5 tips for your next photoshoot (as a beginner photographer)
Are you struggling with food or product photography?
I’ll let you in on a little secret…sometimes you have to go through a bunch of no’s to get the shot you want.
I used to get so impatient when setting up scenes and styling so I get it. You have this perfect shot in your head and it’s just not happening. This is why practice shoots are so so important when first starting out in photography.
I’ve finally gotten to the point where I understand it will take time and these things can’t be rushed. Patience is a huge part of photography.
Here are a couple tips for your next shoot—
Make sure you give yourself enough time to shoot—don’t rush! Sometimes clients don’t understand that A LOT goes into styling, getting the lighting perfect, etc. So always set expectations and keep in mind what all is involved in a certain project.
Move your light source around (or product depending on if you’re shooting with artificial or natural light), and try diffusing the light vs no diffuser. It all depends on the type of lighting you’re going for! But when moving the light around, it gives you a chance to see how different positions can change your scene dramatically. For example—if you’re lighting a cocktail from the front, try moving your light source to a back corner and you’ll see it should light up the liquid and you won’t have terrible reflections on your glassware.
Switch up backgrounds! When in the studio, I switch it up constantly, even if in my original sketches I had a specific one—don’t settle if you don’t love it! Same goes for on-location photoshoots. You can usually find a great background in restaurants, but it’s important to be careful that it’s not too distracting.
Try different camera angles. Before I hook my camera up to my tripod, I will free hand it so I can try a bunch of angles easily. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel trapped with a tripod. I love the flexibility of being able to look through the view finder and find that perfect angle. Once I’m happy with it, I’ll hook up to my tripod so I can still get my ideal angle but also sharp crisp images.
Add and remove props. This is another situation where what you planned to use just doesn’t end up working and that’s ok! Use props that make sense and practice compositional rules. For example—if you are at a restaurant shoot and photographing a steak, I always ask for a steak knife, because that is how it would be served. And I always ask my clients if they are ok with certain props or not…what you think looks amazing, they might feel is off-brand for them.
