How to prepare for a photo shoot: technical recommendations

To get natural yet aesthetically pleasing shots, we choose the location, prepare the lighting, and invite the characters beforehand. This guide is about how we prepare for the shoot and set up the frame in the process.

Location, background and details

Get rid of visual noise. Before shooting, clear the checkout area, remove unnecessary marketing media or hangers with clothes. At the same time, hold on to the context; demonstrate where we are.
Use the blur effect. This makes the frame clearer and more pleasing aesthetically. We follow the dynamics and natural behavior of the characters, so that the shot does not turn into a stock image.
Be in control of the content within the frame. Move hangers, furniture, lamps, chairs and tables around.
Review the shots in process. The shooting involves a person who makes sure the frame is clear while the shoot is in progress, keeping an eye on when to raise a lamp, clean off a table in the background, and move a bunch of scooters at the front.

Noisy surroundings. Distracts, destroys aesthetics

A blurred background allows you to focus on what's important while still conveying context. We see a dynamic scene in the background, which makes the photo look vivid and authentic.

The female character is in focus, the background is blurred by movement and open aperture. There are 2 uniform colour spots behind the girl's back: they do not distract, but insert her into the context

People in the frame

Working with professional actors

This is the simplest but pricey option. We make sure the actors understand that authenticity is important to us; we ask them to imagine that they are sitting in a pizzeria with friends, and there is no photographer around. This helps to remove the theatricality and get natural shots.

Working with friends or clients

We examine the social networks of the people we are going to invite to the shoot. We see if the emotions they display are dynamic and diverse, the way the models smile and behave on camera. We invite the most charismatic characters.

Emotions

Find inspiration in real people’s actions. We pay attention to how people in our pizzerias behave: singles, couples, companies, colleagues. We take their behavior and emotions as a basis, and induce some dynamic and friendliness on the set.
Highlight emotions. In reality, people who come to dine alone, smile very little and check their phones often. To get a more expressive shot, ask the characters to show emotions.
Maintain moderation. An overly emotional shot will look surreal and unnatural. To convey the right mood to the actors, use the phrase: "You are laid-back, but in a great mood. It's not the joy of having a baby, it's just another great day."
Consider the context. If people celebrate a birthday in a pizzeria, show joy and bright emotions. With the help of details, we tell the viewer that it's a celebration: we use such props as birthday hats, candles, a cake, and gifts.

We don't ask children to portray the “right” emotion, rather than catch their lively reactions

Friends are playing a board game, discussing the process in an upbeat manner. It seems that a joke is being born right now. In this situation, smiling widely looks natural

We can see that it's a birthday party because of the details in the photo. The children are wearing birthday hats and the birthday girl is holding a muffin with a candle. Context translates the vivid emotions

Postures and motions

Give the characters freedom. We don't ask our actors to take a rigid posture, but mark the boundaries in the space within which they can move. This helps to keep things natural.
Correct the details. We keep a balance between naturalness and aesthetics. If you can't find the right angle, guide the character. For example, when you need to take a shot of an application screen, and the model is holding the smartphone inaccurately. In this case, we can slightly rotate the hand or figure.

The character takes the order and rushes to the exit, his motions are natural

The female character looks at the monitor and takes the adapter out of the socket. It is as if we are watching from the outside and capturing the moment

Light

Take the weather conditions and space limitations into consideration. Light has a big impact on the mood of a shot, so we always think ahead of time about what light sources will be available in the room and what additional equipment we may need.
We try to shoot under the natural light. We wait for the sun, if possible. We use artificial sources and reflectors to correct the details.

We created an imitation of a sunny day: we put a powerful flash without a softbox outside. The frame became more sunny and bright

There are no windows in the kitchen, so it's impossible to shoot with natural light. To equalize the color temperature in this shot, we placed one flash inside the room with the sink - the light from it completely flooded the entire room, making the walls white. The second flash was placed 4 meters from the actor's face - it imitated the natural light from the windows of the pizzeria

The left part of the face is illuminated by natural light from the window. The right part of the face was lit with a flash from behind on the right, because the power of light sources is insufficient in the pizzeria. The flash set the girl's figure apart from the background and made the contours brighter

Angle and shooting style

Reportage

Capture the normal flow of events without trying to impact them. In reportage photography, the photographer doesn't always have full control over the background, lighting or composition. As a result, branded elements or products may not be seen enough.

We see several perspectives that clarify the situation to us and create an “observer effect”

Reportage-like shooting

Let's imagine a situation: a good street reporter comes to a pizzeria with perfect light; the guests don't notice him and behave as naturally as possible; the photographer captures the moments as an external observer. This is the effect we aim at during shooting.

How we achieve the desired effect:

we use lenses with a long focal length;
create several perspectives in the picture and include objects, which seem to “crawl” into the foreground, into the frame;
shoot from a distance to create a "peek-a-boo" effect.

In these shots, the characters can’t see us. It's as if we accidentally noticed the situation and decided to take a shot. The camera is far away from the characters - this creates the feeling that we are watching a real scene, but the shot remains aesthetically pleasing

Cropping

Crop images to highlight the main object, to improve composition, to remove unnecessary elements or to zoom in the product.

Good shot, good emotion, but the character's legs are cropped and the product is hard to see

The characters are too far away, the product is not visible, there are strangers in focus

With the help of cropping we made the product look larger, the emotion also became more noticeable. We maintained a clearer message

Removed unnecessary elements that distract attention. Focus is on the characters and the product

Tools for shooting: smartphone or camera

Choose a tool based on the format and capabilities of the location. Make sure that the sharpness and quality of the tool are sufficient.

	Street in the daytime	The street at night	A pizzeria with good light	Pizzeria with bad light/kitchen.
Peek-a-boo format	Smartphone or camera with telephoto lens	Camera with a long focal length light-sensitive lens	Smartphone or camera with telephoto lens	Just the camera and the light exposure
UGC Simulation	A smartphone is better	Camera or flagship smartphone	A smartphone is better	It's better not to take photos
Food photo	Anything	It's better not to take photos	Anything	Just the camera and the light exposure