Today we have Melanee Kate from M'Kate Photography sharing how she pulls large-scale shoots together. Melanee is a young children's lifestyle and editorial photographer who has been published online and in multiple magazines.
To dive right in, let's define large-scale. When I say large-scale, I mean something where you are dragging in people, props, costumes, sets, animals, ect. These are my most favorite shoots to do, because to me, this is how I get to make art. Don’t get me wrong, I like photographing clientele. It’s fun! But when I do shoots that I can create, it’s like making a drawing with a camera. I get to choose the place, the face, the outfit, the expression, ect. This is going to surprise those who have seen my work…but I like being creative and artsy. ;)
1. Envision.
You can’t plan if you don’t know exactly what you want. So imagine what you want to photograph, and go from there. Even if making it happen seems unlikely, don’t limit yourself! You’d be amazed at the things you can come up with when you start networking and getting crafty. I’ve done crazy things from mermaid tails to flying carpets.
2. Write it down and organize!Once you have in your mind what you want, get a notebook and write down everything you’ll need to make it happen. I then organize in order of most important, and start contacting people. (Example of importance hierarchy – models, location, clothing, minor props, ect.)
3. Don’t do it on your own!
There are so many vendors and artist out there that can help you achieve your photographic dreams! For casting, I have casted many kids from mutual model friends, I use Backstage.com all the tie, and sometimes I even work with local kids I know! I also LOVE etsy.com for costuming. Sometimes I work with seamstress that have what I want, and often they’ll even design something for me! Right now, (though as I continue to climb in the industry, this will change.) everyone helps me out just for getting the images in return! So you can have a crazy cool shoot, without tons of money coming out of your pocket! Other people I often work with are makeup artists, prop providers, and often...if I need something super random and don't know where to get it, I just put an add on craigslist.com. It may sounds funny, but that's often where I get many of my animals for shoot and random props. With that though, if you are still a minor, never put an ad on craigslist without parental permission. When you meet up, always bring other people with you and meet in a public location.
4. Story board and Image planning.
For me personally, if I don’t have every single image drawn out in stick people illustrations on a story board, I may completely forget to shoot it! For shoots that don’t have a story line, this isn’t terribley important. But for those that do, a missing image could kill the shoot! For example, recently I had a crazy three hour shoot, with eight models, 11 slightly different locations, and 26 outfit changes! This is a lot to sort out without a storyboard! And for this, I actually had two story boards! One for the images in order of the story that I was telling, and the other for the actual order we were going to shoot in. These also help, because you can look at the sketches and see if you're missing any props or things of the sort.
How I personally do story boards, is I do a super quick sketch on a queue card of each image I want, and then I tape them all in order onto a poster board. Super cheap, and super easy! For this past shoot, I also took each queue card off as I took the photos, to make sure nothing was missed!
5. Communication Organization
When communicating with your models, always send a follow up email with all the details together, and ALWAYS have their phone numbers! (I unfortunately learned this the hard way...a couple times.)
When communicating with your models, always send a follow up email with all the details together, and ALWAYS have their phone numbers! (I unfortunately learned this the hard way...a couple times.)
6. Shoot and have fun!
Make sure to let your models know what you are trying to convey in each picture, even have them replicated your facial expression if need be!
7. Don't Stress and Have a Backup Plan
When working with people I find almost always, at least one thing goes wrong. A model gets sick, and vendor backs out, it rains…But DO not freak out. It’s something you’ll have to learn to deal with, and it’s really not the end of the world. You can always recast, postpone, run to the closest store for a clothing item, do something slightly different, and so on. These mess-ups will just push your creative limits and teach you a lot about staying cool in frustrating situations.
As you can see the hard part is not the shooting but the planning and getting everything together. If you are doing a large-scale shoot, you will spend HOURS on planning, and you might start pulling out your hair. ;) It’s a bit of a juggling act, but it’s a fun one, so enjoy it!
When working with people I find almost always, at least one thing goes wrong. A model gets sick, and vendor backs out, it rains…But DO not freak out. It’s something you’ll have to learn to deal with, and it’s really not the end of the world. You can always recast, postpone, run to the closest store for a clothing item, do something slightly different, and so on. These mess-ups will just push your creative limits and teach you a lot about staying cool in frustrating situations.
As you can see the hard part is not the shooting but the planning and getting everything together. If you are doing a large-scale shoot, you will spend HOURS on planning, and you might start pulling out your hair. ;) It’s a bit of a juggling act, but it’s a fun one, so enjoy it!
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