These should give you an idea of what is to come

One of my readers contacted me recently saying he enjoyed the information regarding locations but was particularly interested in the costs of renting locations. This is a good question and for those of you considering improving your productions the answer will help you decide whether you want to take the plunge and invest more.

We discussed the issue of finding locations already here. As we saw in that blog post, many different aspects will influence the price you pay. Here are a few samples from some of my past shootings. Consider this information as a guideline and do not forget that I always negotiate a property release, which does increase the price. Depending on where you live, your negotiating skills and the purpose of the pictures, you will pay more or less.

Made me smile the other day, when I was at the records shop I took the girl’s picture various months ago.

The second shooting in June is coming up. This Sunday I’ll be working with my usual team photographing Joy. We have purchased some cool lingerie and its going to be glamorous! I am not sure we will find the background I would have wanted, so we should think of alternatives, just in case.

A friend of mine will be around to produce a “making of” video. That’s going to be a good contribution to this blog.

I was also aiming to find a second model, but I have not found one which matches Joy. My experience when photographing two models is that they need to  match in character, in figure and in appearance, or else you will have trouble putting them both on the same picture and getting a balanced picture. I want to make sure everything works well on this production, so I’ll keep searching…

I have been a way for a few days, busy day and night, but am back to share some more with you! My last shooting took place just over a week ago and you already saw behind the scene pictures.

For that production I had brought with me two strobes, softboxes and a few other lighting gadgets. To my surprise, the natural sunlight entering the office building was so nice that I ended up working only with the existing light.

Working with sunlight has its own challenges. You can’t choose where the sun is coming from, so you have to make sure you position your models correctly. Reflectors or tools to create shadows are useful to give you some flexibility.

The following unprocessed photo shows one of the issues I encountered when working. Look at Thiago’s left arm on the right of the picture. He is the model in the foreground. You see how the sunlight accentuates the creases on his suit?

This wasn’t good. It makes the suit look too big. My assistant Oliver was able to position a reflector in front of the model to block sun illuminating the suit. Thiago’s face still receives sunlight. By the way, nice location, right!?

And here is the test picture I took to check if I managed to improve the suit’s appearance

These pictures are unprocessed and were not part of my final selection due to various other issues. But they illustrate well the point that you have to use all your tools to get that lighting exactly like you want it!

Photoshooting today went very well. The models were a fun bunch as you can tell on the pictures.

We only shot for about 4 hours but it was enough to get some good stock. The theme was mainly business photography for the stock agency.

Not the most exciting type of imagery. I can’t only shoot sexy women, someone has to pay my bills!

I leave you with some making of images and behind the scenes taken from my phone

You have to have an idea of what it is you are looking for. This depends a lot on what it is you want to shoot and how it fits into your creative project. If your city is big, you’ll surely have lots of places which fit your needs, but the problem is finding them! Speaking to friends, other photographers and anybody you come across helps to gather information. The internet is obviously a good place to start but a recommendation from someone you know always counts double.

Getting permission to shoot on your preferred location is where the difficulties start. You have to be honest with the owner. Make sure they understand exactly what you want to do and what it is you need. Setting things straight from the beginning will ensure you do not have unexpected problems. Some of the questions you want to answer before you contact the owner are

• How many people will be on set?
• How many models will you be photographing?
• Does the location have to be empty or may other people continue using the location while you photograph?
• How much privacy do you need?
• Do you need extra space for hair and make up? For wardrobe styling?
• What is the purpose of the production? Will you market your photos?

Each of these questions will have different answers depending on the location and on the aim of your shooting. Just make sure you got everything clear and transmit that in your negotiations.

A hotel room may give you a lot of privacy but you probably will not have enough space for equipment, make up, styling and other things. So you might need to get a second room. A bar will give you much more space, but will you get the privacy you need? Will the owner close down the bar completely for you to do your photo shooting?

Money will always be an issue. Even if you are doing the photos for your own portfolio, some owners will still want you to pay them. In that case you should always push to get the place for free or in exchange of the images.

If you are planning to publish the pictures in a magazine or sell them, then you should expect to be charged. Always use your resulting pictures as part of the negotiations. In some cases and for some owners they can be worth more than charging money. I always aim to combine both an hourly rate plus digital copies of all resulting images.

Owners with little experience with photo shootings might even request ridiculous amounts with the hope to make an easy buck. So make sure you have a clear idea what your maximum budget is and stick to it. You shouldn’t pay more than what the place is worth to you.

One aspect which is often overseen is ensuring you get a property release. If you will be selling your images this is the safest way to guarantee that no legal action will be taken upon you if the owner is unhappy where you sell the photos. It gives you the freedom you need to market the images.

Unfortunately, my experience is that owners can get overwhelmed when they see all the legalese and pull back. It complicates negotiations. My advice is only to request a property release if your images will clearly depict the location where you shoot. If the location is not clearly identifiable then chances are you can live without the property release thus facilitating your negotiations.

Oh, and don’t forget to ask if you will have access to a plug! Without electricity you might find yourself regretting you forgot the basics

Our Sunday location has been confirmed and they even gave us a 25% discount when we asked. That cheered up my day!

We will be working in the office building from 1pm to 6pm and the owners will have a respresentative there to help us out with any issues. Considering we are 5 days away from our shooting, I am satisfied that everything is set.

The picture on the side is from the office building we booked. I took it from their website, that’s why it looks so nice and clean. We will be using the reception hall.

A city has hundreds of cool places, many of them hidden, and there is no limit to what you can create if you have access to such places. Images produced on location have a unique look to them and can make your image stand out of the crowd easily. But shooting on location also poses various challenges: organizational, technical and creative.

In the next days I will be looking into those three aspects and writing more about how I deal with them throughout my shoots. Stay tuned!