PROJECTS

EYE CANDY - A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

black and white of a portrait photographer's shot of a young woman
Girl on white set with flamingo float. Commercial studio photographer.
photo shoot studio - beautiful woman doing yoga on a studio white background
sports advertising photographer - Japanese youth baseball catcher

 A peak inside some of our Lifestyle Photography Productions

This article is all about Los Angeles lifestyle photographer Randy Schwartz, his creativity, vision, expertise, and what makes his approach unique in the world of advertising photography.

A Little About Our Preparation and Research for a Shoot

  • We Do Our Homework: Before any shoot, we spend time in understanding the brand’s core values, mission, and target audience. This involves researching the brand’s previous campaigns, its market position, and customer feedback. A quick online search will often yield quite a bit about our client’s  visions.
  • Brainstorming Creative Ideas: In this phase we brainstorm and conceptualize creative ideas that align with our client’s brand’s message. A good lifestyle photographer creates mood boards, sketches, or storyboards to visualize the concept. We’ll often spend afternoon cat naps envisioning creative direction.
  • Collaboration: More often than not, as a lifestyle photographer we have to collaborate with art directors, stylists, and marketing teams to refine the concept and ensure it aligns with the overall campaign strategy. Communication and flexibility is key. A big ego does not always lead to a successful ad campaign. We strive to create visuals as a team.
  • Technical Rehearsal: If we have time for a prep day, a technical and logistical run-through is conducted, especially for complex shoots, to ensure that the equipment functions as expected and the we are overly prepared for various shooting scenarios, including light changes, time of day, and location logistics.
  • Meeting with the Team: If time permits we prefer to meet with the entire team involved in the shoot—models, makeup artists, stylists, assistants—are crucial for ensuring everyone is on the same page. This includes discussing the concept, roles, expectations, and timelines. We elaborate that crew need to be on their toes and ready to adjust on the fly.
  • Safety and Logistics: Discussions about logistics, safety protocols, and any specific requirements or challenges associated with the shoot location or concept are extremely  essential.
  • Flexibility for Spontaneity: While having a detailed plan is essential, a good lifestyle photographer also remains open to spontaneous changes and opportunities that may arise during the shoot, which could add authenticity and uniqueness to the images. We’ve had many great images come from such a scenario.

4. Setting the Scene: Creating a Natural Environment

    • Relevance to the Brand and Concept: The first step is selecting a location that aligns with our client’s brand’s identity and the shoot’s concept. We strive to find locations that reflect the lifestyle and values the brand wants to portray in a beautiful and stunning way, while maintaining a very “real” environment.
    • Consideration for Lighting and Background: While we prefer natural lighting for its ability to bring warmth and realism to photos, we are able to enhance what is there at a high level. Great photographers that tell great stories choose locations with the best natural light and considers how the background elements can complement the subject. They will know where the sun is on any day or time. Sunseeker app is can be invaluable.
    • Minimalistic Approach: We often use a minimalistic approach to setting up the scene, avoiding over-cluttering the space. This helps keep the focus on the subjects and the candid moments being captured. Often though clutter does represent realism, so a fine balance is often preferred.
    • Incorporating Props for Realism: Props that help create a very real scene are preferred. Our stylists pull items that are not necessarily new to help the authenticity of a scene. Some clutter, but not too much, is the key.

    Creating a Comfortable Atmosphere

    • Comfort for our Talent is a must: Comfort is key. A true lifestyle photographer in Los Angeles creates a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere for the actors and models, as comfort leads to more natural expressions and behaviors. We don’t force our scenes if something isn’t working, we’ll get everyone up and move around to refresh to the chemistry.

    Utilizing Natural Elements

    • Incorporating Nature: Whenever possible, we’ll incorporate natural elements like plants, water, or natural landscapes into the scene to add a layer of authenticity and vibrancy to the images.
    • Adjusting with the Weather and Time of Day: We are extremely adept at using the weather and time of day to our advantage, utilizing changes in natural light and environment to create diverse and dynamic images. If life gives you lemon…

    Interactive Scene Setting

    • Creating Scenes that Encourage Interaction: We set our scenes to encourage interaction among the subjects. This might involve arranging furniture or props in a way that naturally prompts subjects to engage with each other. Seeing the back of heads isn’t always the way to go. Finding ideal angles so actor can express to others on set as well as camera is critical.
    • Capturing Movement and Life: Our prime focus (no pun) is to capture movement and life within the scene, making the images feel dynamic and authentic.
    • Keeping It Real: Throughout the process, the emphasis remains on keeping the setting authentic. This means avoiding overly staged or artificial setups and focusing on creating a scene that feels genuine and true to life.
5. Working with Models: Guiding Spontaneity

Building Rapport with Our Talent

  • Pre-shoot Meetings: Engaging in pre-shoot meetings or casual interactions with the models helps in building rapport. During these interactions, we might discuss the shoot’s vision, listen to the models’ ideas, and create a friendly, trusting atmosphere. We keep it fun and light and add some humor. Live castings utilizing resources like Casting Networks or Backstage will help assist us in finding what each model or actor will bring to the table.
  • Understanding Models’ Comfort Zones: Recognizing and respecting each model’s comfort zone is crucial. The best photographers take the time to understand the models’ boundaries, preferences, and experiences to facilitate a comfortable and positive shooting environment. If a model isn’t 100% comfortable with the scene or the photographer it will show

Creating a Relaxed Atmosphere is Critical

  • Casual Environment: Keeping the atmosphere on set relaxed and informal is key. This might involve playing music, keeping the mood light, and avoiding a rushed or high-pressure environment.
  • Encouraging Playfulness: Introducing elements of fun or play can help models relax. This could be through light-hearted banter, jokes, or anything that breaks the ice and brings out genuine smiles and laughter.

Guiding Models Without Over-Directing

  • Subtle Direction: While some guidance is necessary, the we usually avoid over-directing. We usually give models a general idea or mood to portray but allow them the freedom to interpret it in their own way.
  • Empowering Models to Be Themselves: Encouraging models to be themselves and bring their personality into the shoot can lead to more authentic and spontaneous images. This includes letting them move freely, interact naturally with each other, and express genuine emotions. Music always helps too.

Using Real-Life Scenarios

  • Scenario-Based Approaches: To capture spontaneous moments,  we will often set up real-life scenarios. This could involve asking models to enact a typical scene, moment in time or a specific activity that aligns with the brand’s message but is also relatable to their own lives.
  • Capturing Candid Moments: Amid these scenarios, we look to capture candid moments — a laugh, a thoughtful gaze, a natural interaction — that occur spontaneously and often when the camera is down. But we are ready for those moments.
  • Conversational Approach: Taking time to engage the talent in conversation with crew or castmates during the shoot leads to a comfortable set full of natural expressions and gestures. We’ll often ask about where they are from, share stories, or discuss topics of interest. Occasionally about family if it’s appropriate. We’ll also encourage castmates to tell stories amongst themselves.
  • Activity-Based Shooting: Involving models in activities, whether it’s sipping coffee, walking toward camera or interacting with props, can help in capturing them in a more natural and spontaneous states. Again giving them a scene will facilitate genuine looks.

Providing Feedback and Encouragement

  • Positive Reinforcement: A good professional lifestyle photographer provides positive feedback and encouragement throughout the shoot. We often compliment the models on their ease of effort with poses and expressions throughout the shoot, which will boost their confidence and lead to more authentic shots.
  • Collaborative Review: Occasionally reviewing the shots with models can be beneficial. Showing them the camera screen allows them to see what works, gives them a sense of involvement, and can inspire more spontaneous actions.

Adapting to Models’ Dynamics

  • Responsive Shooting While on Set: Remaining attentive to how models interact with each other and adapting our shooting approach accordingly goes a long way. Recognizing dynamic chemistry or facilitating interactions between models can result in more lively and authentic images. Sometimes the chemistry is not there but a little coaxing and scenario direction helps immensely.
  • By fostering an environment that encourages spontaneity and authenticity, we can guide models to deliver natural and relatable performances that significantly enhance the effectiveness of lifestyle advertising campaigns.

Developing a Narrative Concept

  • Understanding the Brand’s Story: We begin by deeply understanding the story the brand wants to tell. This involves discussions with the marketing team, creatives, and even our crew to align on the brand’s values, goals, and the message they wish to convey.
  • Drawing Out a Visual Narrative: We will then translate this story into a visual storyboard. This could involve creating a series of images that tell a story over time or a single image that encapsulates a powerful message. Usually it has a connection that the target consumer will understand.

Scene Composition and Flow

  • Composing Scenes to Tell a Story: Each scene that we produce is story boarded and discussed as a team before we start a production. Lighting the scene, positioning subjects to be able to move, choosing props, and staging the set in a way that leads the viewer’s eye through the story is of utmost importance to our process. We prefer sets that allow for movement, so lighting an over scene that isn’t locked into one angle is important.
  • Sequential Flow in Images: For campaigns involving multitude of great images, we make every effort to ensure there is a clear, coherent flow from one image to the next, creating a seamless storytelling experience for the viewer.

Capturing Emotions and Moments

  • Emphasizing Emotional Depth: To create a sense of emotional depth in capturing emotions and expressions that resonate with the story, we give our talent queues and sometimes a story to discuss. For still photography it is usually something comedic if we want a ton of smiles and laughs, but occasionally we’ll go the other way and give them something more emotional.
  • Timing is Key: Capturing the right moment is essential in the storytelling. Remaining alert, often when the talent believe the camera is down key to capturing the perfect shot that expresses the peak of a story’s emotion or action.

7. The Role of Post-Production: Keeping It Real

  • Post-production is essential in fine-tuning images, but keeping them authentic is often a challenge. A good lifestyle photographer’s approach to editing and retouching means not overdoing it and staying faithful the creative directors vision. No place for ego here. Sometimes backing off the retouching gives more authentic visuals. There is such a thing as too much!

  1. Conclusion:

    Shooting a captivating lifestyle photography commercial on location requires creative vision, preparation, and collaboration. By implementing some of our tips, photographers can produce a visually stunning result that aligns with their client’s brand image. Hope this gives insight into our approach and allows exploring the endless possibilities that come with shooting lifestyle photography commercials both in the studio and on-location.