One of our most promising Microstock contributors Diego Cervo has kindly put together a pre-production guide, giving an insight into the steps he takes to make sure his images look first class. I can't stress enough how important pre-production is and how much value it adds to the final images. You can see from his images here that his choices of locations, models and styling have all been planned out carefully.
Pre-production Guide by Diego Cervo
Stock photography has been a love at first sight for me. Having no deadlines nor clients’ calls, plus the freedom to decide what and when to shoot still makes me feel that photography is a passion first, then a job. When I approached to it in 2005, I tried out still life and travel images but it took me very little time to figure out that people lifestyle is what fits to me the most. No matter what to shoot, I can say for sure that stock photography deserves quite a methodic approach in order to get the maximum from a budget!
Inspiration and Research
Inspiration comes from everywhere. Real life, magazines, TV advertisements, not to mention the Web. It’s just a matter of keeping eyes well open and trying to be creative.
Before starting shooting, it is worth spending some time checking out how a subject may sell. Stock agencies have tremendous archives which cover almost any subject so it’s good to know right from the beginning the extent of competition that an image may face.
One of the most valuable tools I rely on is www.picniche.com, which allows me to retrieve download rates for specific keywords. For instance, when I had to plan some photos about a couple doing fitness last December, I preferred to hire a senior man instead of a young guy to pose with a 20 year old girl. There were very few images showing this age contrast in such a popular category. This choice has proven to be quite good in terms of sales, which makes me think that sometimes it is better to produce images that stay like a big fish in a pond rather than a shark in the ocean!
Hiring Models
I hire not only professional models but also people I meet on the street. It’s amazing to see how many people would like to be photographed - and how I still feel scared when approaching them. That’s why most of the time I let my photos speak instead of me. I usually end up showing them my best shots, which I keep stored on my iphone. This helps to break the ice and to make them feel sure they are not talking with some crazy man! Further, models spread the word so it is not unlikely that I even get calls from new people.
Working several times with the same people during the year means also that it’s easy to become good friend with some of them and have lots of fun when we shoot, which I think is one of the best side of this job!
With regard to compensation, it happened twice to me that models asked for royalties on sales. I never agreed it and - I apologize if it sounds obvious - but I strongly suggest not to do it...
Location Scouting
Location scouting is the hardest task. Instead I try to limit studio shots and prefer to place models in real situations. I have been working in apartments, offices, gyms, restaurants, golf clubs and, of course, on streets. Looking for locations is so time consuming that it’s always a good thing to take notes of interesting places you see for future reference. I use my phone camera to get some snapshots and after some time I built up a huge database of possible locations.
A survey the day before the shooting is also useful as to check lighting conditions - for outdoors shootings- or to be well aware of any issue when working indoors (e.g. room size, furniture to be removed, distracting objects in background, etc.). This allows to save lots to time the day after, having already planned where to place both models and lights.
Shots Lists
Someone said no shoot list, no shooting. Holy words!
A shoot may last from 3 to 5 hours, depending on the number of photos I want to produce. No matter how long it lasts and the fun we have, that is definitely a hectic day. There are always lots of things to do and little time to manage everything. That’s why careful planning is essential not to miss some important shots and set all things right.
In my opinion, a shot list has to be a pretty simple and clear form. It is supposed to contain all relevant information about composition, lighting and a brief description of the shot, plus a few images or drawings to give models a visual reference of what we are going to do. The easier to read it is, the less complicated the job is.
One or two days before shooting I share this form with Isa, my art director, who cares also about styling and gives precious suggestions on which shots to amend from, or add to the list.
We usually start with the easiest photos, just to let models “warm up”! This helps with new people as well. Last Monday, for instance, we had to work with a cute 19 yo girl who posed for the first time. Shot after shot, she felt more and more confident and during the last two hours she was able to work without caring of me behind the camera. At the end of the day, when me and Isa finally watched together all the raws I took, we were impressed on how she performed!
Furthermore, it’s good to plan in advance not also the minimum amount of unique images and variants to be produced, but also to take into account the amount of post-production involved. As Rahul Pathak rightly mentioned when talking about microstock metrics (http://blog.lookstat.com), this is a step in the photographer’s workflow which takes time thus increasing the cost of producing images. Unless I’m confident that a photo will perform great, I avoid it from the start if I know that it will involve exhausting hours on Photoshop!
Thanks to Diego for creating this helpful guide for any new stock photographers out there.