To celebrate the arrival of spring this month I had the idea of doing a creative photoshoot. Creative photoshoots with friends is kind of where it all started back in middle school for me, but since college my focus has been on paid graduation, family, engagement and wedding sessions. Having said that, going back to a creative photoshoot was as out-of-my-comfort-zone as it was exciting! Luckily when I threw my ideas out to some friends in the area they were more than happy to help out.
Idea Number 1
My idea was pretty simple: I wanted to create some spring-themed photos that celebrated the end of winter and the onset of nicer weather. My first idea was to bring to life the saying, "April Showers bring May Flowers"! I thought we could mimic rain by grabbing a water pale, step stool and umbrella. One of my volunteers would be tasked with pouring the water from the water pale over while the model underneath the held a bouquet of fake flowers. We played around with this for most of the session and while the photos turned out pretty fun they didn't quite have the feel I wanted them to. Once I finally made my way through editing, I realized where my settings were slightly off and made mental notes on how we could improve this the next time around!
What I'll Change
I think if we come back to this concept I'll make it a point to use a variety of lenses and increase my shutter speed a few notches to better freeze the water droplets coming from above. I also think the water being poured from above needed to be higher up than we were working from in order to expand the coverage of the droplets once they reach the umbrella and model.
Idea Number 2
My next idea was even simpler! I just wanted the models to toss flowers above themselves or toward the camera to give an element of depth. I've seen other photographers play with this concept on Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube so I thought I had the gist of it. In truth, I ended up loving how this concept turned out more than the first! However, again while I managed to get a few shots I was pleased with this idea fell a little bit short overall. In many of these shots the flowers being tossed were too clumped together as opposed to dispersing cross the full frame of the photo - you can't totally tell in most of the final edits because I took the time to go in and quickly photoshop some flowers back into frame.
What I'll Change
If we come back to this concept or if I play with ideas similar to it, again I want to make it a point to use a variety of lenses and increase my shutter speed. Meghan, one of my volunteers, mentioned it would distribute the flowers more evenly if we laid them on something like a baking sheet and tossed them vertically from underneath the camera - just out of the shot. I think that might be something to explore more as well as having a volunteer (or two!) toss flowers from the sides of the camera - just out of shot. Another thing I'll make sure of the next time around when it comes to any creative shoot is allotting more time to experiment with ideas and settings. With this session we were rushing to put together the two ideas in a shorter-than-expected amount of time.
Ultimately this session was a blast! It was so fun putting our brains together, celebrating when the shots worked and getting to know each other. It made me want to expand my talents and play around more with creative photoshoots. I figure in between paid sessions it would make me feel even more fulfilled and inspired to continue creating with my camera in unique ways like this.
Have an idea you think I should try? Let me know in the comments!
