Hot Topic 01

H o t T o p i c - G o o d L i g h t ! M a g - T h e N e w W a y o f P o r t r a i t P h o t o g r a p h y

G o o d L i g h t M a g . c o m

Hot Topic - Good Light! Mag - The New Way of Portrait Photograph Photography y

Free Download Your Professional Production Book

Contents FEATURES Your Production Book (free template) Make your photo shoot run on autopilot

Photo Efciency Customizing and tailoring the template for your kind of photo shoots

The Leverage Trick Using your production book template

Look Inside Use this template as your starting point for customizations The videos and the template in this issue of Good Light! Magazine are taken from one of the lessons of my high end photography coaching program The Productive Photographer . In the videos I will sometimes refer to other lessons which are not part of this magazine, but which are also not essential for the content featured in this mag.

Contents FEATURES Your Production Book (free template) Make your photo shoot run on autopilot



Look Inside Use this template as your starting point for customizations The videos and the template in this issue of Good Light! Magazine are taken from one of the lessons of my high end photography coaching program The Productive Photographer . In the videos I will sometimes refer to other lessons which are not part of this magazine, but which are also not essential for the content featured in this mag.

Your Production Book 3

By MICHAEL ZELBEL

Your Production Book Make your photo shoot run on autopilot

Video from my high end photography coaching program The Productive Photographer .

Photographers want results. Quite often I can provide beginning photographers with results by giving them a ready-to-shoot recipe for a particular scene including a lighting diagram. However, when it comes to more advanced photographers, then they want outstanding results in their own shooting situation. And if there is one group of people who are even more concerned about the outcome than the photographers are, then these are their clients. They want excellent results, too, and they want them guaranteed.

That’s why in my high end coaching program, program, The Productive Photographer, Photographer, I had to care to make my students set up their shootings for guaranteed success. Zero tolerance for failure. The key for this is the right type of planning. As you certainly like to have fruitful photo shoots as will, I’d like to share this particular lesson of The Productive Photographer with you today. Let me introduce you to a type of planning, which will put you ahead of 95% of all professional photographers. Coming up with a professional production book


for your next photo shoot will absolutely give you the edge. Photo shoots tend to depend on a number of people. There’s not only the photographer, but there are also models, stylists, makeup artists, second shooters, assistants and many more. They all have to work in a team towards the result, which you desire. Enable them by giving them guidance. Give them the predictability they need in order to function. Base it on a solid planning. The outcome of your photo shoot can either depend on luck, or it can depend on good preparation. Choose the latter

one. From experience I can tell, that it is much easier and also much faster, to plan something in advance, than it is to gure it out under pressure and time constraints at the day of shooting. The tool of choice for planning your shoot is your production book. You don’t need to come up with a new book from scratch every time you prepare a shoot. It’s the opposite, the power of this book is that it is based on a solid template which takes care of a lot of lists and information which otherwise might be forgotten during planning. The outcome is a slick, complete Production Book which not only makes

Making the model falling into the light was not much effort. But it required giving the scene a bit of thought in advance during the planning phase. Michael did not photograph the model falling down, but actually j umping forward.


your team working so much better, but it also gives your client so much more condence in your work. Preparing this book pays of big time. Fancy some inspiration for coming up with your own template for your production book? This is what this magazine is about. It shows you exactly the template, which I use when planning my next photo shoot. In order to make it really convenient for your to start with my template as a basis for your template, I am making it available for you as a download in Microsoft Word format, ready to be edited in applications like Word, Pages or Open Ofce. All you have to do is subscribing with your eMail address to the Good Light! Newsash and seconds later you will nd the download link to your template right in your eMail inbox. If you have a producer for your photo shoot, then he should own the production book. It should be the outcome of his planning. If there is no producer involved, then the photographer can quickly come up with a production book. It’s much less work than it seams. In any case, the production book will guide your workow. The checklists in the book will make sure you don’t leave out any important step during the shoot. In your future shoots there will never be such a shock moment like “OMG with forgot this important [blank]! We are toast!” Besides that, your production book will greatly enhance the commitment of

your team and it will make you shine in the eyes of your client. Subscribe to our Newsletter in order to download your production book template in Microsoft Word format.


Wardrobe, styling, custume, makeup and lighting must be well coordinated in order to depict a geisha in a shiny latex outt. It’s really not as simple as it might look. Model: Sarathustra Styling: Emily Shooting by Blende666 and Michael Zelbel Studio: Fotomagic

A Cookbook for Improving YourBoudoir Photography This eBook features 74 pages full of recipes for awesome photography in any bedroom • use simple and absolutely reliable lighng setups • return from your shoot with posh professional photos • make your boudoir models really proud

Packed with aconable ps and tricks In the ebook I walk you through the way that I perform my boudoir photo shoots. All you need to do is follow the 6-step approach that I provide you with: 1. basics like the right lighng gear and lenses for a bedroom 2. lingerie and clothes which work vs. things that do not work 3. the lighng setups which deliver the best results 4. poses for every model, from standard to creave 5. how to fnd the best camera angle the common mistakes to avoid

Findout about this book at Boudoir.cc

Photo Efciency 8


In any given photo production there are a gazillion of things which you have to do as a photographer in order to nally get the result which you want to achieve. Often times it all starts with a brieng and it ends with Photoshop. In between there are a huge number of steps which are all part of your workow. You can produce a lot of good photos in a lot of good photo shoots if your workow is very efcient. On the other hand, if it is not efcient, then the

inefciencies will steal so much time from you, that you simply won’t have time to produce a lot of good stuff, even if your skills are excellent. A slow workow is killing you in photography. One aspect of efciency is that we want to do work only once and not many times. For example, we don’t want to write our production book from scratch every time we plan a shoot, we want to reuse it as much as possible.

Photo Efciency 9

The degree to which you will be able to reuse your particular planning template depends very much on how well you tailor it for your needs. If you reuse the downloadable template I referenced in the previous article, then I suggest you tailor it in two passes: 1) Add all the standard information like for example your name, details and your studio address, then save the template naming it “Production Book Complete.doc”. 2) Now in a 2nd pass walk through it and remove all the sections, which you typically do not need for your type of

photography. Save this version under a name like “Production Book Standard. doc”. This stripped down version is a perfect starting point for your typical photo shoots. Just in case you break out of your standard way and you need some sections which you already removed from your template, then you can always go back and use the “Production Book Complete.doc” instead. Now take a couple of minutes to tailor your template. It will pay off big time in the years ahead of you.

An outdoor shoot in the prairie of Beijing. My classic example for usage of the production book. Even though this shoot involves only a handful of team members, it must be planned very well. By the time the shooting happens every team member needs to know exactly what to do.

Photo Efciency 10

Shooting fashion in a bar. This shoot needed to happen very fast. Nevertheless everything had to be perfect: Location, colors, styling, light... Without proper planning, this would be close to impossible.

Back Issues? Have all of them! Make Ultra-Soft Beauty Light

The Quick Portrait Lighting Trick

Onelight vs Two and Three Light Setups

The Leverage Trick 12


This video sometimes refers to other lessons of The Productive Photographer , but you don’t really need these lessons in order boost the leverage given you by your production book.

How do you leverage your production book best? If you are able to integrate your production book smoothly into your workow, then you will reap huge rewards. You enjoy lots of benets of solid planning while having very little extra work during planning and a signicant amount of time saved during your production.

If you use your template correctly, it enables you to plan a big shoot, properly, on paper, in like 30 minutes. This is really powerful stuff. This makes you more powerful than 95% of the professional photographers out there.

The Leverage Trick 13

Even a very simple photo shoot in a hotel room benets greatly from using a production book template for very fast, but very efcient planning.

Look Inside 15

Look Inside

Use this template as your starting point for customizations The following pages show the empty template, as I would use it for my work. It is lled with lists for my kind of photo shoots. I feature it here in order to give you a good idea of how the template is looking like. However, I highly suggest downloading the MS Word version of the template. You can open and edit it not only in MS Word, but also in Apple Pages and Open Ofce.

Subscribe to our Newsletter in order to download your production book template in Microsoft Word format.

Model: Jennifer Hill

Shooting hair for Toni and Guy. Not in a well controlled photo studio, but rather in a hair saloon with multiple models and hair stylists preparing one creation after another. If I had not planned well for this shoot, then I would have been toast in that situation.

A S U C C E S S F U L F A N T A S Y S H O O T I N G

Your Name Photographer

Title of Your Shooting Confidential: This document must not rd

be shared with 3 parties

Confidential This document is absolutely confidential. It may not be shared with anyone other than individuals granted permission by the photographer. In case you received this document from anyone other than the photographer then you have received illegal materials.

-2© by Photographer – All Rights Reserved

Table Of Contents The Holy Shooting Schedule ............................................................................................... 5 The Great Photo Idea ......................................................................................................... 6 The Story ........................................................................................................................... 7 Location ............................................................................................................................. 8 Location Details .......................................................................................................................... 8 Weather Forecast ....................................................................................................................... 8 Location Checklist ...................................................................................................................... 9

Scenes ..............................................................................................................................10 Lighting Setups ......................................................................................................................... 10 List Of Frames To Produce per Scene ........................................................................................ 10

The Team – Tasks and Contact Details ..............................................................................11 Producer .................................................................................................................................. 11 Photographer ........................................................................................................................... 11 First Assistant ........................................................................................................................... 11 Digital Tech .............................................................................................................................. 12 Videographer ........................................................................................................................... 12 Model(s) .................................................................................................................................. 12 Hair Care & MUA ...................................................................................................................... 12 Stylist ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Location Scout .......................................................................................................................... 13 Drivers / Assistants .................................................................................................................. 13 Translator ................................................................................................................................ 14

Addresses .........................................................................................................................15 Hair, Makeup and Styling ..................................................................................................16 Scene #1 ................................................................................................................................... 16 Scene #2 ................................................................................................................................... 16 Scene #3 ................................................................................................................................... 17 Scene #4 ................................................................................................................................... 17

Gear and Papers Checklist.................................................................................................19 Papers ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Essential Photo Gear ................................................................................................................ 19 Additional Photo Gear .............................................................................................................. 19 Styling and props for the shooting ............................................................................................ 20 Other items .............................................................................................................................. 20

Day Before Shooting Checklist ..........................................................................................21 Takeoff Checklist .............................................................................................................. 22 Ramp Up Step By Step List ................................................................................................23 Postproduction .................................................................................................................24 Lessons Learned ............................................................................................................... 25 -3© by Photographer – All Rights Reserved


The Holy Shooting Schedule We absolutely MUST stick to the following schedule on the day of the shooting Shedule [Date…] aa:00

Meet at Meetingpoint

aa:00 – bb:00

Drive to location

bb:00 – cc:00

Prepare Scene #1, Makeup

cc:00 – dd:00

Shoot Scene #1

dd:00 – ee:00

Shoot Scene #2

ee:00 – ff:00

Shoot Scene #3

ff:00

Pack up the stuff an leave Location


The Great Photo Idea This shooting is about… The key statement that the photos make is… I imagine the following scenes… Some examples for photos like this are…


The Story We will think of the shooting as taking photos of scenes from the following little story. This will help us to express a common mood and expression when it comes to setting up the scene, clothing and makeup, posting, lighting and all the other creative elements. The main characters of our story is…. She is living in… One day she…


Location

Location Details

Name

Photos

Map and Driving Instructions

Weather Forecast

The weather on location at the scheduled day of the shooting will be like this: Temperatures: Felt Temperature: Wind: Clouds / Rain: Sunrise / Sunset: …


Location Checklist

This list is considered during location scouting and approved by the producer. ¥

Parking Space? Distance to set?

¥

Electric power 220V available?

¥

Restrooms?

¥

Changingroom?

¥

Retreat in case of rain?

¥

Place to store gear?

¥

Drinks, food, snacks available?

¥

Where is the sun at the time of shooting? Where is it going to set?

¥

Can the models pose conveniantly?

¥

Mosquitoes, bugs?

¥

Temperature at location?

¥

Is it a public place? Viewers / spectators expected?

¥

What permits are required? Do we already any of them?

¥

Can we play music?

¥

Can we get in conflict with somebody?

¥

What are the exact position for your shooting!

¥

Make sample photos! Good exposures of sky, greenery, rocks, other elements of the compositions!

¥

Is the location really suitable?


Scenes The photo shoot is going to be structures in various scenes.

Scene Details These are the various scenes which are planned: Scene #1 Scene #2 Scene #3 Scene #4 (fallback or extra)

Lighting Setups Here are some scribbles or descriptions of the lighting setup of the different scenes: ….

List Of Frames To Produce per Scene Image #1 Image #2 Image #3 ...


The Team – Tasks and Contact Details Each team member is responsible for their tasks and for overcoming their challenges. In case any of the tasks might be in danger please immediately inform the producer.

Producer Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Keep all team members on track according to their tasks and schedule 2. Arrange all logistics 3. …

Photographer Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Care about lighting 2. Produce all planned photographs 3. …

First Assistant Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Watch out for any mistakes in the shoot 2. Help with gear handling 3. …


Digital Tech Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Setup and maintain camera connectivity 2. Manage and backup all files (photo and video) 3. …

Videographer Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. List all necessary scenes for 2. Capture all scenes for making of video + extra footage 3. …

Model(s) Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Have top body condition on day of shooting, good nails 2. Sign release with complete transfer of all image rights incl. commercial 3. …

Hair Care & MUA Name Mobile: eMail:


Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Prepare Hair and Makeup according to plan 2. During shoot check for any imperfections and remove them immediately 3. …

Stylist Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Supply the clothes and accessories 2. Closely align with hair and makeup stylist 3. …

Location Scout Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Care for a suiteable location 2. Align with producer on permits and remove all impediments on location 3. …

Drivers / Assistants Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Be prepared with checked and filled up cars on day of shooting 2. Know exactly the route to the location 3. …


Translator

Name Mobile: eMail: Tasks and Responsibilities: 1. Be capable of translation photoshooting related terms; 2. Stay on side of photographer all the time, and proactively translates his directives 3. …


Addresses Location or Studio

Address Map / Driving instruction

Fallback Location or Studio


Restaurant for dinner after the shooting


Hotel or Meeting Point



Hair, Makeup and Styling Scene #1 Hair style Makeup style Eyes Lashes Cheeks Lips Others Fashion Accessories Props Examples (photos)

Scene #2 Hair style Makeup style Eyes Lashes Cheeks Lips Others Fashion -16© by Photographer – All Rights Reserved

Accessories Props Examples (photos)

Scene #3

Hair style Makeup style Eyes Lashes Cheeks Lips Others Fashion Accessories Props Examples (photos)

Scene #4

Hair style Makeup style Eyes Lashes Cheeks


Lips Others Fashion Accessories Props Examples (photos)


Gear and Papers Checklist Sort this checklist according to boxes and bags you use during travel and transit. For every item list in which box it is going to be. For airtravel indicate if bags are check in or carry on luggage.

Papers o o o

passport incl. visa production book location permit

Essential Photo Gear o o o o o

o o

camera body camera fallback body camera battery chargers lenses memory cards strobes / speedlights laptop + charger

Additional Photo Gear o o o o

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

camera tripod laptop holder guerilla pod angle view finder speedlight cables snoot color filters light stands umbrella swivels umbrellas reflectors greycard lens cleaning kit gaffer tape USB cable GPS tracker velcro a piece of aluminum wrap


o o

card reader compass

Styling and props for the shooting o

o o o o o

fashion / costumes wigs and similar jewelry accessories, sunglasses etc music for the shooting special effects (smoke, fire, ...)

Other items o o o

o o o o

bugspray sunscreen drinks snacks fruit toilet items luggage strap


Day Before Shooting Checklist o

camera batteries charged

o

memory cards clean

o

speedlight batteries charged

o

laptop battery charged

o

external battery charged

o

laptop hard drive got 100GB space

o

got music for the shooting

o

all participants have address

o

releases are ready to sign

o

weather forecast is OK

o

drinks and food for the shooting


Takeoff Checklist

Things to check before start driving to location o

Gear and papers checklist checked

o

Clocks in cameras and laptop aligned and on local time

o

Cameras zero’d out and working

o

Batteries are charged


Ramp Up Step By Step List List of activities to be done directly after arriving on location 1.

Mark the exact spot where we shoot the first scene by putting a bucket there

2.

Park the cars as close as possible

3.

Model(s) get prepared and styled

4.

Videographer start documenting

5.

Everybody use bugspray

6.

Setup the camera tripod for the first scene

7.

Setup camera, check the main settings

8.

Tether camera

9.

Setup first scene (assistant standing in for model)

10.

Setup lighting

11.

Test shoot and color calibration

12.

Pose model

Ready to go for first scene


Postproduction For postproduction the following is planned o

Stretch image by 5%

o

Make eyes 5% bigger

o

Rubberstamp pimples and spots

o

Make skin smoother

o

Recover detail in hair and clothes

o

Sharpen

o

…


Lessons Learned In our shooting the following thing went wrong, or can be improved. Checkpoints and planning steps will be addes to the production book of the NEXT shooting, so that these things cannot come up again: Issue 1 …

Issue 2 …


Hot Topic 01

Recommend Documents