It is so important to keep yourself creative while social distancing. Tash Serena(my sister) and I have been doing photoshoots and being our own creative directors since we were kids. At such difficult times we managed to find some inspiration and had our first virtual shoot.
We gave this trend a go as it is definitely a solution for many photographers, models and others in the creative industry for the time being.
What you’ll need:
- A device: Any smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer that works with video calls should work just fine. I used my laptop as I personally felt it was much more stable than leaning a smartphone against a pile of books. I found it a lot easier to adjust the screen as well.
- Videotelephony software: Skype, Facetime, Zoom, Whatsapp, etc. whatever works best for the model and the photographer. We used zoom. Think of a normal video call on the laptop, I just posed while the photographer (my sister) captured the images directly off the screen using her camera.
- Set time and date: Plan this out as time difference may interfere. There is a crazy time difference between Bali and Vancouver, so we agreed to shoot at my sisters 9AM Bali time and my 6PM Vancouver time.
- A photoshoot concept: Inspiration pictures are a good reference during the photoshoot. My sister sent me a whole collection of inspo pictures from Pinterest which made it a whole lot easier to understand angles and the vibe we were trying to achieve. This allowed myself to somewhat take part in being a creative director.
- Props and any accessories/clothing: I recommend having an organized pile of all the useful props and outfits to save time and avoid messiness. We used my standing mirror, a table lamp for lighting and a few outfit changes.
- Setting and location: We decided on a bedroom setting, using the bed and simple backgrounds to focus on shadow play and natural lighting.
PREVIEW
My take on it:
It was different and surprisingly super lively. It is convenient in a way as I was able to see myself pose and fix my angles. It was simple and I felt much more involved with inputting ideas as I was in charge of creating the setting, the placement of the laptop and styling myself. However, the only issue would be that the outcome may show the glare from the screen, but with proper editing and lighting this shouldn’t be an issue.
The outcome:
Model: Tara Serena (Myself)