A rather long guide to setting up properly

Before I say anything to you about set up, I want to make something super clear, you only get better by knowing the result you want to create, and by then going and trying to do that.

If you continue to do the same thing over and over again, you won’t improve, you need to do stuff that isn’t comfortable.

Discomfort doesn’t mean bad work, it means that you’re on the edge of what you’re capable of.

As long as this is a deliberate practice, this is where you grow most.

Experience does not always dictate great creative work.

Ok, now that I have that out of the way, I’ll explain the areas that you need to cover in a shoot, and what each entails because each of these affects how you set up.

This will probably change but shoots can be broken down into these parts.

1. Research: Referencing / Briefing / Collaborating / Scouting
2. Set Up: Lighting / Location / Timing
3. Shooting: Direction / Collaborating 
4. Editing: Selection / Colouring / Retouching 
5. Debriefing: Talking to the team / Handover

The research dictates the entire flow of the shoot, it has to come first.

Turning up and expecting a certain result without knowing how you’re going to get there, or for example what sort of lighting you’re going to use, and what colour backdrop you need will kill a shoot quickly.

Any talent, makeup artist, assist who is unsure what they’re doing is being let down by you the photographer. Likewise, anyone who doesn’t read the brief, communicate that they’re unsure of the direction or just goes and does their own thing is letting you down. It’s a two-way street and you’re really in charge of this.

I recommend a two-page brief that includes:

• Names of all talent involved
• Names of any collaborators involved (agencies, brands, etc)
• Start and finish time (if multiple locations or multiple steps involved, a break down of how long on each is good)
• Moodboard (if you want to shoot nudity, this should be in there, NEVER spring that on anyone, that ain’t cool bro)
• Clothing list/options (what to bring, and what if anything will be supplied)
• Locations (parking availability, transport options etc should be included)
• Duty of care (post #metoo and the spotlight articles on poor behaviour within the fashion industry I do believe this must be included, you owe it to your talent to look after them).
• Equipment checklist (cameras, stands, laptops, cords, everything, if you’re in charge of it, it’s fine to leave this off, if you have an assist, that’s their job to keep track, make sure there’s a list so they can check it off at the end of a shoot).

Here's how my briefs look for smaller shoots.

Set up

Indoor (studio)

Deciding on lighting is rather simple for me, I only have two lights, and one large reflector and one large diffuser.

All the lighting equipment I use is Profoto. I use their location lights aka. B1X (500 w/s).

I've got a few soft boxes (that are probably older than many people reading this — made in 96'), a beauty dish, zoom reflectors, transparent umbrellas and that's practically it.

You can get almost all these from whatever brand you choose to use. I do like the Profoto stuff, I grew up using it, alongside Broncolor, but I prefer the mount design of Profoto compared to any other system (Elinchrom, Bowens, and Godox being the other names that really come to mind).

I don't think your lighting set up needs to be the most complicated thing in the world, and I've included links to some items.

How to make these decisions.

It's important to note that I'm only giving advice, but depending on how punchy I want my shot to look. Listed from softest light source to hardest.

1. Umbrellas
2. Diffuser panels (sometimes this can be more intense than the softboxes but it depends how you use it)
3. Softboxes
4. Beauty Dish (aka. softlight reflector)
5. Zoom reflector (and any other sort of direct reflector)
6. Bare light

The size of each of these does change the intensity as well, basically the bigger the modifier the softer it will be, it's why I love my translucent umbrellas, they're extremely soft, and Pprofoto's ones are parabolic in shape, so they still provide direction and contrast.

Outdoor

The time of day has the biggest effect.

The golden rule is never to shoot @ noon, that's what gives the worst/hardest shadows.

Morning or afternoon light, you need to know where the sun is coming from, and what the environment is like at different types of day.

There are some great sun apps for mobile, but generally, you don't want to fight the sun, you want to work with it.

During Winter, I find shooting at 8:30 AM and 3 PM are the best times, whilst In Summer 7:45 AM and 5:45 PM. Basically, you need to know when and where the sun is going, and how that's going to affect the positioning of your subject.

Reflectors and scrims also help! I generally use a Sunbounce or this Lastolite Diffuser, there are smaller options, these just give me the results I like when I have an assistant.

In summary

All of these decisions should have been made before the shoot, that may include a wet weather option. This shouldn't be decided on the go, this is why it's so important to research.

Editing

Nothing kills a good shoot quicker than a bad edit. So again, your references should dictate the colour palette, as well as where you aim to take the shots you've created. As a general rule of thumb, I clean up stuff that appears distracting, or you wouldn't see on an iPhone, that's how I look at editing, everyone is different, but they're the priciples I work off.

I would say colour comes before retouching for me, generally I want to know where I'm taking my shots before I start fixing up skin, etc, otherwise, I may get to the finished shot, and find that the colouring I was aiming for does not fit the shot.

I tether into Capture One to make this process a little smoother, as you can have your colour set up on the photos as you shoot so that you get an idea as to how things will look once I driop them into Photoshop.

There's more on retouching in my last written post here.

Debriefing

How you feel about your work is irrelevant in this, it's how you manage to make everyone else feel, and any feedback you have, or anything you need to make sure that things are done, and dusted.

I can't tell you what that looks like, it's different for everyone but I would say that going through this guide, making sure you've hit your mark, and looking at the references, whether you got close to it or not, might be unimportant. What is important, is that it's deliberate practice, that you had goals, and steps and finally that you can repeat the result, your style isn't a result of random chance, it's how you put things together, and how you choose to make things work for you.