Night swimsuit photo shoot behind the scenes photos
July 27th, 2009My recent fashion swimsuit photography shoot at the beach was amazing. I happened to get my hands on some behind the scenes photos taken with a cheap point and shoot but they give you the idea. Now when I say we had a 100 foot RV I didn’t measure it but as you can see it was damn long ! We had the art directors, model, make up and hair artists, crew etc. all fit in quite nicely. When shooting on location where you know it will be uncomfortable for the models, your crew and everyone you really need to rent an RV. A well fed and warm crew is a happy crew ! In one of the photos you see me standing there with a stand in while the model stayed warm in the RV. Unfortunately no one took any photos of me shooting 
LOL the story of my life.
RV used for our night photo shoot
Art Directors for the photo shoot
fashion model getting her make up applied
When planning a photo shoot the art director and photographer will make a story board of each scene to be shot. In this story board you see a photo of the location, the swimsuits that the model will wear and the accessories such as jewelry. Everything is planned out days before the photo shoot so everyone knows exactly what is going to happen. You end up with a photo shoot that runs smooth with hopefully very little problems.
storyboard for night swimwear photo shoot
Then when it comes time to set up the lighting you need to have a stand in. A stand in is very helpful because you can get your light set up pretty close to perfect while the model is getting her make up changed and changing clothes.
Stand in used for setting up the lighting
Just remember the more prepared you are the smoother your photo shoot will go. The end result is a very pleased client that will call you back for another photo shoot. If you like this post and think other photographers or anyone else associated with the photography business would find this helpful please click on the share buttons 
July 27th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
superb post. love the storyboard – i’ve heared about it but never seen one. very cool.
who puts the story board together? The photographer or the stylists?
Also, is it possible to see the shots that you took at these locations that you posted where you used the stand in? It would be cool now that we’ve seen the “before”….. to see the “after” if possible.
[Reply]
Jason Christopher Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Hey Tom, thank you for the compliment. The storyboard is put together by either the art director, designer, photographer or sometimes all three. In the case of this shoot the designer put it together. I’ve already posted the photos from this shoot. This photo is at the same location just photographed at a different spot. This photo is another image from the shoot.
Now this particular set up with the stand in resulted in this photo of the model in her beautiful one piece swimsuit.
[Reply]
July 27th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Wow, not sure if it gets any better than this particular post. Talk about a
behind the scenes look into a fashion shoot and this is what you hope would see.
Curious were you responsible for co-ordinating the RV etc etc or did you simply have to focus on the photography side of things ?
I know from working with you that sometimes you hire the makeup artist, models etc. How involved were you on this particular shoot. How many models showed up for casting and how many did you end up using for the shoot ?
Cheers
Dave
[Reply]
Jason Christopher Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Hey Dave ! Thank you for the compliment.
My client took care of obtaining the RV but I have done photo shoots where I have had to secure the RV, in that case I charge an extra “production fee” because that is more work that I am responsible for. Now for this particular photo shoot my client, White Laundry, booked the make up artist and hair artist and the model. We did not do a casting. My client booked the make up and hair because we use the same artists for every shoot we have done. My client knew the model personally so the model was booked as well but still through her agency which is LA Models. NEVER NEVER NEVER book a model without going through his or her agency. An experienced model would not let that happen anyway. If you book a model without going through her agency that is the quickest way to get black listed forever.
When I photographed White Laundry’s catalog for the first time we did hold a casting. I don’t remember the exact number of girls that showed up but it was at least 100. The casting was 3 days and my job was to sit there and look at the models in the lingerie and look for any flaws the model might have. Ya it was a tough 3 days looking at almost naked models all day lol.
Cheers my friend !
[Reply]
September 11th, 2011 at 7:50 am
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