How I Learnt to NOT PANIC on a Last Minute Photoshoot

When it comes to my photography, I’m a big planner. So I’m not a fan of last minute photoshoot. When we first started doing the Aztec Photography Workshops, I would have the whole day choreographed days ahead. The location, time of day, compositions and light setups. Below is an example of the type of photos we make.

But sometimes you don’t get the chance to plan ahead (and sometimes you totally misjudge the effort needed for a photoshoot). Take for example last week. I had promised to take photos for a friends daughter’s ‘Quinceneria’. It’s a pretty big deal here in Mexico – but I had no idea exactly what that entailed, I thought it was a simple birthday party. To be honest, I said yes for the free booze.

But it’s more like a cross between an MTV Sweet 16 celebration and a wedding! To say I was underprepared was an understatement.

Not having a plan with only a few hours to go was a pretty daunting but, after a bit of a panic, I roped in my awesome girlfriend and headed off to the venue.

The whole experience was a great learning occasion in the end. I made a bunch of amateur mistakes under the time pressures but came away with 3 photos that the birthday girl loved. So mission accomplished.

Here are a few of the things I learned that I think are valuable lessons anyone should be aware of when shooting a last minute photoshoot.

GIVE YOURSELF SOME BREATHING SPACE

If you have not had the time to test your concepts, it’s likely that they won’t all work out. This means it’s essential to have several additional ideas to fall back on.

We spent 30 mins walking around the venue grounds (with just a camera) testing ideas and mentally noting those that had potential. I had promised 3 photos, so we found 5 concepts we thought might work.

FAIL FAST. MOVE ON

Once you are taking photos it’s vital to clock watch. If you have 3 concepts you need to deliver in 90 mins (like we did). You need to quickly decide if I a concept is not panning out as you had hoped. If it isn’t, pack up and move to the next location. We gave ourselves about 10 mins to make that call. The last thing you want to do is spend all your time on an idea that doesn’t work and then have no time left for your other concepts.

NAIL THE SHOT YOU CAME FOR

Getting caught up with the flow is great. Some amazing photos can happen. But remember your original concept before you move on. Our initial idea for the below photos was to have the model look over her shoulder as she was walking away. I then got distracted by the idea of twirling the dress and totally forgot about the original idea which is a shame because it would have resulted in a better shot.

Here is the shot we ended up with, which I like.

But this photo, with the model looking over here shoulder. was the original idea. And we totally forgot to do it!

CHECK YOUR FOCUS ON YOUR LCD SCREEN

Yep, I know. This one is so basic. But under the pressure of a last minute photoshoot, I forgot to do it a few times. But I did, Check your image is in perfect focus. In particular the eyes. Don’t get excited because you nailed a great composition of the facial expression is spot on. Whatever you are focussing on (eyes for me) needs to be in focus.

BRING SOME SMOKE GRENADES

Seriously, these are so much fun once you work out how to use them (hint: consider the wind direction). You can use them to separate foreground from the background (by fanning the smoke into haze), to create light rays (by using them in front of the subject and light) or just to make things look pretty magical, Like in the below photos.

I hope this helps get your through any last minute photoshoot situation!