I think our subjects are so accustomed to point and shoots, they don't appreciate the effort it takes to set up lighting, WB, measuring ambient light and so on to prepare for the shoot. I get a little flustered during this time and would like to know the steps you take to prepare for your shoots.

The steps I take before a shoot usually spring from checklists (my production book) that I use. Those lists come out of my planning. And my planning depends on the type of shoot.

One the end, there are adhoc shoots which I do spontanuosly with pretty much no preparation. On the other end there is a photo shoot for a client in which I need to produce a valuable result. Most of my photo shoots, even my private projects, are rather on this end.

What I do is getting absolute clarity about what I am going to produce. This might require brainmelting with my client, this might require research, whatever it takes to get absolute clarity on the desired result.

The next step is to do my planning and align with everyone involved regarding their contribution and their responsibilities. Even if it just something simple like agreeing with my talent that their responsibility is to arrive absolutely on time, have a certain body shape and have their nails cared – then I still have to align with them and get their agreement upfront.

That’s where checklists and matrixes come in handy. Checklists for everything that needs to be scheduled, checklists for gear, matrixes for tasks and responsibilites, matrixes for scenes and so on.

Over here you can download the template that I use for making a production book:

http://SmokingStrobes.com/downloads/BlueprintTemplate.zip

Try using it for your next shoots and let me know how it is working for you.

Thanks to Jerry for the question