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Pro Tips For Amateur Photographers



Occasion Shots


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How To Shoot For Occasions

Occasion shoots are fun to create and usually require a tad more planning than say a single person profile shoot.
As such, best to plan this type of photoshoot so you have lots of time to prepare all the details you want to include for the particular day.
Backgrounds are usually detailed and include lots of colors. Costumes or outfits worn are color matched to the entire color scheme of the shoot so everything and everyone blends into the photo.
Lighting should be planned to include lots of natural lighting, unless of course your theme is for night time.
Props are usually included and can take lots of time to set. Have reflectors and fill boards on premise in case you require them.
Having an extra camera with you is also a good idea if your budget allows for it. A cell phone's camera can also be a good 'goto camera', in case your shoot camera has any issues.
Having lots of extra batteries on hand is good, and charge your light sources like leds beforehand.

Take test shots for each scenario your shooting is a good idea. Viewing a test photo can provide good info on many areas of your shoot including: adequate lighting, colors not blending, props appearing out of place, photo balance, overall composition.

Here's photos we shot from a couple of photo shoots; at Christmas; and the cats birthday party.

A Christmas Photo Shoot

This shoot was fun because of the festive season. For the tree I chose a red ribbon to match with our selected red and green outfits. The bows were placed in alignment which makes for a better visual. The cat bed was wrapped in similar colors, and our hats different but blending colors also. Our hat bomboms are both pointing to the same direction. The xmas cards on the wall are odd aligned.
We put xmas wrapping paper on the wall for the background color; also blending with our red and green theme; and added some cards to give the background more texture, which adds complexity to our photo.

We wanted the tree lights to appear lit like as they would appear at night time, but also have the 2 people appear well lit(and the cat). I used the octagon softbox, placing it to right moreso; and a good 5 feet from the people in the photo. This provided enough light for them and the cat, yet it didn't over light the tree.

With this photo you see the lit tree nicely decorated and the festively dressed photo subjects. The cat 'Tankie'; was as good as good, simply curled himself in his bed and had a nap pretty much the entire time we shot the photos.

Cropping Photos

 Once you select the photos you want from your shoot you can crop them. This makes a photo appear that much more professional. Cropping is easy to do. Using a photo editor, you crop out the edges of the photo to rid the photo of unwanted edge clutter.

Looking at this 'test photo' from the xmas shoot, you can see the white wall to the right of our xmas wrapped background. For a better looking photo, we want to crop that from our shot.
Photos are about lighting, creativity, and neatness. How often have you seen a delicious food photo on a magazine cover that was slopily put together - never; we are drawn to photos that are composed flawlessly, be it food or people. Just how our brains work.

Christmas Shoot 2019
Christmas PhotoShoot 2019

Photo Shoot
A Test Shot


In this xmas test shot, the white wall is not necessary in our photo and distracts from the background and the photo overall. Cropping to eliminate it results in a photo that is better composed and easier to look at.

For any shoot where you use a background you should make it tall and wide so it includes all things you want in the photo. If you don't, when you crop you might crop out an aspect of your photo shoot.
For this xmas shot, you can look at the uncropped photo, then the cropped photo, and you see how much more appealing the cropped shot is.

Tankie's Birthday Party Shoot

In these next photos, you can see the detail involved for our kitty cat birthday shoot. In the test shot photo you see Tankie looking at the dangling streamers. To get these to hang over this section of the shoot I used strings from wall to wall, then added each streamer by hand which took me a while to do. Then I could simply position them anywhere along the strings in each of the rows.

For colors, I opted for more pastel shades with a few bolder colors added for effect. Notice Virginia's top also blends with the color scheme. Orange streamers were added around where Tankie would be sitting, to contrast his orangy like markings. And, then other colors added to the facing display also contrasting and complementing the orangy shades.
Balloons were varied colors and styles, and each bunch was carefully bundled together with fine string to keep them stationary to the wall. Wrap paper was pinned to the back wall to wrap all areas together.

The plan was to shoot daytime to use natural light from the windows (left of photo), and looking at the test shot you can see the left bunch of balloons has better lighting than the right side balloons.

So, from this test shot view, I knew I wasn't going to have sufficient natural lighting for all areas, which meant I would need to add some lighting other than natural. I added the softbox continuous light to the center right of our shoot and that provided enough light for both sides of the shoot and the balloons. Looking at the first photo, you see that the balloons are evenly lit and overall the photo looks much better because we added the softbox lighting.

Another thing to look for in your test shots is dark shadows. Too many or any visible at all in some aspects of your shot are not necessarily good. In some photos, for dramatic effect you may want to use them; but finding them in occasion shots should be minimal; unless your shot is being creatively made with that purpose.
Kitty Cat Tankie Birthday Party
Tankie's Birthday Party Shoot 2020

Kitty Cat Tankie Party
A Test Shot





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