HOW TO DO A FACETIME PHOTOSHOOT

Several months ago, when everything about the infamous coronavirus was so unknown and there was barely anyone outside doing photoshoots, photographers started to look elsewhere to refuel their creativity. That’s when a famous fashion photographer, Alessio Albi, first set the stage for photoshoots done over Facetime. 

Portrait photographers were in such awe that so many took it to Instagram and YouTube to try it out--myself included.
This is what I did to prepare before the shoot (once I had a model):

• I went to Pinterest and compiled several mood boards for each model/shoot/theme I had planned.
• Each mood board had four key elements: wardrobe, color scheme, location (in this case it was in a specific room in a house), emotion.​
  
  • Put them together using Canva.
    
  • Sent the model(s) their mood board
• ​Explain to them what it is that I was attempting and explained it was totally experimental so there’s no major right or wrong outcome. (I feel like this created a more casual feeling - like just two friends having a casual Facetime call which was nice.)
• Ask the model if they had a room with plenty of window light. (As a mostly ambient light photographer, I enjoy a good window light since this gives the most natural look.)
  
  • Asking them about the room (and seeing if I could see the room prior to the shoot) helped me better understand what I am working with in terms of model placement and where the best light is.
• ​Understanding the time of day the facetime photoshoot will take place is also crucial since the light may vary.
• Free the background clutter of both your space and the space behind the model.​
  
  • ​​This means I asked to see if we can have the model free up the space behind them prior to shooting. Just as if it were in person, you want to clear your surroundings from things that don’t add to the photographs, but rather create noise and make the photos feel and look less polished.

In retrospect, these are some things that I wish I had prepared for prior to the shoot to make the photo shoot run smoother.

• iPhone stand or Stack of books
  • This would have helped immensely had I thought ahead of time to make sure the model had something to stand their phone on. Always take note that not everyone has a tripod on-hand  so asking them to use a stack of books or some sort of stand for them to lean their phones against to prop it up will help to avoid the phone from falling mid-shoot or from the model holding their phone the whole time.

The biggest hurdle I was faced with was my verbal communications (and this is coming from someone who had a college major in mass communications).  I could not believe how much I relied on my in-person physical movements to direct someone when posing them. The fact that the model was on the other side of the video call staring into a tiny little iPhone camera while I attempted to figure out a way for me to verbally explain what I wanted them to do was more challenging than I thought. 

In terms of photographic quality, understanding that the iPhone camera (while has advanced to a spectacular quality over the years) is still not at a professional camera lens' quality. At first, on my first Facetime photoshoot, I attempted to simply use the iPhone screenshot method where I would just screen shoot each frame and asking my model to try and hold as still as possible since I knew the iPhone would try to catch the shot knowing the shutter speed on that shot wasn't going to be as fast as my camera.

But I quickly learned that the quality of screen shooting was not the quality I wanted.

So, the second time I attempted the Facetime photoshoot, I used my camera and man-oh-man was the difference HUGE!
​
Overall, this experimental project was a great exercise for me as a portrait photographer to better understand how I communicate and learn to give better direction to avoid awkwardness, stiffness, create more motion in my images and create more fun and flowy photoshoot for everyone involved.

Have you done a Facetime photoshoot? If you have or think you’re up to the challenge, please let me know in the comments below where I can see your work or if you’re on Instagram, tag me so I can see! I’m @katiechavarinphtography! Would love to follow along.