Shooting on location.

As a professional photographer without a brick & mortar studio, I do all my shooting “on location”.    Location shooting is not without it’s challenges.  A short list of factors you must be able to work with and around if necessary include, weather, sunshine, wind, environment and accessibility.  You must also consider the welfare of your model or client(s).

There are several ways to bring what is outside into the studio, but often, shooting on location will offer creative opportunities not available in the studio and will provide a memorable experience for the client.  Remind me I said that when it’s 100F in the shade at dusk and a client schedules a location photo shoot.

You can go light on equipment you carry with you and concentrate on taking advantage of the location layout, bring a production crew, or stop somewhere in between.  Most of us, myself included, stop somewhere in between.

In order to master your creativity, you must be completely comfortable with your equipment.  This doesn’t mean you need to memorize the manual, but you should be able to quickly and easily change settings on your equipment as necessary.  Being able to do this will prevent a fun photo shoot from turning into a stressful situation.  It will also help prevent you from missing “the shot”.

When shooting on location, I like to use an off camera flash mounted in a 15x15” softbox with on camera flash modified by a bounce card.  Both flash units are mounted on a pocket wizard FlexTT5 and configured in master/slave modes with A:B ratios.   This setup is excellent for outdoor portraiture and can be enhanced by using a scrim to remove harsh sun from your subject and a reflector to add light without carrying an additional flash.  The FlexTT5’s ensure that my remote slaves work without having to worry about whether their sensor is pointed at the master flash or even covered up.

Not all location shooting is done outdoors.  I often take studio lighting with me to shoot indoors at large events.  For me, the major difference in shooting indoor event photography and studio shooting is how you have to set your equipment up.  When shooting a client or model, location shooting indoors is very similar to location shooting outdoors.  When shooting an event, you may need to locate power, run extension cords, and set up a backdrop, lights, table, computer, printer, etc., depending on the nature of the event.