Happy Tuesday to everyone and welcome to all the new subscribers! I appreciate each and all of you!
Today’s post is pretty clear from the title.
As a portrait photographer, I’m lucky enough to have the possibility to choose if I want to shoot outdoors or in the studio.
Both scenarios have pros and cons, and both of them require planning and research. I shared with you some points, a few weeks ago, about the importance of scouting a location before actually going there to shoot.
Here it is, in case you missed it
Now, straight into today’s topic.
A couple of years ago, I decided to create a very small studio inside my parents’ garage. With a couple of backdrops and a couple of flashes, I’ve got all I need to create simple and effective images.
This is the best solution because I’ve got the freedom to come and go whenever I want and even with very short notice.
However, there are downsides as well. As I already mentioned, there’s just a little space to move. If I want to change my composition and move around my model while taking the pictures, I’m very limited.
Even more important, there’s no heating. This means it becomes completely unusable from October till April.
Can I resist all that time without creating any images? Of course not. So I have another option, which is using a professional studio.
Shooting there is a completely different story. There’s plenty of space, it’s heated and there are also gears I don’t have (and honestly can’t afford) in my home-made studio.
In both cases, the common feeling is that I love when I’m there.
I feel the studio gives me the perfect dimension for being creative. It sort of locks me into a dedicated space that isolates me from the rest of the world and where I can let the creativity flow for as long as I’m there with the rest of the team.
It also puts me in a more intimate mood with the rest of the team. I usually talk a lot during the set. There needs to be complicity, we all need to be comfortable with what we are doing. And connection is fundamental to relax and be focused on our goal.
I’m not saying it can’t be the same when shooting outdoors. I just think that all the distractions of the “external world” give me a lot of input which I don’t need while I’m doing my thing.
It happens that, while you are shooting in a beautiful park, a dog or a kid jumps into the frame. Or behind the model on a pathway that suddenly becomes very crowded. It happens that the model gets distracted by curious passers-by who in the best case just look, while others try to interact with her grabbing her attention and bringing her away from our focus.
There are also some practical advantages which make me prefer shooting in studio.
One of them is the possibility to connect my laptop to the camera and shoot tethered. I love reviewing the images directly onto a decent screen rather than on a stamp-size monitor.
This also opens the doors to a quick editing to roughly adjust the basics and give a hint to the model of how the final images will look like. At the end of the shoot, we usually sit together to scroll through the results and make a first selection.
This way of working together, sharing the process with the team, has always helped me build a solid collaboration because we are all involved in basically all the phases of the creative process.
Another benefit of working in the studio is the full control of the light.
Of course, it’s possible to add flashes also when shooting outdoors to control the ambient light, but that means carrying around more gear and wasting time when the location changes to place all the stuff from scratch.
When I’m in the studio, I know that light will only paint my subject in the way I want it. Without having to adjust such a big light source like the Sun.
Generally speaking, I love creating portraits. This is the reason I do what I do, regardless it’s in studio or out on location.
And you? Are you #TeamLocation or #TeamStudio?
Let me know ☺️
Take care and talk soon!