How do you know the best location for your shoot?
In order to get the most out of your shoot and pick an appropriate location there are a few things you can ask yourself to narrow down your options.
Are your photos for professional or business use?
Photos like professional head shots, images to showcase a product orservice are often taken in studios so that you can achieve a plainbackground and studio lighting to best showcase you or a product. Headshots are often lit with 3 point lighting, which can’t always beachieved outside. If you are wanting to take pictures in a studio, its best tobe orgainsed and plan your shoot atleast a month in advance. Don’t forgetthat a local studio may be booked up and you may not be able to book itwith a weeks notice. If you are on a budget (or you have been abit lastminute) don’t worry! A similar look can be achieved in any household with aplain wall, portable lighting and a good photographer! Recently I workedwith Wardrobe at The Cross in Neston to create some professional imagesof one of the owners Hilary wearing clothes from the shop. Despite theimages looking like they were taken in a studio, they were actually taken inan office at the back of the store!
What matches your aesthetic?
Are you a musican or artist? Or are you trying to convey something about you in your images? For artists who are looking to create content for the release of a new song it can be as simple as matching the aesthetic of the song. For people who are using their images to showcase a bit of their personality a simlair approch can be used to pick a location. The methodthat I find most helpful is creating mood board. Pick a range of images you like the look of and then look at what these images have in common.Do a lot of them have dreamy bright sunlight and bright blue sky’s? Maybea beach shoot might be the best option for you. Are you very colourful and bold? How about a location with lots of graffiti wall art? Sometimes finding a location can be as simple as seeing somewhere when you are out and about and thinking about how nice it would be to shoot there! One thing I like to do is take a quick picture when I find a good location and add it to a location folder on my phone. This is also why location is very imporatnt to speak to your photographer or videographer with. Don’t feel silly asking if they have any ideas, often they will be able to suggest locations or offer advice.
Here are some previous locations I have used in the past if you are looking for inspiration!
Street Art and Graffiti in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle
This photo specifically is take at the New Bird Skatepark, 49 New Bird St, Liverpool L1 0DN. There are so many different Graffiti art in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, all of which are within a five minute walk of each-other. It’s a great place to shoot for extremely vibrant photos, especially if you are wanting lots of variety in backgrounds.
If you are going to do a shoot at the beach you might as well pick a good beach!
Formby Beach is my favourite beach to shoot at! The beach itself is huge so when its busy it doesn’t get crowded. There is also a really big parking area which is really handy. Formby beach has some amazing large sand dunes which can be great in getting some height in your photos. It also has a beautiful wooded area which I would consider very ‘twilight’ esk. This beach has a lot more to offer than just the plain sand and sea!
Look in your local area for flower fields you can visit!
You can achieve some great results if you time a shoot with when a field of flowers is in bloom. That beening said, it is important that you do it ethically! Do not trample on any farmers fields or land. The best way to take photos at flower field ethically is to go to a site which encourages tourism. For example, Norfolk Lavender, Norfolk Lavender, Caley Mill, Lynn Rd, Heacham PE31 7JE or Norfolk Tulip Garden, King’s Lynn PE31 6BJ. However, timing is crutial with these locations! The flowers will only be in bloom in certain months.
There are many more locations to be mentioned but unfortunately I can’t feature them all. Here is your sign to think about a cool location for your next photo or video shoot!
