Episode 11 - Little Things Done Well: Pre-Production
Audio:
Shownotes:
“The Goal: A Process for Ongoing Improvement” by Eliyahu Goldratt (affiliate link). If you buy the book through the link, you pay the same price you would otherwise, but the vlogcast gets a small piece of the transaction. Since I’m just starting out on this journey, I’ll use that to help build this channel. Thank you for your support.
Concept Sketches & Storyboards:
Actions from this episode:
Find your bottle-neck. Think about what area of pro-production would make the biggest impact on your photography. Pick just one or two.
Make a plan. Brainstorm some ideas on how to address that bottle-neck. What additional layer do you need to add to your pre-production process to get different results?
Execute your plan. Do a test shoot where you can focus on it and learn from the experience.
Constrain Yourself. Introduce a creative constraint that builds you skills in a particular way.
Ask me. If you have any questions about this or any other episode, head over to photoproventure.com/ask and fill out the form.
Episode Cards:
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Episode Transcript:
Matt Korinek: Do you ever look at other people’s photos and feel a mixture of inspiration, deficiency, and maybe even a twinge of jealousy? If so, you’re not alone.
And although I think it's a totally normal human reaction, I always aim to increase the first while reducing the other two.
It may seem like the gap between you and your favourite photographer is vast,
almost insurmountable.
But what if you broke down that distance into parts?
What if photography is a game of inches?
One, it might not seem as daunting.
And two, I believe it better reflects what it takes to be a great photographer.
I believe that great photography is made up of a lot of little things done well.
I can’t remember exactly when I first said this, but my wife and amazing food photographer Rachel Korinek from Two Loves Studio always says it's her favourite quote of mine.
So what little things are missing from your work?
In today’s episode, I’ll be starting a four-part series where I break down the ingredients of great photography.
And hopefully, you’ll uncover something you can focus on to improve your photos.
Make sure to subscribe if don’t want miss an episode.
Hey, it’s Matt
And welcome to the Photo Proventure Vlogcast.
Let’s get into it.
[SONIC BRANDING & OPENING MUSIC]
Now, depending on what and how you shoot, some little things will make a bigger difference than others. And some may not even apply.
I can’t possibly get into the nitty-gritty of every little thing that makes a difference because I don’t shoot every style of photography and I’m sure there are lots of things I’m not even aware of yet! This is just what I’ve learned up till now.
Before we kick-off, it’s worth thinking about how to use this information without feeling overwhelmed.
In my experience, trying to improve everything at the same time hasn’t worked well at all. I prefer to focus on one, maybe two things.
But how do I pick what to focus on?
I actually use a concept from the book “The Goal: A Process for Ongoing Improvement” by Eliyahu Goldratt. Now, I have no idea if I’m saying his name right, so I apologize if not. I’ll leave a link to the book in the show notes and description on YouTube.
Although the book bases its story around manufacturing, I think the idea of finding bottlenecks and focusing on the biggest one can be applied to learning as well. So, identifying the biggest thing stopping me from taking great photos, is the bottleneck I need to address first.
Now, if you resonated with my last episode about shifting metaphors, it may be helpful to see photographers as chefs.
The kitchen tools are like your gear. So, when you first start out, getting more tools opens new doors.
There will be times when you don’t have quite the right tool, but another tool may be sufficient. Remember, you don’t always need new tools, sometimes you just need to find a different way of using them.
But it is true that higher quality tools will lead to better results. But not if you don’t have the right, high-quality ingredients.
The ingredients are all of the things that go into a photograph. Some that you have control over and some that you don’t. And the better your ingredients, the better chance you have to create magic. Unless of course, your technique isn’t good enough to make the most of them.
Cooking techniques are like your skills and your approach as a photographer. This is what you’ll develop with learning, time, and experience.
To become a great chef or a great photographer, you should always aim to get the best ingredients, and have the tools on hand that allow you to use your techniques effectively.
Now before I get too hungry thinking about this, let’s get into today’s category -pre-production ingredients.
These are the things I need to think about or do before I execute a shoot.
For me, it all starts with how I develop an idea.
Is it just a collection of inspiration images on a mood board? Do I add a layer of complexity by choosing some creative constraints? Or do I take it further by creating a concept that has a story or a message to communicate?
Some photographers have an ever bigger message that encompasses their entire body of work. I don’t have this yet, but it's something I’d like to explore in the future.
Now in all cases, I’m working to create something cohesive that gives my shoot direction in how I’ll execute it. So ideally when looking at my mood boards, I try to make them in a way that I can give them a name. Something to latch on to and guide any decision making.
Decisions like:
What cameras and lenses I want to use. I know most people say that gear doesn’t matter, but I think it does, just not the way you think. I actually talked a little bit about this back in my second episode that I’ll link to in the show notes.
Here I’ll be thinking about how my gear will impact my approach and the content of the photos.
If I want to feel close to my subject and show the environment, I’ll probably stick to wider lenses. But if I want to achieve a more distant, constrained look then maybe a long lens would be a better choice.
Or perhaps I’m mixing lots of different focal lengths so I can tell a fuller story.
I also think about light. Am I looking to create something natural or a more heightened reality?
Am I going for a bright or darker vibe? And as part of that vibe, how much of the shadow is visible? How are the darks or lights rendered in the frame? What is the lights direction or quality?
Basically, I’ll think about what is the light communicating and how that makes me feel.
Then I’ll think about how to execute that lighting in a way that enables my approach.
For a run and gun shoot outdoors, having a lightweight bounce may be enough.
If I’m using artificial lighting, I want to decide whether it's continuous or strobe and how that affects my talent. And then what I’m going to use to shape it. I may even sketch out a lighting plan to help figure out how I’ll approach lighting a location.
Related to light, I’ll also think about the colour palette am I aiming for.
Is it vibrant or subdued? Is it constrained to a couple hues, or even to the point of feeling monochromatic?
Sometimes my colour decisions come from aesthetic considerations, like for my Golden Hills of Malibu shoot.
I was actually in town for another project, and during our scout, I saw that the Malibu Hills were blooming - which from what I hear doesn’t actually happen every year.
So, I reached out to Kelsey to see if she was keen to shoot and could get any yellow coloured activewear to match those flowers. Luckily it all came together and the concept came to life. No mood board, or plan per se, just a lucky coincidence that I was in town at the time.
I’ll link to that shoot and any other examples in the shownotes.
Other times I’m thinking beyond aesthetics, to what are these colours communicating to the viewer in terms of hue, saturation, and intensity. Both during capture, and how I’ll approach toning in post.
The people I capture in my photos is another important ingredient. Each individual has different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to bringing a concept to life.
Actors can take on a character. Dancers easily express their emotion with their whole bodies. And regular people – for lack of a better term - can bring authenticity and realness that some models struggle with.
Lifestyle models tend to have warm and inviting smiles, whereas fashion models don’t always have that. Instead, fashion models can use their expression in subtle ways to evoke feeling. Most regular people can’t make a neutral expression look interesting but fashion models really can.
Beyond their emotional expression, their physicality and movement is another important consideration. Does the concept require contorted fashion poses, or am I looking for movement the feels natural and real?
And T=then there’s the question of their “look”. Now this is a more delicate and subjective decision. It's the reason why actors can get “type-cast” because their look allows the viewer to create a visual shortcut of the character.
But there’s a negative flip side of this is that it reinforces stereotypes and barriers for certain groups.
So I’m actively trying to break those moulds when I can. Still a work in process and something for you to consider in your own work as well.
Dressing that person to fit the character and vibe of the concept is another consideration. It may be as simple as having a few different pieces to style together, or a complex outfit all the way up to costume design.
Knowing how they’ll be dressed will impact the type of makeup they wear - if any. And what hairstyle will bring it to life?
These things can range from natural and realistic, to crazy choices that bend into the surreal. I’ve been lucky enough to work with many talented hair and make-up artists and stylists on set. and finding people who add to my work is important.
That doesn’t mean you have to have these talented people on every set.
You know, I still do some shoots without them, like when I met up with Caroline in Stockholm for a model test. But either way, it's good to think about these things beforehand.
Related to styling, I’ll be thinking about what props and accessories will add something to my concept. Not only will I think about what I can add, but I’ll also look at my location and see what I need to remove to refine the space. Set decorators and props stylists are experts in this and can add a lot of value to a set.
The next thing to consider is where does this concept live, and how does the location add to the story? The quality of a location in terms of space, textures, feel and feasibility is often on my mind. Sometimes the location is more important than the stuff in it, and sometimes it’s the other way around.
I always try to let the concept guide my decision-making.
Remember, if any of this is making you feel overwhelmed, just focus on one or two key improvements to add something new to your photographic kitchen.
Now if I have a really clear vision for a shoot, I may even sketch out scenes like a storyboard.
A couple of years ago, I took a fairly general “Open Country Editorial” mood board I had put together that combined a restricted colour palette of dry grass on blue skies and split into two different personal projects.
In the first, I wanted the mood to be grateful, peaceful, harmonious and awed.
I chose to use a clear glass sphere to represent the universe being held in the hands of the model and came up with a few scenarios and questions I thought that could help her emote those feelings that I was looking for.
The second story was “Love & Loss”, and it was originally named “Time of Change”.
I had a bunch of words written down to describe the mood I was going for. Things like nostalgic, melancholic, brooding, moody, reflective, touched, reborn, mournful. Probably a few too many words to be honest.
And In terms of props, I thought that dried roses could be used as a metaphor that represented how ephemeral life and love can be.
For both stories, I’ll share the storyboard sketches and written notes if you want to have a closer look. You can find them in the show notes at photoproventure.com/vlogcast.
Now, please excuse my horrendous sketching skills and terribly messy handwriting.
There’s a reason I became a photographer and not an artist that relies on fine motor skills.
Over time, I’ve found that there are pros and cons of how specific I get.
If I get super specific and attached to an idea, I may not let it go if it's just not working. It may also stop others from contributing and creating a collaborative shoot. But it does keep me on track and helps me create photos that match my vision.
If I go into a shoot with no ideas at all, I feel a bit like I’m lacking direction. It opens the door to collaboration which can lead to both amazing results or a set of images that lack cohesion.
So, I’ve found that I like to play in the grey area in between. Plan as best I can while keeping the door open to serendipity. But I’ll get into that a bit more in part 3 of this series.
Once I have the mood board or concept, I can dive into planning and logistics of the shoot, like figuring out who I need on set. How close I get to finding the people, places, objects, and gear that fulfils the concept will help determine how good the final photos are.
And sourcing these things is based on time, effort, and money.
This is why producers are so important to larger budget projects. They so much of the heavy lifting in sourcing while I can prepare for the shoot in other ways.
The very best producers I’ve been lucky enough to work with, take it as their role to enable creativity while keeping things within budget. They’re also adept at shifting priorities and actively problem solving as things come up. They can be truly invaluable.
Of course, for my personal projects, I usually become the de-facto producer and I have to do all these things myself.
And I haven’t talked about creative constraints yet.
There will always be some naturally occurring creative constraints that come up in the moment that I’ll have to problem solve for. It’s dealing with these speed bumps that over time adds new techniques into my repertoire.
So, I’ll often use personal projects to intentionally introduce creative constraints into my process to improve my skills in a specific way. By creating shoots that seem a bit uncomfortable at the time, I’m able to shift them into my comfort zone for the future.
Things like:
Shooting using a single focal length prime lens to teach myself how to best use that angle of view.
Switching my camera to single-shot mode to practice my timing in capturing the decisive moment.
Choosing a time when I wouldn’t usually shoot. It could be in the middle of the day when the sun can be harsh, or in dark conditions that require creative problem solving.
Bringing new lighting gear or modifiers can help me understand how I can best use them on shoot in the future.
Turning off image review or shooting film will help me stay in the moment with talent rather than getting distracted by what’s already happened.
Finding some objects to shoot through will let me test what those foreground elements look like and what do they do to the feeling of the photo.
There are so many ways to introduce creative constraints as a learning tool.
What about you? Have you used creative constraints before?
Let me know which you’ve found to be the most helpful in your journey.
So here are some things you can action between now and the next episode:
Number One:
Find your Bottle-Neck:
Think about what area of pro-production would make the biggest impact on your photography.
Pick just one or two.
Number Two:
Make a plan.
Brainstorm some ideas on how to address that bottle-neck. What additional layer do you need to add to your pre-production process to get different results?
Number Three:
Execute your plan.
Do a test shoot where you can focus on it and learn from the experience.
Number Four:
Constrain Yourself.
Introduce a creative constraint that builds you skills in a particular way.
Number 5:
Ask me.
If you have any questions about this or any other episode, head over to photoproventure.com/ask and fill out the form.
If you want me to deep dive into any of these things further, let me know in the comments on Youtube or reach out on Instagram. @mattkorinek
In the next episode, I'm not going to get to the shoot itself quite yet.
Instead, I’ll talk about the ingredients that most photographers ignore early in their journey.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this series and in the meantime try one new thing, and get closer to the photographer you want to be.
[CLOSING MUSIC]
