Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
A fashion shoot is built in advance: on the moodboard with images and notes, in the shoot concept with a few concrete sentences, and in the color palette with a few colors coming from the place, the clothing and the light. The images on the board are references, not to be copied, and by trying the palette side by side with the models' skin, the decision is made before the shoot.
Learning goal
You will be able to build a fashion shoot on a board and in a short text before you even pick up the camera. You will prepare a board made of other photographs, your own scouting frames, fabric swatches and colors, writing down why each image is there. You will gather in a concept of a few sentences whom the shoot will show, where, at what hour, in what light and with what feeling. You will choose a palette of a few colors coming from the place, the clothing and the light, and try that palette side by side with the models' skin. You will mind the difference between using someone else's photograph as a reference and copying it.
The question
The designer tells your friend three things about the new collection: sea, wind and muted blue. Your friend immediately pictures a bright summer beach; what the designer has in mind, though, is a cloudy pier at the end of winter, boards bleached by salt, and thick knit sweaters. The two use the same words but see different pictures. If this difference comes out on the day of the shoot, the team, the models and a whole day will go to waste. Is seeing the shoot in advance possible?
Context
At the opening of this track you talked about the consistent choices that let us recognize a brand from its frames, that is, brand visual language (Lesson F.1). In the lifestyle product shoot you also worked with the style guide, which sets out on pages on which table, in which light and with which objects the products will appear (Lesson U.5). In conceptual photography you also wrote the idea sentence, which says in a single plain sentence the thought a series carries (Lesson 26.8).
A style guide describes a brand's long-term language; this lesson's subject, though, is the picture of a single shoot, a single day. Words are weak at carrying a picture: muted blue can be two separate colors in two people's minds. That is why fashion shoots are often planned with images.
Simple explanation
How is a board built?
A moodboard is a planning board made of images gathered to show a shoot's light, colors, place, poses, and clothing and hair-and-makeup direction. It can be sheets pinned to a wall, or a digital page shared with the team. In it, other photographers' frames, paintings, your own scouting frames, fabric swatches and color chips stand side by side.
What makes a board useful are the short notes written beside the images. One frame is there for the direction of the light, another for the slope of the shoulder in a pose, another only for the color; an image with no note leads everyone on the team to understand something different. Putting your own scouting frames on the board lets the dreams born from photos of other places meet the real place: which way the pier casts its shadow in the afternoon, where the wind blows from, show on the board.
Someone else's photograph is a reference on the board, not a mold. The board is for talking within the team; it isn't published. Rebuilding a single photograph exactly, with its framing, its pose and its light, though, is taking the labor of the person who made it; from a frame on the board, only an idea, a light direction or a color is borrowed.
Why is a concept written?
A shoot concept is a short text that gathers in a few sentences whom a shoot will show, where, at what hour, in what light and with what feeling. Its difference from the idea sentence is that it describes not a thought but the concrete picture of a day: the end of winter, a cloudy afternoon, a fishing pier, two people in thick sweaters walking against the wind, a cold but calm feeling.
The board and the concept complete each other. The board shows, the concept chooses: there may be ten examples of light on the board, the concept sets one apart, the soft light of a cloudy sky. The concept also says what won't be in the shoot: bright sun, a crowded beach, summer clothes. When everyone on the team reads the same text, most of the questions to be asked on the day of the shoot are answered from the start.
How are the colors chosen?
A color palette is a set of a few colors chosen in advance to stand out in a shoot. The colors come from three sources: from the place, the bleached gray of a pier and the muted blue of the sea; from the clothing, the off-white of the sweaters and the dark red of a scarf; from the light, the cool tone of cloudy weather. When the palette is kept short, you feel the frames tie together, while a very long palette turns into a muddle rather than an order.
There is one more place where the palette is tried: the models' skin. The color of the clothing and the background stands right beside the face and shows the skin differently. A muted blue collar can make very light skin look cooler and paler, while beside dark skin it sets up a clear contrast; a warm red scarf brings some skin tones to life, and on others draws attention away from the face. Which of these is wanted is a decision. Putting a frame of each model shot in daylight beside the palette makes this decision visible before the shoot.
Visual evidence
One evening your friend and the designer sit down at a table and build a board. In its first form, bright beaches, cloudy piers and a city street stand mixed on the board; your friend suggests they write under each image what it is there for. As they write, half of them leave the board. What remains is cloudy sky light, hair flying in the wind, bleached boards and thick knits.
The next day they go to the pier, shoot scouting frames and add them to the board. The designer writes a six-line concept; its last line lists what won't be in the shoot. The palette stays at four colors: pier gray, muted sea blue, off-white and dark red.
Beside the palette they put frames of the two models shot in daylight: a light-skinned woman and a dark-skinned woman. The muted blue scarf cools the light-skinned model's face; beside the dark-skinned model it sets up a lively contrast. The designer assigns the off-white sweater and the red scarf to the light-skinned model, and the blue scarf to the dark-skinned model; this isn't a rule, but a decision made for this shoot.
Common mistakes
Common mistakePiling images on the board with no notes.
Everyone looks at the same frame and understands something different. The fix: write beside each image why it is there.
Common mistakeReshooting a photograph from the board exactly, with its framing, pose and light.
Someone else's labor has been taken. The fix: borrow only an idea, a light direction or a color from a frame.
Common mistakeTrying the palette only with the clothing and the background.
On the day of the shoot, a color shows a model's skin in an unexpected way. The fix: put frames of the models shot in daylight beside the palette.
Summary
A fashion shoot is built in advance: on the moodboard with images and notes, in the shoot concept with a few concrete sentences, and in the color palette with a few colors coming from the place, the clothing and the light. The images on the board are references, not to be copied, and by trying the palette side by side with the models' skin, the decision is made before the shoot.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will build a real or imaginary fashion shoot in advance; a wall or a free digital board is enough.
- Build a moodboard: at least eight images, at least two of them your own scouting frames, each with a note beside it saying what it is there for.
- Write a shoot concept of five to eight sentences: who, where, at what hour, in what light, what feeling, and what won't be in the shoot.
- Choose a palette of three to five colors and put it, with their agreement, side by side with frames of at least two people of different skin tones shot in daylight.
Check yourself
- Does someone looking at the board understand each image's job when they read the notes?
- Does the concept describe not a thought but a concrete day?
- How did the palette's colors look beside the people's skin, and did you make a decision based on it?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Moodboard | A planning board made of images gathered with notes to show a shoot's light, colors, place, poses and style. |
| Shoot concept | A short text that gathers in a few sentences whom a shoot will show, where, at what hour, in what light and with what feeling. |
| Color palette | A set of a few colors chosen in advance to stand out in a shoot, coming from the place, the clothing and the light. |
Mini quiz
1. What makes an image on a moodboard useful?
- A) Its high resolution
- B) Its belonging to a famous photographer
- C) A note written beside it saying why it is there
- D) Being placed right in the middle of the board
2. How does a shoot concept differ from an idea sentence?
- A) It describes not a thought but the concrete picture of a day
- B) It is shorter
- C) It lists only the colors
- D) It is written after the shoot
3. Why is a color palette kept short?
- A) Because the camera can record few colors
- B) Because a short palette makes you feel the frames tie together
- C) Because the clothes have to be a single color
- D) Because a long palette gets lost in print
4. When is a palette's effect on the models' skin seen?
- A) Only on the day of the shoot
- B) During retouching
- C) Never, skin doesn't affect the palette
- D) When frames of the models shot in daylight are put beside the palette
Answers
- C — The note makes sure everyone on the team looks at the same thing in the same image.
- A — The concept says whom it will show, where, when and in what light.
- B — As a small number of colors repeat, the frames read like a family.
- D — The decision is made before the shoot, when the colors are seen beside the faces.
Summary card
- Moodboard: images plus notes saying each one's job.
- Add scouting frames to the board; let the dream meet the real place.
- A reference is borrowed, not copied; the board isn't published.
- Shoot concept: who, where, when, what light, what feeling, what won't be there.
- A short color palette; try it side by side with the models' skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
The board, the concept and the palette are ready; the designer wants to share them with the shoot team. But who is the team? Who will choose and arrange the sweaters, who will tidy hair scattered by the wind, whom will the models look at while posing, who will hold the light on the pier? Model, stylist, makeup artist: who does what? The next lesson takes up how a good photograph in a fashion shoot is a team effort, and what each role takes on.