Shooting outdoors? Start with the shots you want most.
We live in Ohio. That means all kinds of weather. I’ve shot in rain, snow, and oppressive heat. One thing I’ve learned (the hard way) is that however good your intentions are when you’re preparing a shoot, you’ll likely not get all the shots you want. Start with the location and the pictures that you’re most excited about. That way, when your subject’s makeup is melting off of her face, you’re soaked to the bone, or he’s shivering uncontrollably, the shots you leave with when you throw in the towel are the better ones anyhow.
And it doesn’t hurt to have a super-collapsable umbrella in your gear bag. They don’t take up much space, and are indispensable in keeping your models, you, or someone else dry until the rain lets up. If there’s a small chance of it being cold out, keep a pair of gloves in your bag. So handy (pun intended—sorry).
I borrowed a backpack. And a big lens. I hadn’t really used either before. No big deal, right?
What I learned about the bag: if a big lens is in the main compartment, there are three separate zippered doors from which it can be accessed. Handy! Downside: that’s three separate doors out of which a lens can fall. And now, I make sure everything is zipped up before I move anything. Period.
What I learned about the lens: a UV filter can indeed work to protect the lens when it pitches element-first onto a concrete floor. Even though the lens cap was on, the UV filter shattered. The front element of the lens was fine, thank goodness!
What I reinforced about borrowing gear: be upfront about what happens to any gear you borrow, and assure the owner that you’ll pay to replace, repair, or have checked out anything that needs it.
Don’t go into autopilot until you explore their ideas.
In planning a shoot, a client said “I saw this great spot at the park…,” to which we said, “Oh, we know that park pretty well! Sounds great!”
What we should have done was to find out exactly where they meant. We thought we knew the location well enough and took them to what we thought were good locations. By the time we got to the client’s spot, we realized what a mistake we’d made—it was fantastic! By then, the kids were getting tired and we were almost out of light, so we scrambled to get what shots we could, like the shot above, which would have been so much better with a little more sun. Why hadn’t we started there? Because we assumed we knew better and imposed our photographic will. Not making that mistake again.
