Advice: What Is Your Process?

[fashioninfant]

I am a new photographer and trying to plan a photoshoot. I’ve tried to plan a photoshoot before and I am never fully satisfied with the end result. I feel like what I envisioned never comes to life. With this information, I think I don’t plan/conceptualize well. The way my brain operates I have one idea that stems into different like ideas and it’s subsets and I try to find the big picture amongst all of the idea. I try to create images with my pic references. Sometimes my mind seems like a lot happening at once. However I want to try a different way. Maybe I am not doing it right. How do you come up with your ideas for concepts and what are the steps you are taking?

 

[GivenchyAddict]

My message is from a stylist's perspective, so you may need to adapt for yourself :

At the very beginning as a stylist, I used to build concepts/mood boards/ideas on what I like and what I wanted to show/style but ended up struggling sourcing the clothes I needed and therefore having a diluted concept once on set.

Now I only based my shoot ideas on what’s going on during the fashion weeks with the collections, the trends, etc.

When my fashion part is ready, I take usually a huge time to figure out how I want to show the clothes to catch the readers' attention -sort of speak.

I delve into my main references which are like 100+ images that really « shape » what kind of imagery I always want to produce. It is important for me to have that to keep consistency on my whole work but anyway.

For a specific shoot, my ideas are separate this way :

1. All the fashion looks: let’s say « little black dress »
2. The main reference or « the whole imagery for the shoot »: a bit of CK in the 90s, Vogue Italia, MAS’ former work, Penn’s work, etc.
3. The references of how I want to style the « little black dress ». Let’s say with trousers, giving a new meaning to sensuality, no more legs shown but still some skin was shown with the back, arms, etc
4. The glam part: make-up /hair. Building a character. How this part will elevate the story. Right now I’d say, as the clothes would be fully black, to have some pop colors on the eyelid or either nude make-up but bold lips. Little black dress means feminity and then too obvious so would be great to have a buzz-cut girl for example.
5. (optional) Locations and/or lighting.

Once everything is done and well-edited, I do a storyboard just like the film director. Choosing the looks, the kind of pose for the model I imagine, lighting. It is really important to have that to structure your shoot, knowing if it would be strong, not losing focus, etc. It is basically your blueprint.

The more edited and strong everything above is the better you can communicate the whole thing to the Editor, the Stylist, the glam team, and the Casting Director

If everything is well organized with all your team and you all know exactly what to do, you are less likely to end up disappointed.

Please know also that on set, even being very well prepared, there is always some surprise and sometimes they are good. It is nice to not be too stuck with all your concept and prep, to let the creativity does its work.

Hope it’ll help.

 

[fashioninfant]

Wow thank you for this!! See I thought planning it out storyboard like was excessive. Now I don’t think so. I have a question to you. As a stylist for someone who is just starting out and does not have a lot of money how do you plan photoshoots around this? Like how many looks do you decide for the photoshoot? Do you keep the shoot itself very simple or elaborate with the small you have?

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^ Do what seems the best for you. There is no "too much" when it is about prepping a shoot. Meisel preps a lot whereas Juergen barely. Same for the stylists, MAS is a lot into prep (tons of boards) and Carlyne is no board at all, going straight to the showroom pulling out samples.

To answer your question, it is quite hard for me to give you something clear...
First, I only do commissioned jobs so all my shoots had a budget. This is a business and therefore a job, so I don't believe in working for free for magazines. Even a small budget helps to pay assistants and samples' returns at least.

Secondly, the more options the better it is. Too often the looks you like on Vogue Runway end up being very dull once received and every stylist has the syndrome of "not enough". I don't know any stylist saying " yes I'm good I have 20 looks, no need for more" haha.

Opportunities become so rare now that once you have one, milk it as much as possible. My rule is "if the magazine ask for 10 pages, I prep for 15 pages."

Last, simple or elaborate? Depends on the story and how we all envision it. Just check the last shoot from Willy Vanderperre for Document Journal. There are barely 5/6 looks yet they have 16 pages and a cover.

 

[fashioninfant]

You are brilliant! Thank you! I’ve tried to look into how Meisel and other photographers plan and execute their photoshoots but the info is so scarce. Is there like a book or documentary? Also, I will check everything out you’ve suggested out

 

[velvetandsilk]

You are brilliant! Thank you! I’ve tried to look into how Meisel and other photographers plan and execute their photoshoots but the info is so scarce. Is there like a book or documentary? Also, I will check everything out you’ve suggested out

They mention about this in interviews or their collaborators in autobiographies.

Start looking at old photo shoots and notice how the model poses in a particular outfit. You will meeting a lot of models who will not know how to pose and you have to tell them what to do to make the clothes look better.

Type of planning photoshoots is connection with your style (rave style need good loction, but classic studio photo need good skill and knowlage about photography technic) or client (commercial or somthing for magazine).
There are two dominant compositional patterns in fashion photography: 1) showing clothing- photo in studio (Richard Avedon), 2) storytelling - created story (Helmut Newton, Steven Meisel- his heydays for Vogue Italia).
1)David Bailey: Jane Birkin, 1972

2)An Alice Springs shoot in the April 1974 issue of British Vogue

tumblr/ vogue.co.uk

Once everything is done and well-edited, I do a storyboard just like the film director. .

Jean Paul Goude is working in this way.

 

[fashioninfant]

Thank you! I need to study these photographers! I like the clothes aspect, but I prefer the storytelling method. How do you study a photographer’s style? Do I look for similarities?