Photo courtesy Pictor Photo Archive
Once you have finished your photoshoot, you are done, right? No, the last step, and often the most rewarding, is to review the results of the photoshoot. Ideally, this should be done as soon as possible after the photoshoot while things are still fresh in you head.
Back in the days of film, the photographer would show you proof sheets which would have a whole roll on one 8×10 sheet of paper. If the photographer shot on slide film, you would review the mounted slide on a light table. Sometimes I would put the slides in carousals and project them on a wall. I would only use the projector when we had lots of awesome shots.
Today in the digital era, you will most often review the shots on a computer monitor. The photographer can set up a “slide show” using computer software in the computer. For instance, on Macintosh the is a slide show feature built into the Operating System.
Why Review All The Pictures?
The photographer should show you all the results from the photoshoot, even the bad ones. That way you can see what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. Try to see which poses worked best for you with some wardrobe outfit, and which facial expression worked best with that pose. Also look for things that you don’t want to do. Reviewing the good and bad is the best way to learn and improve.
Here is an analogy. A friend of mine is a screenwriter. He said that he learned more about screenwriting by reading bad scripts when he worked as a script reader, than he learned during four year in film school at UCLA.
The photographer might delete a few shots that are unusable because of “camera-operator error” like shots out-of-focus or severly under-exposed. But in normal circumstances this should only amount to a handful of shots. It is important to see even the bad poses and facial expression so that you know what not to do on the next photoshoot.
Will Photographers Let Me See Every Shot?
Some photographers don’t want to show everything. This is especially the case with newer photographers who lack confidence in their work. They might only want the model to see a shot after it has gone through hours of Photoshop work and made “presentable”.
And there are some photographers who say they are afraid the model will pick one of the “bad” shots if they are allowed to see everything. The only thing I will say about that is that I have often seen photographers reject the best shots and keep rather mediocre shots. In my experience, models often have better taste then most photographers. (Maybe I will write an article about that delicate subject.)
Don’t let them shortchange you. Tell the photographer when you are scheduling a booking that you would like to look at all the shots to help improve your craft. Most photographers will be willing to help you improve.
