When doing a commercial photo shoot of a celeb customer You not just have to be good at what you do, you have to be consistent and work well under pressure. You not just have to make the Celebrity ecstatic but provide a photo that all others involved are happy with. Sometimes theyare going to give you direction while other times the ball is in your court and it is one hundred percent your call of what to style of photo to shoot.

As a San Antonio Photographer, i have had the chance to do several photo shoots of well-known folks for billboards and other promotions. One I remember was a shoot done a few years gone for Tracy Lawrence, a well known Country Music singer. The photos were to be used for billboards and mailers. When I bid on the assignment I did not know whom I was going to snap. All I had been told was it might be a celebrity in town for a few hours and what photographs were to be taken. And I would be doing the still photography in the breaks in the video shoot going on at the same time.

If you know anything about video and still photography the lighting is totally different. Sharing time with a video crew typically means no time to setup and adjust your lights. It would be an immediate setup and start shooting.

After arriving at the studio where the shoot would take place I was chuffed to discover I had a room almost to my self. Unlike other shoots where you share a scene with the video crew I had another room. I still did not know the idea of the shoot so I pulled out all of the lights I had and got ready. They needed a clean white background and then something a little more creative.

After I finished my light set-up I went next door and shot some background footage of the video shoot. Naturally it was running long and soon it was time for a lunch break and i still had not had an opportunity to start my shoot. This seems common at a lot of the mixed video and still projects I get hired for.

During lunch I ask the selling director what unique shots they were thinking about. One pool area shot was mentioned which had the worst light you could imagine. Full sun in South Texas in the middle of the day. All I could see were the white props reflecting the light and a giant shade from his cowboy hat and reflections off his Guitar. Having photographed jewelry for one or two years I know how long it takes to eliminmate all of the reflections from brightly polished jewelry and thought a high polished Guitar in full sun would be even worse.. This was not going to be my ideal photo shoot. Fortunate for me they thought the 100 plus degree weather was too hot so the 2nd idea was to use a metal lined room with a country table for the backdrop. Perfect window light and fill employing a single strobe put me back in my comfort section.

Finally they bring the client for me to shoot and I find out the video is running really behind and my time was cut from twenty minuets per look to about seven mins. Not difficult as took one test shot and that was perfect. Asuperb look on the portable that everybody was happy with and Tracy Lawrence nailed every expression needed. After hours of boring video work he was chuffed and a real pro when it came to doing the still pictures.

After my seven mins of shooting I found I had to move all my equipment to make way for another video being shot in the same room I was using and that after that Iwould have him for the rest of the day to do the rest of the photographs. After a few more hours I get the word that he’s leaving at 600 for the airfield and since the video folk had other issues I may not have the time to finish my shoot.

During some of the down time I had done other parts of the shoot but still needed Tracy so he could be in the final layout. At roughly 15 till 6 they say he’s on his way and to stand by. Naturally the video gear was still in they way and theyare rushing to move it around and help get my lighting back prepared. Again without any time for test shots I used a similar way setup I mostly do for portraits and got aperfect look on the first shot. A few with a guitar, different shirt, hat and we were done shooting 4 looks in less than 15 mins. Many of those photographs are posted on my website.

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