Recently, I received a list with a relatively high unit price. In fact, it was an appointment from another photographer. Because I had to go on a business trip, I went on top. It was an outdoor photo shoot with ethnic style. This is the first time for me to shoot this kind of Zhuang costume outside. In fact, I have no idea. However, there are so many materials on the Internet that there should be no problem in terms of technology. However, this list was communicated with me at noon that day, and then started shooting at 5 pm. Because the client was on a business trip from other places, the time arrangement was relatively tight and easy to change. For a series of reasons, it was finally set at 5 pm that day. This means that from preparing the script, to picking up the costumes of the Zhuang nationality, to arriving at the scene, it needs to be completed in just four hours, which is a great challenge for me. Coincidentally, the client, on a whim, started shooting at five o’clock, wanted to shoot until seven o’clock in the evening, and then took a night view by the light show at the designated location; and also added a guest, which was a double photo. In normal times, when there is enough time, maybe this is nothing, there are ready-made materials to learn, I am not stupid, understanding is OK, maybe this shooting can be completed very well. But this is the customer’s temporary request, the difficulty increases exponentially, in fact, all of a sudden, there is no bottom in the heart, simply can not anticipate the content of the shooting. But they come all the way here, and it’s not right not to be a little better, but this is really too demanding. Of course, I guess the customer himself should also be able to think that his own requirements are somewhat high, and do a good job of the expected work, plus his own expectations, can almost meet the customer’s requirements.
At 3 o’clock, I set out to the university town to get the national costumes, and then set out from the university town to the shooting location. It took me an hour and a half to go directly in the middle. This is what I didn’t expect. I thought I had at least 20 more minutes to see the venue by myself. But I didn’t expect that in the clothing store, the clerk was a little slow, dealing with the phone while dealing with the online shop. Leng is looking for 20 minutes to match the whole set of clothes to me, the journey is nothing, both sides may add up to less than an hour, hey, really still have to reserve a lot of time, but the shooting method and script, I am learning at noon, spend two hours, I think it is even less, after all, time is tight, the task is heavy, there is no way.
Finished, no time to step on the spot, the first time to shoot in this place, the heart is even more uncertain, but the surface is still hard, professional degree must be sufficient, so the lamp holder, lamp umbrella, I can bring all, the lens also prepared a telephoto, how to look at the professional degree is enough. No time to step on the spot, it can only spell the accumulation of technology on weekdays, just shoot for two hours, the customer’s physical strength is not good, the night scene is also abandoned, the heart breathed a sigh of relief.
The client of this shoot is probably a middle-aged female leader and a sister who looks about 30 years old. In fact, I was confused. Because most of my previous subjects were young girls in their twenties, my habitual thinking made me unable to turn around. The client portrait was wrong, and the shooting techniques and scripts that had taken two hours to prepare before that were almost all half the effort. The first time in the face of such a customer portrait, in fact, it is quite scary, but if the shooting is not good, although people may not know, but first of all, they must panic. To be honest, I haven’t really exercised the aesthetics of light maturity and middle-aged women deliberately, which makes me a little confused.
The shortcomings of not stepping on the spot and not understanding the shooting place are mainly the efficiency of composition and the control of customers’emotions, which can not be particularly stable. If it is a daily random shooting, it will be over wherever you go. But the guest list can not be like this, the guest list should be controlled by photography throughout the shooting process, the control of time points and the control of the quality of the film, all need to be supported by familiarity with the environment. Simply put, in a scene, if you want to shoot the whole close shot, medium shot, distant shot, and skillfully borrow some natural light, effectively use some ingenious composition, under the premise of efficiency guarantee, the above points need to have a certain familiarity with the shooting environment, which is also the significance of stepping on the spot. Of course, if there is really no way, to a new place, it is quite a challenge to their own foundation. Completely examine the immediate response ability, as well as the scene composition ability, this is no less than a, similar to a holiday back to the opening exam. Spelling is a basic skill. In this case, grasp all the composition that can be grasped, from a single medium or close shot, and then divergent thinking to consider other, very consider the photographer’s practical operation and reaction ability. Although there are flash and soft light umbrellas, the significance of the equipment is to show professionalism on the one hand, and on the other hand, the flash is used for indoor dark light, otherwise outdoor flash is shot in this unfamiliar environment, and the waste rate is very high. Unless you’re a master of flash, I don’t know about that.
But the biggest advantage of individual combat is to maximize the benefits, but the disadvantage is also very deadly, carrying two sets of national costumes and baskets of big bags, it is estimated that there are 10 kilograms, plus the back tripod and Danfan, as well as a variety of equipment backpacks, the whole person carries a bonus of 20 kilograms, which requires physical strength for shooting. The average independent photographer will pull a cart to install these, but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe I’ll have a chance to try it later. As far as this set of equipment is concerned, if a girl comes, I can hardly imagine whether the girl’s physical strength can support it until the end of the shooting.
Another very bad point of individual combat is the lighting problem of shooting. Often in the daytime, when shooting against the light or in the shadow area, the shadow on the model’s face leads to a bad film effect. At this time, if there is a flash or a reflector to fill the light on the character’s face, then the film rate is absolutely higher than one layer. And individual combat, these are obviously impossible, even from the machine flash is not realistic, as long as it is outside shooting, a breeze, soft umbrella or reflective umbrella can not hold up, if the heavy lamp holder, the physical burden will be higher, there is no way to guarantee the effect. At this time, the demand rate of assistants has risen exponentially, but this takes into account other issues. If you hire an assistant, you have to share nearly 1/3-1/2 of your income. If you are a photographer in the early stage and take the cabbage strategy business order, then the daily salary is not worth it at all. If you ask a friend for help, it’s just an experience card once or twice, and it’s impolite to ask more. Generally speaking, considering the budget, assistants are usually photographers who have grown up to a certain level, that is, their income has reached a certain level before they are considered to be used.
Another important lesson is the customer portrait. Often because of inertial thinking, customer portraits are the guests they have photographed before, or almost all male photographers in their teens to forties and fifties will think that female customer portraits are girls in their twenties, but this mentality is not acceptable. Be sure to fully understand the customer’s portrait in advance, that is, age, selfie style preferences, and so on. But this time, in fact, it is not their own did not do in place, it is too tight time, attend to one thing and lose another also helpless.
The other is the location. To a relatively unfamiliar scene, sometimes too much emphasis on environmental factors, in fact, it should be the other way around, the scene is not familiar, then directly change to a telephoto to take a headshot, in fact, is also a clever way to avoid shortcomings, this is really necessary, so I started with a telephoto, unfortunately, I used 50mm to shoot the whole process, or too hasty, the brain can not turn around. Essentially, as long as the theme of national style is highlighted, no matter what the scene is, it will become a virtual background board, why not. Of course, this kind of big blurred headshot is not acceptable to every customer. According to my experience, the more mature or appearance anxiety of girls, the more in line with the old master’s photos of their aesthetic, environmental portrait is a school that middle-aged women like, of course, can not say that this is not good, in fact, there is no difference between good and bad in essence, just aesthetic differences. And the environment portrait sometimes, send a circle of friends or something, more appropriate, telephoto headshot, without a certain face value, may not really be able to hold up, more suitable for creation at ordinary times.
Objectively speaking, in fact, the price of 500 is really not high. In fact, the price can even be said to be a preferential price, taking into account the time cost of driving a small electric donkey to return clothes to the university city the next day and the time cost of retouching pictures in the later period. It often seems to laymen that behind the outrageous price, there are careful commercial cost considerations.
Of course, the final feeling is that it is much more convenient to have a car. This afternoon, the cost of taking a taxi is more than 50 yuan. If you have a car, the equipment can carry more professional things, such as octagonal soft light, deep throw, which are all out of the question. Moreover, the choice of props is often higher, and there are more options for viewing, rather than choosing this time, a slightly scarce place. Of course, in fact, no choice is the best choice. Having a car can improve the experience and choice of many things, but without a car, you can earn 500 yuan, right.
