Whenever you’re preparing for a shoot, sketching out your images should be part of your pre-planning process. Sketches don’t have to be a perfect storyboard. But it must have enough detail to guide a creative vision.
When you take the time to think about the elements of your photo, you’ll quickly transform your photography from the simple act of taking a photo to creating a photo with an artistic vision. It helps speed up the process when it’s time to pick up that camera. It will also help you quickly develop your skills. Here’s why.
Outline your image to help define your vision
Even if you’re a wildlife photographer, taking some time to think about what you want to do that day before taking a hike into the wild will allow you to find the right photos. it quickly and efficiently. It doesn’t need to be a complicated storyboard. The vision can be as simple as drawing some sketches with different composition rules and a big X where you want the wildlife in the frame. You can take it a step further and think about where you want your subject to be in relation to the sun.
For those working with a lot of props, heroes and artificial lighting, we also have the added benefit of being able to add some color to create a color harmony. I find this especially beneficial in food photography, where the color of the props has a significant impact on the hero’s appetite.
Sketch Saves time on setup
It doesn’t matter if you’re working on a personal project or if you have a full team of people on a complex film, having a solid idea of how the scene will look will save a lot of time. My sketches serve as the basis for my shoots. The sketch tells me what should be on my equipment list. They let me know what should be on my support list. They tell me who needs to be where and when. And they let the assistants and everyone else on set know how things need to be set up.
When I do my sketches, I not only draw an idea of where I want everything to be in the frame, but I also add from the incoming light source, the shooting angle, the shooting direction, the position of the gobos. and reflectors, lenses and anything else needed on set. This saves a lot of time not only setting up but also changing the scene.
Sketching your photos allows you to solve problems
The act of sketching allows your brain to actively solve the problem and also to solve the problem passively. Maybe your vision includes an element of phased difficulty. While sketching, you should also actively figure out how to make difficult shots. There’s nothing worse than starting to shoot and not having an idea of the mechanics of that shot. If you’re collaborating with a stylist, you need to sort out the mechanics. You can’t figure this out as you go.
It also allows you to run some tests and tests before shooting to make sure your vision can be captured within the confines of the footage. All shoots are limited. Because you spent time actively solving problems with experimentation, your brain got an idea of what could go wrong and started figuring out how it would solve those problems if they did. out on the set.
Sketch allows you to easily rotate
The sketch acts as a blueprint for your vision as an artist. Unlike blueprints for a building, things won’t fall apart if you don’t follow them correctly. When you sketch, you have a clear understanding of everything you want to accomplish with an image, including emotional things that you cannot capture with a sketch.
With my food photography, my images always have a certain mood that I can’t transfer to my sketches, but I know what it is in every fiber of my being when I’m done with the sketching process. beautiful. Because of this inner feeling that I got while preparing, there was a big hit when I didn’t realize the moment the shutter went off and the image appeared on the screen.
Because I had everything I needed to make my dreams come true, it took moments to rotate, reset, and capture that vision. I don’t need to start from the square without having an idea of what we are there to accomplish.
Sketches help create your signature style
I have worked, taught and continue to teach a number of photographers. “Find your style” is What stresses photographers out the most. It’s an elegant thing to say, “found our style.” I feel like I’m in the minority in that I know my style before I even pick up the camera. I have a high sense of taste and know what I like and don’t like. And that aesthetic doesn’t change, even as I level up my skills.
Once you know what you like, you can add those elements to your sketch and then figure out how to make it yours. My photography style is not new. It was heavily influenced by Classical paintings, especially the Baroque and Romantic periods. It is also influenced by my earlier days as an oil painter. Many also shoot in a style that could be described as “painting”.
My twist is introduced with the palette. I have three brand colors with three variations of each. In many of my images, there is an object that is one of my brand colors or a close variation of one of my colors. It is not always a prop to introduce color. When it is the hero of the image, then the rest is about light and style. And when it’s not possible to include those in images, the third thing that helps define my signature style are the default edits I always do in Lightroom. Sketch helps ensure my signature elements are in every image I create.
When you sketch, you pay attention to the smallest elements. In no time, you will level up your skills exponentially.
Hopefully you have a new appreciation for sketching as an integral part of being a illustrator. What prevents you from sketching? What do you like about sketching?
