Commercial lifestyle photography to me is about being able to draw out genuine moments and emotions in your subjects. Without this, you’re not really capturing the spirit of what this genre of photography is all about… to sell and entice others to want to be a part of what you’re photographing. It’s an ideal they can aspire to that is then represented by a clothing line, location or other product.

I was talking with a few other local photographers this week and we all agreed on one point. Concept, creativity and genuineness will really take your photography a step above where it may be now. Without these you’re just fulfilling technical steps instead of creating images. It’s the difference between engineering and art. One is mechanical, one is creative driven. I’d even go so boldly as to say stop worrying about your technical skills. Start focusing on your creative ideas and what you want to say in your own photography. The technicals will come with practice and attention. The creative might never if you don’t focus in on it. It’s the most important element of lifestyle photography. What can you create to draw in viewers?

Here we have our three friends arriving at the car wash. I like to utilize depth of field to create different layers in an image. It gives your image a subject and sense of place. I also enjoy little detail elements like having someone reaching in to grab keys. It hides their face and creates an “anybody” moment. You can almost put yourself in the same position.

Here our three models are once again playing around. You can create posed or set photos like each of these are, while at the same time bringing out the genuine elements of lifestyle. Simply set and direct where you’d like everyone to be, and then have them start moving and interacting. That way you have the right positions, and still a real feel to the images.

This last set I really like. You can tell how real the expressions are and how fun everyone is having. It’s all part of being able to add yourself as an extra party member to the group. Make yourself not just a passive viewer to the images, but a member of them. In that way you create an image that your viewers can not only appreciate, but engage themselves in as well.

Me: “Alright, do you want to hold onto each other and spin around?! It’ll be lots of fun.” 7-year-old: “No I don’t want to.”

Well I didn’t quite know what to say to that. I guess I’ve been spoiled working with adults always willing to go along with my ideas and work with my direction. Slowly over the course of the photo shoot and thanks to help from the parents and a friend I started to be able to direct a little more. There’s a few things we found that seem to work much better with children and some advice I’ll be applying to my next kids photo shoot.

1. Become friends. Before really starting a shoot you should get down on the kids level and just talk to them. Ask them what they’re favorite games are, which TV shows they like and things like that. Share some kid friendly things you like too. I wish I had done a bit more of this to start because it took longer to become a friend over the course of the shoot. I’ll be sure to try this right away next time.
2. Play games. It’s not a photo shoot, because that means work. Instead, play games with the kids. Who can jump the highest? Who can hopscotch the fastest? Etc. Also, if you want them to say run toward you and then stop and pose, you have to make it an activity or they’ll just keep going. So create a game where they run toward you and then yell out their favorite ice cream flavor.
3. Rewards system. See if there’s something you can offer as a reward for great work. Maybe an ice pop if they help get the photo just right. Rewards give them an incentive to be a participant.

I’m sure there are a lot more ideas I’ll be discovering as I work in more kids photo shoots. In the meantime, enjoy a few of these images from this weekend.

If you don’t have much lifestyle or fashion work in your book (some senior portraits may work but family photos definitely will not) then you’ll need to start building up a base of work before reaching out to an agency. It takes an agency time to call their models and find someone available to test, in addition to the fact that they put their reputation on the line by sending someone to you, so don’t expect them to start working with you right out the gate. I’d recommend starting on a site like Model Mayhem, which will allow you to start building a book on a trade basis. As your images get better, the talent you work with will too. Keep fueling this train (it may take a few months, a year or two years depending on the effort you put in) before you’re ready to meet with an agency.

While you start building a portfolio, he’s a few things you may find helpful. Check your wedding, engagement and family portrait post processing effects at the door. When it comes to commercial images, these cutesy or arty effects really don’t hold much weight. If you’re aiming for a commercial look in your book, then you might want to consider keeping it simple on your post production. Fashion work can go many ways. You can add some surrealistic looks and tinting to your images, or keep it very minimalistic. The thing to remember is where you may have skirted by in family work by covering up mistakes with a processing effect, in commercial work it’s all about the right light. No amount of processing is going to cover that up to someone with a trained eye.

Compiling images that speak to your vision is critically important. You need to be building a style that shows who you are as a unique artist. However, don’t forget to curate photos that a model would include in their book. I’ve got a few images that are my favorites for my own book, but I wouldn’t include them in a visual to an agency because the model may be a distant part of a scene or is spinning with only hair visible. Those are great abstracts for my book, but useless for a model who needs to show their features to be considered for castings.

Establish a network of make-up artists, hair stylists and wardrobe stylists that you can trust to put out consistently reliable work. Again, this may be a building process as your work progresses. Don’t expect to work with the very best first, but there are a lot of great people struggling to make it into the market at the same time you are who are willing to trade work for their portfolio as well.

Determine where your shooting location(s) will be. Do you plan on doing solely studio or location work, or a mix of both? Have a few areas planned out that you’ve used before and you know how to work properly to get the best images. It’s the same principle that often applies to family and senior photographers.

So you’ve found some great locations, established a network and built up a book that you’re ready to finally take to an agency. It’s time to send out an email and request a meeting. Be flexible to the agencies schedule. If you have a book put together, be sure to bring it in. If not, ask if they’ll be ok with viewing your images on a laptop and bring that in. Check to make sure the colors and contrast aren’t way off or you may seriously dislike showing the images on there. Let the agency know that you’re a new face in the market looking to continue building a book and working with their talent.

If they’ve agreed to work with you, make sure you both can agree on a price point. This will usually include a fee for hair and make-up as well, so you’ll need to make sure you’ve budgeted that in. This is where your network comes in handy.  From here, this is where the little details start playing a large roll.

I’ve found call sheets to be a tremendous asset to the agencies I work with and prepare them for every photo shoot. These are a one piece of paper that include details such as your contact information, location address, times, your stylists, the models, any wardrobe recommendations or other special requests you have. It saves the agency a lot of time when they don’t have to try and piece together information from several emails and can just send the call sheet directly to their model. Make a template sheet and plug in the details you need for each shoot. It’s well worth the quick time it takes.

On game day, be professional and polite. This rule really applies to any type of photography, so remember it! Bring a light snack and definitely some water if you’ll be shooting for longer than an hour. Photography isn’t just great images; it’s a service you’re providing.

You’ll need to put together three to four different looks for a good comp card. Each look is a different wardrobe and make-up/hair change. They don’t always have to be drastic, but they should be enough to provide some versatility for the models portfolio. If you’re not supplying wardrobe, you’ll need to feel it out when the model arrives, but also have a few ideas floating around that you can tap for almost any look.

Whew this post went on quite longer than I thought and I’m sure I missed a bunch, but hopefully this helps those of you interested in eventually working with modeling agencies and building up a commercial portfolio. Feel free to ping me any questions on Facebook.

How you go about them and what you want to bring out is a matter of your own preference. For these two, I wanted to use a few of the accessories I brought along (a few hats and sunglasses) and change up the angles. Another way to go about it is to set your model in a seated position, fix a tripod down and have them alter their expressions from the exact same angle. Since I far prefer to shoot handheld and change the angles to interact with my subject, my photos each have a bit more variety.

Knowing what to bring out in each of your models can really add an extra punch to the images. You may be able to get some smiles out of a model with more of a fashion look, but chances are they might not turn out as well as ones where you worked with their natural expressions and talent. Lia’s bubbly personality lent itself perfectly to just joke around and create these playful set of images.

Whereas Britt had a great softer smile and those lock-on eyes. Being able to work with each models natural talent really helped deliver the best images.

This was an incredibly fun photo shoot where I started to push a few personal boundaries. It’s so important to work outside your own comfort zone. I certainly don’t do it enough. When you do though, you open the door to learning new techniques and expanding your vision. I’m looking forward to sharing more images from this test. Stay tuned.

Production is all the little (and big) details that go into a shoot. Location, permits, models, wardrobe, props, food/drinks/catering, image delivery timetable and method. The personal style of how you run your shoots and interact with your crew and team members can even be said to be a part of your production. It all comes down to knowing your vision and being able to put together the pieces to execute it, within a reasonable time frame and budget constraints.

Your budget is often the ultimate deciding factor in what you can produce. I’d love to be able to shoot on a three deck yacht through the Caribbean, but it’s simply not a budgetary reality (yet). That being said, I encourage any photographer looking to put together fresh images for their portfolio to put some personal money into it. That doesn’t mean you have to go overboard though.

In the photographs below I picked up these colorful pairs of socks at Target for $2 a piece and matched them to the outfits that these fun models from The Agency Arizona brought with them. The $6 investment was well worth an image that will help grow my book.

For these images I went to a local grocery store and picked up around $15 worth of different fruit. They helped foster a fun feel and style to a number of images.

And for this last set I spent a few more bucks at Target grabbing colorful sandals and an extra few at the dollar store for a snorkel and floaties. None of these are expensive items, but they help create the right atmosphere for the photos.

Lately I’ve been putting around $100-200 into my personal test shoots, and that number grows as I continue to book bigger jobs and more clients. It’s a repeating cycle. Larger clients want to see the time and production you put into your images and they want to see new personal work on a regular basis. It shows your passion for what you do. It’s one of the comments I hear the most in any new client meeting – my apparent passion for creating images. Passion + production = progress. Put some more passion and production into your own work and I guarantee you’ll start seeing similar results.