Ahoj! This is Zdenka. I shoot stock since 2007 and I have roughly 12,000
images in my portfolio. You are looking at my stock shoot plan for my next
lifestyle fitness photo session. Plan which will maximize the potential of
getting the most out of one single shoot. Today's video might be very helpful for
those who are contributing to stock with photos and videos or both. I'm gonna show you
exactly how I prepare for the shoot, how I prepare my shoot plan and you might
consider hitting the subscribe button because there will be part two where I
will actually take you with me to such stock shoot, then I will show you how I
edit the photos, how I do the keywords and all that, yeah, actually there might
be more parts to this.
It is fall. Colorful season started and it is literally screaming to take the
shoot outdoors to do lifestyle fitness session. There are two reasons why I
prefer doing shoot outdoors. Number one, stock buyers love lifestyle sessions
because they are more real. Number two, Stock buyers love also sessions on a
white plain isolated background in the studio but it takes much longer to edit
the photos, to retouch them properly so I personally prefer to do simple outdoor
shoots. The next shoot I am doing is fitness and health. I've shot fitness and
health many times before, so I'm quite experienced in it and also I'm quite an
active person myself so I feel very comfortable in that setting. I would not
shoot something I know nothing about or I don't feel comfortable because I could
make a lot of mistakes. For example a photographer in the past took photos of
a doctor looking at x-rays like this. Well the photos didn't sell because doctor
would normally look at x-rays like this against the light. So it is very
important you pick a theme you know everything about so you cannot make
these realistic mistakes, or bring a professional to the shoot so the person
can supervise and overlook the whole process. Once I am set on the theme, next
I usually choose a location and I am looking for a location which offers a
lot of variety. Shows a season like right now. So I'm looking for something where
are trees with leaves, a lot of greenery where I can see the fall, the season
changing and also I'm looking for a location which is quiet so there are not
too many people because I will be doing a lot of video as well and I don't want
them in a background. I don't want to be always constantly making sure there are
no people in the background. The location I have in mind for this
shoot is just south from here. It's on the beach and
has big beach, also has a lot of trees so it kind of looks like woods from certain
angles. Then there are stairs, there is a little lake where we can do some yoga
shots, there is a running track perfect for fitness and also basketball courts.
So this location offers a lot of variety. And when you are choosing location, make sure
the background is not way too busy. Stock loves simplicity so something
plain and simple, very easy backgrounds are always the best. We have a theme, we
have a location, let's pick the right model and that is very crucial. It's very
important you pick the right type. Now, I have over 100 models in my database I
photographed in the past for stock and there is one a model, his name is Peter which
is what I call a fitness perfection. He will be absolutely ideal for fitness and
health shoot. You want someone who truly looks the part
and he is also an actor, so he's a very good actor actually, so he can give me
absolutely any expressions I need. The shoot will go very quick and since he is
a professional model, this is going to be a paid shoot. I'm not going to disclose
how much he's gonna get paid because it's just not fair towards him. And
models have their own rates, depending on their experience. Sometimes photographers
have their own rates, they pay to models as well and it's up to the photographer
and the model to go either way. I have my own rate set for stock shoots, they are
very well thought through to make sure I'm not gonna lose the money. Now since
this is a paid shoot and I'm gonna have quite a bit of an expense already, I have
to make sure I have a very solid plan and a very strong shot list so I get the
most out of this shoot. And if I don't have that certain type of model I'm
looking for in my database, then I create an ad I post all over social media
and all over the places on the internet. I always make sure
I do a proper casting, I never just grab a random person. And again, when you are
choosing a model, choose appropriate looking models. So for example, if you are
shooting a chef in a kitchen, you are not going to grab most likely 19 year old
super skinny model. You need somebody who looks like a real chef in the
appropriate age category. So when I thought about fitness and health, I
grabbed Peter because Peter looks like someone who goes to gym all the time.
That person looks exactly like a fitness model. I am NOT going to choose someone
who is just starting out going to the gym or who is kind of halfway there.
I'm not going to choose somebody who is the opposite of fit. Those images simply
would not sell. Wardrobe is equally important. When it comes to stock shoot, I
am going to ask Peter if he can bring any wardrobe he s at home which is
fitness looking like, appropriate for this season and will fit in the
background very nicely. So whites, grays, beige, creams, maybe blues or red which
could pop. I have to also make sure there is no logo or no prints on the wardrobe.
Especially, when it comes to video, that would be very difficult, because I cannot
show them in the photos or in the footage. The ideal time of the day to do
outdoors lifestyle session is either early in the morning, shortly after
sunrise, such as mornings or later in the afternoon until sunset, but in my case
I'm very limited with my time. I can only work between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. so
I'm going to aim for 9:00 a.m. till 12:00 noon. Those are my only
options I have here. I generally keep the shoots shorter, maximum three hours
because I get tired after three hours and I lose concentration. And the same
goes to the Peter. I usually find looking at the models that after 3
hours of very intense shoot, they are starting to lose that spark in the eyes
and they start to look pretty tired, so I rather do few short sessions than one
huge full-day session. In those three hours window I have for the stock shoot,
I would love to get 50 to 100 amazing photos and 50 to 100 amazing videos. Can
this be done? Yes it can with a proper shot list and I'm actually thinking I
might get even more out of it. It takes a time to create one proper shot list,
that one proper shoot plan but once you actually create one, you can save it and
you can reuse it for the future shoots. You can just add few things to it or
remove few things to it as you will start selling photos from that shot list.
You will see what sold and what didn't, so you can just kind of change it as you
go. So what I usually do, I go to shutterstock and I look around. I see
what the images are selling right now, what's popular. I'm looking at the colors,
I'm looking at the poses, I'm looking at the way the images were created. I'm
looking at different themes, just get the feel out of what's out there right now
and what's popular. So I'll type in this case "fitness men outdoors", very general
term and see what comes. Then I click on some images which would fit the theme I
am planning on shooting to help me expand my shot list. Once I click on the
image, I click on same model images to see the full set here. I can get the feel
of different possible poses angles and all that here and there. I save an image
for my reference if I get stuck. Visual references is always the best, at least
for me. I also send these sample photos to models, so they know what wardrobe to
bring. And let's use my own photos from past I took of Peter two years ago I
think. So let's click same model and here is the full set. So let's go ahead and
create the shot list. Let's start with the big five. Number one.
Full body showing off the location, number two, action shots,
number three, expressions, number four body parts and number five props. So
let's look at the first one. Full body showing off the location and I'm going
to shoot the same way this with the same angles, all the other stuff, so I usually
show the person standing up, sitting down, then I shoot from the front,
I should from the back, I shoot from the side, I shoot from above and I shoot from
below up. Let's look at the next group and that is action shots and here I'm
gonna create another list below action shots of all the actions he can possibly
do. So it can be just standing around, relaxing, looking around. It can be yoga,
it can be stretching, so neck, torso, arms and legs, it can be whole bunch of
exercises he is doing from push-ups to sit-ups, all that, it can be running, it
can be jumping and it's usually the shots when he's jumping from rock or
something like that looks very very nice. On a track, he can be showing appropriate
start or he can be showing finish line. On the basketball field, obviously he can
play basketball so shooting at the net or just dribbling, all kinds of stuff
there and again all these action shots will be shot from all these angles I
mentioned before. Let's move on to another big one and that is expressions
and here you can create another big list so it can be just a calm relaxing
expression, then it can be happy, maybe over the top just kind of like a winner
style happy, then he can show frustration and anger and the last one is pain.
Sports injuries are quite common and when it comes to Peter he can do any
expression just look at this one. Let's move on to another big one. Body parts
and here you can shoot maybe just a head with shoulders and then you can shoot the
whole body without a head, kind of unknown and stock loves unknown. Then you
can move on to shooting arms and hands. So arms on hips, arms resting down, hands
doing something, tying shoes or maybe on the ground during the start and then
let's move on to legs. So legs stretching, legs running, then we have
feet just showing off the shoes, just walking running. The last group we have
here is props and you can't prepare whole bunch of things like I'm going to
prepare for this shoot. Bottle with water, I'm going to prepare basketball, maybe a
towel. He can show towel as he is sweating. Obviously running, doing sports.
Phone, headphones and maybe a watch. Now once the file is organized and
printed out, it looks like this. The first section I call the variations. All
these variations will be shot for each action, expression, pose I have listed
below. Well, I calculated 24 different shots and
if I shoot them in all different angles and different variations, then I'm gonna
get over 100 photos and the same thing is for a video. If I'm gonna do them
actually in just regular 24 frames per second speed and then also in a slow
motion, I'm gonna probably get even more than
100 files. Now the question is, can I shoot all that in 3 hours? We shall
see. This shove list will help me not to waste any time whatsoever. This shot list
will help me maximize the potential of getting the photos and videos I need to
actually sell successfully. Now the plan is finished, all I have to do now is send
email to Peter where I will include date, time, location information with possible
photos if I have on-hand, compensation, in details what he is getting out of this. I
will include shot list, I will also include sample photos which I saved from
Shutterstock, where he can see the theme and what wardrobe he needs to bring. So
I will include list a wardrobe for him to bring. I will ask if he has any of the
props but I will prepare what I have myself here as well and if that would be
a new model then I would also send information about what stock photography
is, where the images could be possibly used and copy of model of release. Now
some models do request copy of model release because they just want to read
it and that should be respected. The proposal I'm gonna save and also the shot
lists for future use and you can absolutely do the same thing with female
models and groups of models so you are saving yourself a lot of time. Just place
it in your archive and pull it out whatever you need to and you can
absolutely shoot this with any type of camera, even smartphones. They have a
great gimble's these days so you can build your passive income literally with
any camera. Well, I would be very thankful if you would hit the thumbs up button if
you liked today's video, if you got information you are looking for and
subscribe to all future videos like these. Remember there will be actual
videos from the shoot with Peter. If you have any questions, comments or simply
want to say hello, you can do so in a comment section below. You know I read it
all and I always try to respond and I will see you all my friends and the next
video. Cau..... Ahoj...