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Lesson Info
6. Scouting A Location
Lessons
My Story
08:45 2Workshop Overview
01:40 3My Gear
10:22 4Pitching A Client
13:05 5Pre-Pro Planning
11:32 6Scouting A Location
06:53 7In the Field: Shooting Story Shots
04:40 8Tips for Talking to Models
05:51Lesson Info
Scouting A Location
Cool. Cool. And that one We're here at our location on Washington coast and I actually came here a few weeks ago on my own scouting mission. You saw some of my drawings I had put on my iPad. The conditions are much brighter today, much different but it's also a lot higher tied right now than it was back then. But I'm just gonna take time to walk you through what I'm planning and really the first question that you want to ask yourself when scouting is, what are you scouting for? And for this, it's a client shoot. So I'm not gonna be focusing on big landscape shots. I'm gonna be finding compositions and stuff I want to utilize to integrate the client product into. So, it's a bit windy out there, but should be good. We're trying to capture a photo narrative that we want to integrate the client product within. So we're not fully focusing on landscapes. That is a part of the story. But again, this is a client shoot and that is our main focus as we're scouting. So keep that in mind as we...
look around the beach. (ambient piano music) (camera snapping shots) So right now, like I said, the tide is way higher and I have this shot idea. I want to get with the crew, but it's them running away from the water but if they mess up, the consequences are a bit more dire than it is in low tide. Low tide is a little less aggressive. Here it's like three foot walls, so if it hits you but kind of what's going through my head right now is, you know, the waves are coming up and three fins kinda backing away, running away from the waves, trying not to get their feet wet. So instead of just shooting a product or just shooting a portrait, that's kind of integrating that lifestyle idea and integrating the brand within that cause they're already wearing the brand. They already have the backpack on and that's just a very lifestyle client type shot. So that is definitely one I actually drew a beautiful picture of that on my iPad as an example shot when I was scouting here earlier and when the light gets better I think I'm gonna try to capture it. Just gotta be mindful with the high tide. We'll keep scouting. So another idea I had written down is the footprint shot and it's just low depth of field zoomed in with the rock formations and the distance. Yeah, just felt like I had to remind you guys of it cause there's footprints but I'm trying to find these compositions and these just places at the scene. And that's why I think it's so important to come to these places yourself, if you can, just because you can look at Pinterest, you can Google image search your location but at the end of the day you're not gonna find it's not gonna be as good as being there and taking shots yourself with your camera and drawing out ideas in your journal, on your iPad, whatever you're able to do, that's just gonna be so much more worthwhile. And that pre-production planning is just gonna make executing the shoot so much easier. So that's why I really encourage scouting at the location. If you can, you'll find your own spots. (camera snapping shots) Best kept secret, 80 to 200. (uplifting acoustic music) So as I came here a few weeks ago and scouted the river was like, I don't know, 30 yards that way or so and now it's shifted over here. The rain has really come down and the river's a lot wider. I sketched out a shot where I wanted someone to be jumping over the river as just kind of a fun, little playful element to the story but I don't think, I don't know. I don't think we'll clear this. But one thing we can try to do later is implement the client product in it. So instead of someone like hail marrying over the river we could maybe instead have someone throw the backpack across and that's a creative client shot. It's kind of work with what you got. So yeah. (river water flowing) Yeah, so this is another great reason to scout. I just saw this little triangle kind of thing and the shot I saw in it is literally all three homies just walking under it. I'll just Something like this. All three of them walking right through. Nice little storyline shot. And that's an example of like a photo you won't find on the internet, an idea you won't find on Pinterest. Like that's why it's so important to just scout yourself, bring yourself to the place and just check it out and plan. Cause now I'm, it's just like, I'm really inspired by what's around me and so like I don't plan so well. So that's another great reason to get out there and pre-plan and scout. So we're here right now and like I mentioned earlier, the tide is a big factor. Actually a lot of the photos are way down the beach where most of them are just under the high tide, tide right now. So I can't really do a lot of those photos. However, I did my research and I know that tomorrow morning at like 8:46, I think a.m. is the lowest tide and so when we get here at 7:30 tomorrow we'll have quite a long time to play around with low tide where you'll have cool rock features and all this other stuff that we can't like it's all out there in the water right now. We can't do it, we would die. So as you think about your shooting location keep things like that in mind, like, you know weather tide charts, blah, blah, blah, whatever it may be it will affect your shoot cause it is a totally different location right now than when I scout it. At the end of the day we have to produce something for the client. And so if the weather was trash we're gonna take the challenge and make a fun photo shoot out of it. Take it, take our disadvantage and use it to our advantage to be just creative with whatever we have going on. So you can do as much pre-production as you want but when it comes to it, don't be a slave to the elements. Just send it (laughs) I guess is the best way to say it. Yeah, go for it.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Romain Dancre
Concrete Examples & Lots of Value Really interesting workshop with a real experience and real photoshoot. We get to understand the whole process of Andrew and his way of thinking and acting and this is super interesting to learn about!
Robert Ransley
Simply outstanding!
Adriaantje Buijze
Practical and useful! Finally, this workshop does not leave you with theoretic principles but actually provides you with practical to do's / to go about's if you want to grow further into a career of photography for brands.