Do you have any guesses of what the single most important thing during a Family Portrait Session is to ensure it turns out beautifully? Would you guess it’s the outfits? What about the location? Or maybe it’s the posing? While all of these things are essential for a good photoshoot, they aren’t what I consider to be the most important thing for an incredible photoshoot.
If there is one thing I could pick out as a photographer as being the single key to making or breaking a photoshoot, it would be LIGHTING. The perfect lighting during a photoshoot is everything for a photographer and is always what should be the focus when scheduling a photoshoot time, date, and location.
With that said, here is some essential information to help you know how to schedule a photoshoot to ensure you have the best lighting possible for your shoot. Your photographer should already know these important details when scheduling a shoot, but with you knowing these things too, you can work together to schedule the perfect time for a photoshoot.
SCHEDULE MORNING OR EVENING SHOOTS
You should never be doing a photoshoot in the midday. The lighting is too bright and too harsh during that time of day. It will cast weird shadows on your faces and you will likely be squinting in all your pictures. Just trust me, avoid midday photoshoots. Early mornings as the sun is rising or about 1-2 hours before sunset are ideal lighting times to give you that dreamy, dewy, soft lighting that will make your portraits glow.
CONSIDER YOUR SEASONS
The time of year your schedule your photoshoot will determine when you should shoot. The sunset changes with the seasons, meaning the sun sets much earlier in the wintertime versus during the summer. Even each month the sunset will change so you have to be aware of the sunrise and sunset times during the month you are planning your shoot. Check google weather apps and they will tell you the exact times the sun rises and sets and you can plan your shoot accordingly.
CHECK THE WEATHER
Weather is a huge factor in determining the lighting of your shoot because of clouds. I am not saying you have to schedule your shoot on a perfectly sunny day, because oftentimes clouds can be a great asset to photographers because they can help cast soft, gorgeous lighting. But if you are doing a shoot on a cloudy day, you should plan on shooting later in the morning or earlier in the evening as you will need more light that those clouds may be covering.
I cannot emphasize enough how important lighting is for a photoshoot and it should be your top priority when preparing for a shoot. So plan on sacrificing some morning sleep to get a beautiful sunrise shoot, plan your shoot with the seasonal lighting in mind, and check the weather to time your shoot accordingly. These three steps when booking your photoshoot will ensure that you have an amazing photoshoot with the perfect lighting.
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