The forest is one of the most beautiful and mysterious places on our planet. This is a great place to organize a photo shoot due to the abundance of colors and the amazing contrast of green trees and blue sky. Shooting in an autumn forest filled with colorful leaves can look especially attractive. A photo shoot in the forest demonstrates the unity of man and nature. It also provides the photographer with enormous scope for creativity in coming up with a variety of images for the model - from fantasy to romantic. Shooting in the forest, of course, has its own characteristics that are worth remembering.

Preparing for a photo shoot

Organizing a photo shoot in a forest or park requires some preparation. When going outdoors with photographic equipment, do not forget to charge the camera battery to full; just in case, take an extra battery pack and memory card with you. As for optics, a photo shoot in the forest involves the use of a classic portrait lens with a focal length ranging from 85 to 100 mm. This lens will allow you to photograph the model from a comfortable distance of 3 – 3.5 meters, leaving enough free space in the frame. At the same time, the classic portrait lens eliminates the unpleasant facial distortions that are typical for wide-angle optics. If necessary, you can also take a zoom lens with you to be able to take close-up photographs, as well as capture beautiful forest landscapes.

On a bright sunny day, be sure to bring a sun hood to prevent unwanted glare from appearing in the frame. You can also take a reflector with you. And if you decide to shoot in cloudy weather or fog, when there is not enough light, then you will need to take care of a tripod and an external flash.

Of course, the fair sex looks most harmonious and attractive in the forest. Photos with girls in the forest invariably turn out lively and emotional. But at the same time, you definitely need to think through the plot and image for the model that you would like to use. The choice of clothing and accessories for the model largely depends on this. By the way, when going to the forest, it is still advisable to wear something comfortable and light. This applies to both the photographer and the model. Since you will have to move on foliage or ground, you should prefer more practical shoes that do not impede movement.

Shooting location

In a forest or public park, you need to find a suitable place for a photo shoot. Spend your free time exploring a possible shooting location, exploring the forest or shady alleys of the park, and observing the lighting characteristics at different times. Determine several possible shooting locations and the most advantageous angles. Let’s say right away that filming is rarely carried out in dense forests. Some forest clearings, a stream, a picturesque stump, or isolated trees like young spruce trees or reddish aspen are better suited for this purpose.

In autumn, you can place the model on a yellow-red carpet next to a birch or maple tree. These kinds of stories turn out to be bright and very attractive. As with landscapes, the best time to shoot will be in the early hours or at dusk. In the autumn forest, you can try shooting in capricious cloudy weather, when raindrops can give your pictures completely new emotions and some kind of zest. Shooting in cloudy weather allows you to avoid harsh shadows on the subject's face, but keep in mind that in such conditions the frames may not turn out too bright.

Model's image and poses for a photo shoot

As we have already noted, when conducting a photo shoot in the forest, it is very important to choose the right image for the model, complementing it with appropriate clothing and accessories. One of the advantages of shooting in the forest is that the image can be very diverse - it all depends on your imagination. Without prying eyes, surrounded by nature, which always gives a person a positive mood, the model can fully reveal itself from completely different sides. For example, a romantic image of a model in an autumn forest can look very attractive.

Of course, you can simply photograph the model in her usual image against the backdrop of nature, but it is best to get a little creative and come up with a more interesting story. Perhaps one of the most common and popular images for shooting a model in the forest is the image of a beautiful forest nymph. To create it, just dress the model in a light dress or sundress and decorate her head with a wreath woven from forest flowers. An interesting idea for a female model could also be the image of a witch in the forest. Agree that every woman has something demonic, therefore, with a little imagination, you can create a mysterious and mystical female image.

Make good use of natural light

One of the main difficulties when shooting in the forest is the specific nature of natural lighting. The thing is that leaves and trees cause quite serious differences in illumination in the frame. It’s also not uncommon for a model’s photo to show “panther-colored” skin due to the fact that sunlight penetrates through the foliage of trees. In some cases, you may simply not have enough lighting. Then you will have to raise the ISO sensitivity a little or use the flash.

It is recommended to shoot in the forest with a SLR camera or a system device with the ability to use interchangeable optics, in particular high-aperture ones. However, due to the small size of the sensor and insufficient light sensitivity, ordinary compact cameras often cannot cope with the peculiarities of natural light. But even if you have a SLR camera in your hands, this does not eliminate the risk of taking pictures in which, for example, one area of the image may turn out normal, another too dark, and a third slightly overexposed. Such problems can be solved experimentally with the help of more competent selection of exposure, choosing the right angle and using a flash. You can also consider using the HDR mode.

On a sunny day, it is recommended to place the model in the shade of a tree. The foliage will retain a significant part of the light flux, as a result of which the person will be illuminated with pleasant diffused light from the side. You will get very good shots. However, do not place the model too close to the tree - the shadows may appear too strong, and the person’s face may turn green from the leaves. If you are shooting in an open forest clearing or edge on a bright, sunny day, it is recommended to use an external light source or reflector.

A great move when shooting a portrait in the forest is to use two off-camera flashes. One is placed behind the model being photographed, and the second is placed in front and slightly at an angle. The result is uniform illumination, providing excellent detail elaboration.

When shooting in the forest, take as many shots as possible, because it is unknown which photo will turn out to be the most interesting and attractive. The key to successful photography in the forest is a positive mood, creating a suitable image, complemented by various accessories, and proper use of natural lighting. There is no need for tons of cosmetics for the model, as in the studio. You just need to emphasize the natural beauty of the model surrounded by pristine nature.

Don’t forget that photography in the forest is not only about taking pictures, but also an opportunity to communicate with nature, a way to have a good and fun free time. Since you have already gone to the forest, you will certainly enjoy a leisurely walk or a rapid run along the beautiful forest edges; relax here with your soul and body. And the pictures taken during a photo shoot in the forest will become an additional reminder of this wonderful walk and your communication with nature.

Advantages of the autumn season for a photographer:

The night is longer, which means the dawn is later. Therefore, in the fall, you don’t need to wake up at 4 am to take a series of morning photos (of course, you know that the most fantastic photos are taken at sunrise?).
The gap between daytime and nighttime temperatures is getting larger. Because of this, fog is increasingly falling on fields and forests - an excellent subject for spectacular photography.

The photographer’s small enemies – mosquitoes, midges and others – have disappeared. Agree, these harmful insects are very annoying when shooting in the summer: they bite, crawl into your eyes and ears, land on the lens and spoil the frame. How can you keep the camera still? Fortunately, in the fall the photographer was freed from this misfortune.
And most importantly, the trees and grass turned golden! We take the camera in our hands and run to the nearest forest belt or park before the foliage falls and fades. But first, let’s replenish our knowledge about shooting in the forest.

How does photography of a forest differ from “live” perception?

Have you noticed an annoying feature? You wander through the forest and can’t stop admiring it – how beautiful it is! You carefully photograph this beauty from different angles. You bring the pictures home, open them, and there... They're no good, just rubbish. Good shots - the cat cried.

In real life, the forest seemed amazing, three-dimensional. And in the photo there is something motley, flat and uninteresting. All the beauty seemed to have disappeared. What kind of attack is this? Let's conduct an experiment. Look around you: you see a three-dimensional, natural image. The distance to any object is perfectly traceable. Now close one eye. What changed? The view instantly became flat, like the forest in the photograph. So is the camera. After all, he has only one “eye” - the lens.

To make a landscape photo three-dimensional, you have to work hard. Your best assistants in this matter are back and side light, separation of foreground and background, play of light and shadow. The color and lighting of objects in the foreground and background must be different, and it is better to choose a small number of objects in the frame. It is especially difficult to shoot in a dense forest: many objects overlap each other at the same time. It is rare to make a photograph like this three-dimensional.

A photo session in the forest is a fairly popular type of filming, which can be chosen both as a wedding photoset, and simply to create pictures for a family album. This is understandable, because the forest is an endless source of inspiration at any time of the year. However, in order for the shooting to be truly memorable, you need bright and unconventional ideas.

Romantic shooting

Romantic photo sessions in the forests will allow you not only to capture your relationship, but also to have fun together. An experienced photographer will undoubtedly be able to offer a lot of different ideas. But you yourself should also prepare for the process by thinking through your participation in the filming.

Since in this case a couple’s shooting is assumed, most often professionals offer a “love story” photo session. This type of filming appeared relatively recently and quickly gained popularity. Its advantage is that based on the results of one shooting day, you can fill an entire album or even create a wedding film.

Basic subjects for such photographs:

riding bicycles together along the clearings - photos can be taken both with the bike standing and during the ride
horse riding is a more expensive subject, since you will have to fork out money to hire animals, but what can you do to please your loved one?
joint picnic - choose a checkered blanket and a beautiful landscape, prepare some simple food, sit down in a cozy clearing - and you can take pictures
just a walk - wandering in a thicket or along well-groomed paths - is a great way to capture the feelings of lovers in a fairy-tale forest, but the main thing is that such shooting does not require special preparation - a minimum of makeup, the relaxed behavior of the couple looks much livelier and more interesting than simulated poses
sports photo shoots – today a healthy lifestyle is becoming fashionable, so you can go for a run outside and film the process for the benefit of your body
The bank of a river or lake is an excellent location for filming; the heroes of the photo can temporarily become mermaids and other mysterious creatures
a car in a thicket - you can take quite interesting single or paired shots, the classic option is to sit on the hood and watch the sunset or sunrise, a more complex solution is to stylize the car as an abandoned one, and shoot in the style of a post-apocalypse, however, this will only work with a very old car

For everyday filming in forest conditions, you will need sports fashion items or just comfortable clothes. Otherwise, photo shoots in the forests turn into torture and quickly get boring for the subjects of the shoot. All this negatively affects the results.

Wedding photosets

A wedding photo shoot can also be held in the forest. Classic scenes - shooting near a birch grove, in clearings, clearings or forest edges. It is better to go to the deciduous forest in summer or autumn. In winter, a photo shoot in a coniferous forest looks much more interesting.

Basic subjects for wedding photos in the forest:

shooting in a birch grove - classic photographs are taken near the forked trunks of a birch tree, when a guy and a girl are placed between them; It is worth noting that such photographs look best in the fall, when the leaves of the trees turn golden, and a blond woman looks best against their background
shooting at the edge of the forest – it’s good if you can take a photo against the backdrop of a hut or small house, such pictures have a special warmth
shooting in the thicket - the bride’s outfit should be as simple as possible, the groom’s suit should be in a casual style, you can film a walk or even imitate some kind of Slavic ritual, a girl can put a wreath of flowers on her head, but lush outfits and formal tuxedos in this case will be inappropriate

Gothic in spring

A photo shoot in the forest in March is a separate topic for discussion. At this time, nature usually doesn’t even begin to awaken: there are no leaves or flowers (at most snowdrops), and the snow is almost gone. Rain is also common at this time of year, which makes almost all subjects inappropriate. One of the main proposals in this case is a gothic photo shoot. Rain, dark skies, and cloudy weather will be the theme here. Usually this type of filming is preferred by very young girls and boys. Teenagers see goth culture as an important part of their lives, and March is the time to take great photos.

When preparing for a photo shoot you should:

find suitable dry trees, stumps, dilapidated buildings
prepare appropriate clothes - black vinyl, a long black or burgundy dress will suit a girl, a man's leather raincoat and a formal shirt or an antique suit will suit a guy
prepare accessories - old books, boxes and similar attributes
attract animals or birds - this is possible if you can find trainers with tame pets in the city, and if there is a tame raven, owl or other bird, teenagers will be delighted with the photographs
take care of appropriate makeup in a gothic style - dark eyeliner, a light complexion, black or red lipstick will complement the look

The best thing to do for Gothic photography is to choose a plot - look through Gothic novels, watch vampire films, and you will probably find a source of inspiration. It is also recommended to wait for cloudy weather (or at least a lot of clouds).

Filming for your family

Joint filming obliges all family members to conform to the overall image. You can simply go out into nature and invite a photographer with you. Let him film your walk and a joint picnic in a clearing under the sun - this will be enough for a lot of great impressions. If the children are girls, then mom can weave a wreath with them; with boys, dad can do masculine activities - chopping wood and making a fire. For children of different sexes, parents can read books.

Take pictures with your pets - cats, dogs, rabbits - such photos also look great. A beautiful landscape and playing with a dog always become a source of inspiration for a photographer. And the presence of a four-legged friend relaxes the participants in the shooting.

When photographing a child, the photographer must always be on guard. It’s difficult to get a baby to pose, and the best shots are taken during family fun, when the child stops thinking about being photographed. It will be easier to work with teenagers.

Another option for such a photoset is pregnant women. For pregnant ladies, light natural vestments are most suitable, which will favorably emphasize the rounded silhouette. Most often, pregnant women choose a Slavic theme for outdoor filming - they film in tall grass, on the banks of lakes or streams, and wear wreaths.

Become the heroes of your favorite stories

A fairytale photo shoot in the forest is another popular subject. Usually, for filming in the forest, ideas are taken from classical works:

Little Red Riding Hood - a woman simply dresses up in a red cape and walks around, and if a couple is being photographed, then a wolf or a woodcutter can be used as a male role - whatever the imagination of the photographer is enough for
Hansel and Gretel is a subject for photographing couples, it is noteworthy that children can also be photographed in this way - any child will be interested in feeling like a hero of their favorite book, and besides, children’s photographs look the most touching; True, for high-quality shots you need to try to liberate the children, but this is already the task of the photographer
Snow White - for filming you will need a beautiful dress, apples, appropriate makeup, and the brightest pictures are those taken in a fairy-tale winter forest

By the campfire with a guitar under the night sky

Young people usually enjoy photo shoots with a guitar and singing around the fire. For such filming you need a very experienced person who has professional photographic equipment. In this case, there is no need to come up with plots - a simple story of cooking porridge in a pot, cooking barbecue, sitting around a fire with a guitar, evening conversations between friends looks quite organic.

By the way, a campfire makes for great portrait shots. Reflections of fire on the face and in the eyes, curls of smoke - this is the dream of any photographer specializing in portrait photography. The main thing is that the people participating in the shooting share the love of outdoor gatherings - then the shots will be more natural. By the way, do not forget to purchase repellents - people irritated by mosquito bites are unlikely to be able to provide good material for portrait photography.

Ideas for photo shoots in the forest can be very different. Focus on the time of year - if you want bright sun, ethnic style and bright shots - come to the forest in summer or late spring. March, November or even winter are more suitable for Gothic filming, and a professional can suggest interesting poses.

Choose a location for shooting in advance - it is important to know exactly where to go. Make your suggestions to the photographer or ask him to first walk through the area and choose the most suitable forest landscape.

Proper preparation and a creative approach to choosing subjects are the key to great photographs. Perhaps ideas for photo shoots in the forests will come to you naturally after a short walk through the thicket with a camera. A photo shoot in the forest will give you pleasant memories and great photographs if you open up and are not shy about the photographer.

It's not very often that you get to visit such an amazing place. Silence, peace, tranquility... These are not all the words that can be used to describe the state that engulfs the village of Gruzdevo, where I recently went to film with my brother Artem Kashkanov. Once upon a time, we were here before. Then, just riding our bikes, we came to this place quite by accident. I didn’t have cameras with me yet (this was about fifteen years ago). We just looked at the marvelous landscape and went home. But now the shooting was clearly a success.

At all, shooting in the forest- it’s not an easy task. If the weather is cloudy, it becomes gloomy among the trees, you have to either widen the aperture or lengthen the shutter speed (article), or even increase the ISO, which, you know, leads to the appearance of digital noise in the matrix.

True, when shooting in a forest, digital noise is not as noticeable as, for example, when shooting open areas of the sky. Therefore, some increase in sensitivity is quite possible. Large matrices (in terms of physical size) are very helpful here. They are known to behave quite decently even at relatively high ISO values and make very little noise. Probably to maintain tradition :)

Even in the forest, a lens with a high value will not hurt. You know, the aperture ratio is indicated on the camera lens. For example, f/3.5-f/5.6. The lower these numbers are, the better. True, a fast lens is more expensive, but there are situations when only it saves the situation. For example, when shooting in a cave. The Twilight Forest is also no exception.

But if you think that it is much easier to photograph in the forest in sunny weather, then I will have to disappoint you. Yes, the overall illumination is significantly increased. But when sunlight breaks through the treetops, it “snatches” individual fragments from the overall dark picture, making them very bright against a very dark background.

The dilemma begins. Or overexpose the grass so that the bark on dark trees is visible, or make the trees completely black, but the grass illuminated by the sun will not be white, but still green. Of course, you can do this if you have a camera with manual settings in your hands. With very simple cameras there are usually much more problems.

The situation can be saved in two ways. Or shoot in HDR, and then merge the resulting images. So we kind of expand the dynamic range of the matrix and get green grass and trees with visible bark:

Even better results are achieved when shooting photos in RAW and subsequent processing on a computer, for example, in a program Adobe Lightroom:

This image after processing is much more similar to the real image that we saw when shooting than the previous one and, especially, the very first one.

Close one eye!

There is one more important recommendation for those who decide to photograph beautiful autumn landscapes in the forest. Very often, while walking through the forest, we shoot left and right, because the pictures that open up in front of us really look great. So, having shot a huge number of frames, we come home in the hope of enjoying our masterpieces.

What a disappointment it can be when in photographs we see not those beautiful views that we admired during a forest walk, but some kind of pile-up of a mass of trunks and leaves, even if they are very beautiful and yellow.

The thing is that we have two eyes, but the camera has only one lens. Why do we need two eyes? Correctly, to feel the volume of the image in front of you. Close one eye and you will see what appears in your photo. At the same time, it is advisable not to move, so as not to feel the volume of space due to the mutual movement of objects in the foreground and background.

There is only one way out here. We must try to choose for shooting in the forest not the thicket itself, but still more or less open spaces, as far as possible. Photos at the edge of the forest look good:

It’s a good idea to use a contrast effect to separate plans. If a light object is placed against a dark background (or vice versa), then they will definitely not merge in the photo. It’s also a good idea to play with the aperture value and try to blur the background, drawing the viewer’s attention to the object in the foreground:

In a word, when shooting in the forest, if you want to get more or less decent photos, just close one eye while looking at the scene you like. I think until you have a trained eye, in 90% of cases you will immediately want to waste a frame.

And now I invite you to look at the photographs that I managed to take in the autumn forest on the banks of the quiet forest river Suvoroshch. If you find yourself in those parts, you can see it all with your own eyes.

Publication date: 03.01.2017

CAMERA. I shoot with a Nikon D4 camera. And it is she who protects me from many troubles in the cold. D4 is a frost-resistant model with moisture protection, tolerant of temperature changes. But, despite this, the camera matrix (which, in general, does not care about the cold) can be attacked by snow during lens replacement (from the photographer’s gloves, from the sky or trees, from naughty fashion models).

Therefore always:

Find opportunities to change lenses as few times as possible. The ideal option is to put the required lens on each camera at home. The same applies to flash drives, batteries and batteries. I plan my shooting in advance so that my two favorite lenses - Nikon AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G and Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED - change as rarely as possible. Of course, I want to shoot both like this and like that, but I’m holding back: winter is not the best time to “play with pieces of glass.” Carefully store the shots that come to your mind while shooting with another lens on a shelf in your head and take them out only when you “change your shoes” to another glass.

Before changing lenses, place the camera in the case, making sure there is no snow on you. Protect the case from the wind with your body.

Perform all operations to replace anything only without gloves and with non-frozen hands.

The most important factors of winter photography are:

SUN. Winter shooting, if you wait for clear weather, will give you an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the low position of our luminary in the sky. It does not create shadows under the eyes. It can be used not only as fill and key light, but also as backlight. Often it can be included in the frame, making it another element of the image. To soften shadows and highlight faces in the winter, I like to use the gold side of the reflector. I usually set the white balance manually to 3700 Kelvin, which gives a bluish tint to the entire background and the natural complexion of the models.

NIKON D4 / 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F22, 1/80 s, 16.0 mm equiv.

NIKON D4 / 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F2.8, 1/160 s, 24.0 mm equiv.

SNOW. He might just be Jacklondon's White Silence, of course, but it would be better if you got him to help you tell your story. It can hang motionlessly around the main characters like tiny dust, softly creep into the frame, emphasize the direction and dynamics of movement, create volume and depth of the frame.

STEAM. A popular Hollywood cliche: if the hero and heroine are having a conversation on the street at night, then, regardless of the time of year, steam comes out of their mouths, which is necessarily backlit with something, even if in the background there are only blacks unloading a train with coal. I think I agree with the Hollywood cameramen - it’s at least beautiful. I’m not going to “stamp” you, but I highly recommend having such an expressive technique in your piggy bank.

NIKON D4 / 85.0 mm f/1.4 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F2.2, 1/4000 s, 85.0 mm equiv.

By the way, steam can come not only from the breath of the main characters, but also rise, for example, from a cup of hot tea. Steam from a car exhaust pipe also looks very romantic.

A little life hack. It often happens that there is steam, but it is not enough, or it quickly disappears, for example, due to the wind. A vapor-like cloud can be produced by deodorants. Electronic cigarettes are well suited for this (I won’t recommend regular ones for two reasons: first, smoking kills, second, cigarette smoke is clearly recognizable in most photos, because it’s still smoke, with a characteristic texture and color). Just think right away about how to disguise the source of such a “special effect.”

COLD. Yes, this is also an important factor in shooting. I wanted to start with it, but I decided that after the ominous hints about treacherous dolphins, I needed to ease the pressure on the reader a little, otherwise, perhaps, he might get upset and close this article. But now it’s time to tell you the terrible truth: more than half of the shooting opportunities during a winter photo shoot are not realized due to the cold.

NIKON D4 / 85.0 mm f/1.4 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F3.5, 1/8000 s, 85.0 mm equiv.

Its victims usually are:

HANDS. Especially the photographer's fingers. What kind of creativity can we talk about if your fingers are uncomfortable? Oh yes, you will steadfastly endure all the hardships and hardships, I have no doubt, but you will spend significantly more time setting up the camera. And very soon the burning questions - whether or not to change the lens, focal length, other shooting parameters, suggest a pose for the poser with a movement - will be decided in favor of “leaving everything as is.” Then another brilliant solution pops up - “we’ll fix it in Photoshop.” And that's it, you can go home. On social networks, this is usually followed by a selfie from the phone and the message “we’ll soon post the results of the photo shoot in the snow, it was super positive,” but... (see above). Therefore, protect your hands with warm gloves that will make it comfortable for you to use the equipment. Warm and deep pockets on clothing are required: the equipment hangs on the body while being carried and does not require hands. Chemical heating pads are a great help for fishermen and hunters.

OPTICS. Its cold often attacks with the help of fogging (it is enough to bring a well-cooled lens into a warm room), and the optics of a too relaxed victim also with frost (this is if you take the fogged lens back out into the cold). Frost can also insidiously attack the viewfinder, which will be caught by the photographer’s breath. It’s not that critical, especially in conditions of clear autofocus operation, but the pleasure from work will be significantly reduced, so do not talk with the camera slightly removed from your face. Besides, it's impolite.

Since I use a Nikon camera, I remember that the cold itself will not cause any significant damage to it. But do not rush at every opportunity to squeeze closer into the heated change house and hold out the precious “carcass” in the fire. Putting a case with equipment on a battery is also a bad idea. It is the changes from cold to warmth that are dangerous, not the cold itself. Equipment placed in a good, tight case will cool down or warm up properly on its own.

NIKON D4 / 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F3.5, 1/8000 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

PHOTOMODELS. These are favorite victims of the cold. I have a feeling that about half of my models are foreigners from some hot country who thought that the Russian winter is like in Italy, only with snow, which is like poplar fluff, but better because it doesn’t make you sneeze. And then during the shoot they find out that, it turns out, shoes and jeans are not suitable for such conditions. Don't be afraid to seem boring. Say, repeat, remind and double-check - you need to dress very, very warmly. They will have to change clothes, freeze, turn to the wind, be sprinkled with snow, roll around in it, and so on. After all, we are talking about a photo shoot, and not just a couple of shots of “me and the forest in the background.” In general, almost everything they do will lead to increased heat loss, which will have to be restored.

NIKON D4 / Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50 ZF.2 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F14, 1/1600 s, 50.0 mm eq.

I really love it when models move. The more movement, the more interesting and dynamic shots. Even if something doesn't work out, it's still fun and usually warms you up. I prefer to move models without pressure. Without knowing a person well, it is not possible for us to guess his motor skills, the nuances of facial expressions and gestures. Let him move, only giving a little hint about what you think turns out particularly well, and expressing admiration for the shots taken. Let the person relax, don’t look at him with the eyes of a member of the admissions committee at an acting school. If he is in front of you, it means you have already agreed to work with him.

NIKON D4 / 85.0 mm f/1.4 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F2, 1/4000 s, 85.0 mm equiv.

Sometimes, to encourage the models, I show them a couple of good shots. They will believe in themselves and understand what I am trying to capture. But I strongly advise against showing every frame. This takes a lot of time. And it’s not a fact that all the frames will eventually turn out and you can then print what was announced.

Think about the photo shoot, its idea, and style in advance. The times when a photographer was called to shoot just because he had a camera (and there was some hope that he knew how to use it) are long gone. A photographer is a stylist, ideological inspirer, director, lighting designer and much more. A good camera allows you to trust the technology as much as possible and pay more attention to what is happening on the set. So give it your time! Don't just work as a shutter speed and aperture adjuster, but create. As usual, but taking into account the above “winter” factors.

In winter, pre-thought-out mise-en-scenes are especially important. I repeat, usually climatic conditions are not conducive to long creative searches in the open air, and you should at least imagine the approximate direction and dynamics. “We will come to the forest and take pictures” is not a plan. For me, the ideal plan for a winter photo shoot consists of several parts, and there is always the opportunity to let the models and myself warm up a little in the cars with a cup of hot tea.

NIKON D4 / 85.0 mm f/1.4 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F2, 1/3200 s, 85.0 mm equiv.

NIKON D4 / 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 3200, F22, 1/500 s, 14.0 mm equiv.