How To Self-Produce A Photo Shoot (Part One of Six)

Chelsea and I have self-produced many photoshoots over the years so we wanted to share our top tips and findings, when working with a team.  Today we’ll be talking about creating a concept and mood board.

Everything starts with an idea so you have to decide the purpose of your photoshoot and ask yourself, are you:

·     Portfolio building?

·     Selling images as stock or planning on submitting them to a publication?

·     Trying to appeal to a certain audience/client by selling a specific lifestyle/product (fashion) or telling a story (editorial)?

·     Just experimenting?

What narrative do you want your finished photos to express? What world is your character situated in?

·      Pull from other art forms such as a memory, song and/or movie.  You can always jot your ideas down on paper or in the notes app of your phone when brainstorming. 

·      It could be something as simple as an adjective like “happy” “vibrant" or "nostalgic".  You can then revisit these ideas at a later date.

You’ll now want to create a mood board, once the concept has been figured out.

Mood boards are essential because it helps guide the entire team towards your vision.  Imagery can be pulled from Pinterest and/or Google to name a few.  They’re a great resource for photo inspiration as well as on-line and/or printed fashion magazines. 


Below is an example of a mood board created called “Photoshoot – Fashion Men.” 

You can also check out my other Pinterest boards here for more ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/MShanahanPhoto/

The mood board can include images of the desired overall mood, color palette, style, model poses, lighting, location, clothing and hair/makeup. 

At times, Chelsea and I already have a particular model in mind, so the photoshoot will be built around the talent.  Other times we’ll create a theme/style first and then revisit it at a later date when the right person or setting arises.

This series is split into six segments so stay tuned over the next few as we’ll share our tips for finding a wardrobe stylist as well as talent.