and you're just the photographer, and you're the model, so you can shut up and you just wear the clothing. It wasn't like that. The final shots, some of them were not necessarily what we had originally set out to get. But we're much happier with them now, than maybe we would have been the otherwise? For sure. I'm just wondering as well, if you have any horror stories from photo shoots. As I said, I've been very, very fortunate that I've worked on some really great shoots. I have no major horror stories. I have had models rip clothing here and there. There was one in particular we did a vacation shoot. The model was getting changed in the back of the van, and he's wearing pants that were a little too tight. He was hopping up into the back of the van and he just heard a rip, at the [inaudible] of the pants. He turned and he looked at me, he was like, "Was that me?" Well, it wasn't me. [inaudible] not the end of the world. Ultimately, as I say, I've had some really great experiences in shoots, and I like to think of them a lot more than the disastrous shoots. On the set of a photo shoot, what problems are you looking out for? What problems might arise as a stylist? Where the process of collaboration comes into play here, is that a photographer needs to be aware that what they see through the lens, is not what the stylist is seeing. If the stylist is off to your right or off to your left, they're not seeing exactly how it's framed, so you need to let them know. Well, this is sticking out, or it doesn't look right, or there's lots of different things that you might see as a photographer, that a stylist isn't going to notice. You can look at it, but obviously it's framed differently to you, than what I'm seeing. I can look at the full life and like, wow, it looks great. Most photographers, they're just not stylists, so they're not looking at the clothing per se. It's not as important to them. That's not their focus. It's just sometimes important keep in mind. It's just something that a stylist might not notice. How do you get around that? Is it just being communicative? Yeah, exactly. Just communicate to them. Does this look right? Is this how it's supposed to look? Maybe it is supposed to look however it looks, but better to ask the question, than the proofs come in and you're like, oh, something had come undone, a clamp had come undone at the back, slit looked too big or whatever it is. Something like that is very important to be aware of. You have to be quick thinking, and just be willing to compromise when it comes to shooting on the day, because an outfit might not look how you thought it was going to. You need to maybe have a backup. Like something being very reflective, or reflecting light in a different way. Just different elements that you need to be aware about onset, and making sure something looks how it's supposed to look. But again, that's all down to communication with the stylist, to make sure, is this right? When working, photographers, do they show the stylist as they're taking photos? Some do and some do not. It depends on the photographer, but it also depends on the stylist, and it might depend on what sort of time-frame you're in as well. They might not have time. When you're doing it with a stylist, would you rather show the stylist to get their opinion, would you rather take a bunch of shots and go through it afterwards at a later date? Well, I would take a bunch of shots, but then show the stylist and the model there and then, as it were going. Now it depends what photography you're doing, because the photographer I used to assist, was all film photography, and so of course you can't show the images. Actually, she liked doing it that way because she, I don't know, she was very artistic. She liked the fact that there might be some mistakes, whereas if you're showing the stylist as you go, they're always going to fix it. They're going to make you look perfect. But she was more of an arty photographer. I think that's a really interesting way of doing it because, there's nothing you can do. Whereas, whenever something is a little overall, if you're trying to tuck something into perfection, it looks almost artificial. That, there's a natural raw element that's missing and you can't account for that if you're using film photography. Yeah, exactly. It's a little bit interesting. But would you ever think of that when you're styling? If you're working with a digital photographer. Would you be like, actually, I don't want it to be too perfect. If I'm doing an editorial, I might want it to be a bit more raw, because the edginess might give it a bit more authenticity. I'm not trying to sell the clothing, I'm more trying to tell the story and the mood, than anything else. You're not trying to sell clothing which ultimately your viewers won't, presumably, won't be selling any clothing immediately. I wouldn't worry about a wrinkle here or whatever, because you want something to be a bit more creative. For your shoots to stand out, you'd want it a bit bolder styling, I would say. You want something a bit more interesting, and if everything looks really neat and proper, and it's like, a shirt and a tie and a jacket, it's like boring. Whereas if you have a jacket with the sleeves rolled up, and the shirt is a bit unbuttoned, it's already a bit more interesting, but it's going to be rough and ready. It's not going look as polished as clean, but it would probably be more interesting. Well, okay Alan. Thank you very much for all those amazing tips. I'm sure everyone found it really useful. Where can my audience find you if they want to follow you? You can find me on Instagram or Twitter @Alantoye, that is, A-L-A-N-T-O-Y-E. I hope you've got some good tips and tricks with that interview with Alan. I personally learned some tips, so I'm sure you did as well.
6. A Note on Hair & Makeup: I just wanted to quickly mention makeup and hair, because of course, this is also going to be part of your model. It is something to think about. Again, when you first start, you're probably not going to be working with the makeup artist or hair artist. I'm just going to advise to keep it simple for makeup. You can advise your model to either come with no makeup on at all or barely there kind of makeup, maybe just foundation and concealer. If you're working with modeling agencies, they are very used to coming out and shooting with no makeup on. Maybe if you're shooting with your friends, they are not so happy to go on camera without a full face of makeup, then that is up to them. If you're shooting with friends, of course, it's just a collaborative thing. You can work with them and you can take into consideration what they feel comfortable with, but if you have any say in the matter, if your friend's happy to come with a fresh face, not too much makeup, or barely there makeup, then that would probably be better for your portfolio. For hair, definitely keep it natural. Say to the model for them to bring a comb or a hair brush depending on their hair type so that if it goes askew, you can fix it. It's definitely more about keeping it natural when it comes to hair and makeup. As you get more experienced and you start building out your team and working with different people, then of course, you can bring on board a makeup artist or a hair artist who is going to bring your photography to the next level.
7. Let's Shoot! How to Have a Great Shoot Day: Let's say you've made it to the shoot day, how do you proceed? What do you do on the actual shoot day? Let's get into some tips and tricks. The first thing you should do is arrive at the shoot location earlier than when the model is going to arrive. If you are very unfamiliar with the shoot location, maybe you only been there once or twice, you could arrive half an hour earlier to get to grips with the area and make sure everything looks okay and deal with any problems that might have occurred that you didn't even think could happen. From shooting in New York, of course, sometimes whole streets were recorded off for different events and that kind of thing, so you do need to be prepared that you might need to think on your feet a little bit, and so that's why I would advise getting there earlier. Another reason why it's great to arrive earlier is actually just to play around with your settings, even though the model isn't there, you can still get an idea of how to shoot. I would often just go to a shoot location early, and just take random photos of people walking by, they don't even see that you've taken the photos, it's more just like taking a photo of your surroundings, but if you get some people in it, you'll be able to see, that person is super overexposed or this is super underexposed, I'm going to tweak my settings a little bit. You can get the settings more in the range that they need to be, this will again, put your mind at ease and get you ready to shoot, so that there's less time fiddling around with your camera when the model is there. Even if there's no people there, sometimes I just stick my hand out in front of the camera and take a photo of my hand, so that I can see what the exposure is like. Of course, that only works for me if I'm working with someone with the same kind of skin tone as me, and it might not necessarily work so well if I was shooting with a black model, for instance, but still, it's still getting it into the range, and you're obviously going to do tweaking when the model arrives, but at least you're double-checking, and it also gives you a chance to check on silly little things like maybe your ISO is like super high and you could have missed it maybe if you were rushing to work with the model, but you've noticed it, and you've pulled it down because you have that little bit of extra time. When your model arrives, obviously, say hi to them, put them at ease, ask them general chit-chatty questions to not completely jump straight into it, even though I am a person that meets the model for like a minute or two and then dives into it, because at the same time you don't want to just be talking about completely random stuff and wasting both of your time. But anyway, the point is just try and put the model at ease, be a friendly, nice self, and of course then it's time to start taking some photos when you're both ready. Before you start taking proper photos, I always say that I'm going to take some tests photos first, and this is what I was talking about earlier when I was taking photos of the passers-by, I got my settings into the right range, but until you're in front of the model taking photos of the model, who knows if those settings are going to be right, so take one or two photos, look at the back of your camera and see how they expose, does it look good, just take this time to tweak the settings. The great thing about saying I'm just take some tests photos is that, you feel less pressure because the model knows that you're just playing around with the photos, they'll feel less pressure, they don't necessarily need to pose, and you'll feel less pressure because they know that you're still tweaking your settings. When you are ready to go, when you're happy with how the settings look, then you just let them know, okay, let's take some proper photos now, and if it's an experienced model, they'll probably just go straight into a pose for the photo shoot, and if it's less experienced model then maybe you'll have to get them a lot of guidance and tell them exactly how you want them to pose and show them exactly how you want them to pose, but what I really want to stress here is that it's all about communication, so don't just go ahead and put your camera in front of their face and just started taking photos and looking at your camera and changing photos and just not telling them anything, you have to explain, I'm going to take a test photo and these photos look good, so let's do proper photos, open communication with your model is really important. Again, depending on experience, your model might need a lot of direction, so don't necessarily just tell them what you want to do, you should also actually do the pose yourself, why not. So pose that I think I picked up from the photographer, Jessica Whitaker on YouTube is having your hands like this, and then this hand can rest under your chin or this, so that's just something for them to do with their hands, It's really important for, especially inexperienced models to know what to do with their hands, that's just one example, so have a little think about how you want them to pose and don't just tell them, show them. Remember that Pinterest board, this board of inspiration, where you might have pinned some poses that you want to try, don't be afraid to take out your phone and show them a pose and ask them to do the same pose. Giving the model of visual idea of what you're thinking of, will help them to be able to pose in the way you want, and will ultimately help you both get really great photos for your portfolio. Another tip, and I think this is a really important tip, because I think a lot of photographers don't do this, I think you should show the model the photos you're taking, as you're taking them, not after every single photo you take, of course, if you're digital, you're taking a lot of photos, so that would be silly, but once you've taken a few photos in their location, or in a certain pose, why don't turn around the camera, show them the display and show them how they are looking. Of course, this only works if you're a digital photographer, it doesn't apply to analog, but if you are a digital photographer, definitely consider doing it, I think this also puts some model at ease, they can see how they're looking, and also models they know what their face does and they know what looks best for them, so they might see a picture that you've taken and be like, "That's nice, but actually I'd prefer if my face was slightly different." They can tilt their head up or something like that, you'd be surprised how much people know their own face and their own body, and what works for them, for that reason, show them the images as you're taking them every now and then, it will make your model feel included, it'll put your model at ease because they'll see that you're doing a great job and that the photos are going to be good, and also they can have ideas as well of how to move their body or how to pose for these photos. Also, don't forget to encourage your model to interact with the location, so if there's a wall, you can get them to lean on it, maybe there's a lamp post, you can get them to hang off it, or lean on it again, if there's steps, they can sit down, they can sit down on the curb. So remember it's not just about a model standing there and posing for you, it's also about interacting with the environment that you're in, get the best possible photo shoots, and it also loosen up the model. Another thing to bear in mind is your model is little bit nervous, doesn't know what to do with their hands, why not add a prop? Perhaps you could do a coffee cup, that's a really popular one bloggers and influencers, grab a takeaway coffee, then the model can sip from the cup and hold it, depending on the style of photo shoot, you can even have a bunch of flowers or magazine or newspaper, adding a prop can give your models something to play with, and also add a little bit of interest to the photo shoot as well. I would also say don't be afraid of movement. If you have a fast shutter speed, then you can take some cool photos of a model walking, maybe striding across the road and even twirling, that's a really big one with bloggers and influencers, and it's just makes for a really great photo, someone's standing on the spot and twirling around, flipping their hair, and there you go, you've got a great photo of an interesting kind of thing, so the shutter speed doesn't need to be super fast, 1/ 200 of a second, that maybe is a little bit slow, you might get a bit of blur, you can just play around with the different shutter speeds, 1/1000 of a second is an example of a super fast shutter speed that's not going to have any blur at all. So it depends on the style you're going for, but yeah, with a faster shutter speed, you can definitely capture things like walking across the road, flipping hair, and also, you can get your model to start at one point and then walk past you while you're taking those photos as they go, or you can simply ask your model to stand in one spot and rock back and forth, so it looks like you're walking. That's another way to take photos that look like you're walking, but you're actually just going from your back foot to your front foot, rocking back and forth, so if the model does that, and you take photos of that, it'll look like they are actually moving when they're just staying in one spot. If you're taking all these tips on a board, you're doing a really great photo shoot, I'm sure. Do be sure to get lots of different angles and different photos, so you want maybe a close up, a mid shot, a full-length shot of the whole outfit, try different angles, try different areas around the location, as much you can try different ideas. Assuming you're doing digital, you can definitely just, go wild take a load of photos and you'll be able to pick the best ones and work from there. So as you're doing all of this, make sure to keep looking back at the photos you're taking and make sure that everything is looking okay, are they exposed correctly? Maybe the sun has gone quite a cloud and you need to increase the aperture, for instance, do you have enough close ups maybe you need to get a nice detail shot? Ask yourself all these questions because you only have this one period of time with this model that you don't know if you're going to shoot with them again unnecessarily. Yeah, just make sure that you cover yourself and that you both get a lot of different photos that you're happy with, do keep checking the photos you're taking, because of course, if you're shooting in natural light, especially it can change, so you want to make sure they haven't been shooting loads of photos when the cloud is gone over the sudden and all these photos underexposed, for instance. If you have done that, don't panic, just change the settings, so you can go ahead and take some more great photos. If you followed all these tips, at this age, you probably got some great photos of this model with this outfit, are you shooting another outfit? Then of course, you should ask your model to change and get shooting the next outfit, but if you're just shooting one outfit, then happy days, you're done. I just wanted to say, unlike the model's time, of course you're shooting in your own spare time, so you're using your own time for this, but your model as well is using his or her own free time for this photo shoot, so you don't want to take up too much of their time, you do have to respect that, your both doing this for free. For me, I would try and shoot for 35-45 minutes, I think that's a really good sweet spot where the model is still fresh and happy, and I'm happy that we get some great photos, and you're not taking up too much of the models time. That's on the faster side, I understand if you're new to photography or you're not as advanced, then it could take longer, so it's just about being respectful of the models time, really, an hour and a half photo shoot for one look is plenty of time, so I would really advise not going over an hour and a half for sure, don't be taking hours of this person's time. At this stage, I think I've offered you loads of different tips and tricks for your shoot day, there's nothing more for me to say really, except wish you a lot of good luck for your first photo shoot. In the next lesson, I'm going to be talking about some photos I've taken before, giving some advice and also mentioning a little bit about how I would edit, but for now, good luck, and I hope you have a great photo shoot whenever that may be.
8. A Note on Editing & Some Examples: So at this stage, I've told you a little bit about the process that I follow in order to do my street style photo shoots. Of course, I need to speak to you about editing now, but I already have a full course on editing that I have on skillshare. Because this step-by-step process for fashion, a portrait photography is the exact thing that I do for my street style photography, then I would simply direct you to check this out. What I did want to do is I wanted to show you some images that I've taken before and just talk through my thought process and let you know a little bit about the behind the scenes of these photos. I just wanted to show you these photos that I took of Martha, show you how simple it can be. It can be as simple as you working with another model who has a sense of style, styled herself, and you just go to some sort of location that fits the vibe that you're going for and you just take photos. You don't need a big team. When you're doing street style photography, it can just be you band the model and you can get some really great shots. This photo here that I took of Awa, this was taken in Berlin and it was taken at golden hour. It was the hour before sunset. The photos we got are particularly beautiful, I think, because of that gorgeous light really soft, warm light is great to play with. It's such a fluttering light. It's definitely a cool time of day to try, either an hour before the sun goes down or an hour off to the sunrise. However, bear this in mind, that if you live in a place it's going to be really over coast or you just get unlucky with weather, then you kind of miss golden hour. You only really get golden hour when the sky is quite clear so the sun can actually work its magic. Another street style photo shoot I did was with Allalia. This was actually just show it with ambient light. The red on the right-hand side of her face was from the glow of the neon sign and then the rest of her face is just lit by other ambient light that was around in this dark street. It just shows you that once you do build up a bit of confidence and you're happy with your photography in natural light, you should try something new. It's always about pushing yourself outside your comfort zone because that's how you actually improve. So for me, that was shooting at night with neon lights and just ambient light instead of natural light. It's a completely different thing and you are kind of pushing up your ISO a little bit, but you can get some really cool results. I was happy with how that shoot went. I would really encourage you to watch my editing class if you want in-depth information on how to edit and that's it really.
9. How to Share Your Work With Collaborators: So share. Firstly, send your edited images to your model and thank them for a great shoot, or if you worked with an agency model, you might need to refer back to the agreement with the agency because you're probably supposed to send the modeling agency the photographs directly rather than the model. Often, I also give the model a chance to choose a few of their photos for me to edit, just in case I missed one of the favorites. It's up to you if you want to offer this. If you are going to offer this, then a great way to show you a model all the photos to choose from, is using Pixieset. You can simply upload low-res photos, even including a watermark if you want to be extra careful, and you can send them the photographs to choose from. They can then heart a few of their favorites for you to edit and send back. Once you've edited all your favorites and perhaps a few of them models favorites, you can use Pixieset, Google Drive or WeTransfer to send the photos to the model. Also, don't forget to send it to any other collaborators. Perhaps, make up artists or stylists that you work with on the photo shoot. Of course, everyone who worked on the shoot needs these photos for their portfolio, they all put a lot of work and effort into the shoot, so don't forget to make sure that they also get the photos. Then get sharing your work on social media and in your portfolio. So, great job. Next we're going to go into the conclusion where I'm going to be talking about the class project.
10. Your Turn: Class Project: So that's pretty much it. I hope I've given you some ideas on how you can do your first photo shoot with a model. There's nothing really more for me to say except to give you your class project. So the class project is to simply follow along with the tips and tricks I've given and to do your own street style photo shoot if you'd like, you can also share them on Instagram of course and be sure to tag me in the caption. I'm @shotbyclairep. I'm going to be sharing some of my favorites on my story. So it would be great if you'd go ahead and do that. But yeah, that's pretty much the whole course. I can't wait to see the photo shoots you do. I can't wait to see them on Instagram. Happy shooting and good luck.
Claire Petersen, Fashion & Influencer Photographer
