04. What to Expect From a Fashion Editorial Photoshoot

If you've never had a fashion editorial shoot before, it is completely normal to have absolutely no idea what to expect.

 

You might be excited. You might be nervous. You might be thinking about your outfits, wondering whether you'll know how to pose, questioning whether you'll look awkward, or praying that your face cooperates with you for the entire duration.

The reality is that a professional editorial shoot starts long before you actually take the first photograph. It begins with an idea.

Sometimes you already know exactly what you want. You may have a Pinterest board full of references, a mood board you've created, a particular outfit you want to showcase or a visual concept you've been thinking about for ages. Other times, you've got something much less organised: a few screenshots, a colour palette, a particular feeling or simply the words, “I want it to feel expensive.” That's fine too, the planning stage is about taking that idea and turning it into something that can actually be photographed.

We can start looking at styling, location, colours, poses, lighting and the overall direction of the shoot. This is where the experience begins to feel different from simply booking a portrait session.

You're not just deciding where to stand. You're deciding what you're creating…

Then comes the actual shoot and this is where direction becomes really important.

You don't need to walk in knowing twenty poses, you don't need to know which angle is your “good side” and you definitely don't need to spend the night before studying how professional models move!

You'll be guided. We'll experiment, move, adjust and change things. Some ideas will work brilliantly straight away, and some will make us look at each other and think, Right... let's never do that again! But that's normal as creative work isn't supposed to be perfectly predictable.

Some of the strongest images can come from something that wasn't even part of the original plan. Perhaps the light changes. Perhaps the movement works differently than expected. Perhaps an outfit looks completely different on camera. Perhaps someone does something instinctively and suddenly you've got the image.

And then there is the part of photography that happens after you leave. The photographs need to be reviewed and curated. The strongest images need to be selected, edited and prepared so the final gallery actually feels like a body of work rather than a hard drive being emptied onto your screen.

At Nefertiti Spades, the aim is for the experience to feel creative, collaborative and confidence-building. You should be able to enjoy yourself while still receiving professional direction and a finished body of imagery that you are genuinely proud of. Because the point isn't simply to survive the two hours, the point is to come out the other side thinking:

“That was actually so much fun. And look at these photographs.”

Which leads to the next question… What do you actually do with all those photographs afterwards?

That's where your portfolio comes in.