Kat’s advice for shooting portraits on location

Once your mood board is ready, you know who is on your team, and all of you know where you are heading for a photoshoot, the next step would be to take photographs. If I am shooting an editorial on a location, I need to get a variety of close-up, portrait and full-body shots. My favourites are always portraits, but I am also obsessed with the close-ups and full-body photographs.

When I put photographs in an editorial, I want the person who is going to view it to read it as a story. For example, I would start with the portrait where the model is looking into the camera, then zooming in and photographing her make-up. I’ll follow with a full-body shot where she is static or walking towards me, and then have another shot of her feet and footwear being static, for example if I am shooting for a footwear brand. When I am happy with those four compositions, my team and I will then move onto the next look.

My advice would be to always carry a portable pop-up changing tent with you. It makes my life easier: I don’t need to look for places for the model to change, and she feels comfortable. And we don’t need to come back to the car all the time!