Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Pro-Bono PhotoShoot for local School.


I had a great time this morning doing a "proper" photoshoot for a local school. The brief was to create some simple head and shoulders shots to update their website and school notice boards.

I spent a fun hour putting a lot of what I have learned into practice and look forwards to posting more of the resulting photos to my Flickr account soon.

This experience was invaluable and helped me to learn a lot including..... how difficult it can be to get some people smile.


  • Knowing your gear, how it works, dialing in settings gives you confidence.

  • Checking and readying gear (according to a checklist) the night before gives you peace of mind and lets you focus on the creative process vs technical issues.

  • Turn off ambient lighting sources to avoid colour casts.

  • Having a few poses in mind prior to shooting saves time and puts you in control.

  • "Narrow" lighting is more flattering than broad.

  • Interact with your models to make it less scary (for them) and a fun experience.

  • Seperate the subject from the background more (difficult due to space limitation)

  • Show people the shots you got on the camera LCD to get initial feedback.

  • Some people just don't like being photographed OR the result... even if others love it.

  • The strobist website has been invaluable in my learning experience.

  • I am able to turn theory into practice and get a pretty good result.... judge for yourself when I post the images.

  • A large school whiteboard makes a great background.

  • I need more lighting gear !! (to blow out aforementioned white background)

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