Be prepared. Measure twice, cut once. You know the drill.
It doesn’t matter what the gig is… you should always prep as much as possible. The last time this really paid off for me, I was having a family over for portraits of their kids. Their young, rambunctious kids. Who never sit still. They’re a lot of fun to play with, but I hadn’t tried to photograph them both at this age yet. Hours before they came over, I set the scene, set up the lights, tested everything, tried a few different angles, and was seriously ready. The pups, of course, were my test subjects, as you can see.
As soon as they came in, the boys were completely distracted by being in a new place. While they were taking in all the details, they were responsive enough that we fired off a bunch of pictures of each of them. As they got more accustomed to their new environment, they became much less pliable. Without my preparation, I couldn’t have gotten anything usable without a lot more effort.
For once, I learned from a success rather than a failure! Woo-hoo!