Photo production is the process of making a photo from an initial idea through casting, shooting and editing the photo.
Stages of photo production
Photo production consists of three main stages:
Preproduction (casting, selecting location)
Production (transportation, catering, accommodation)
Post-production (editing photos)
Preproduction
Production team
Depending on the complexity of the photo production, it may include a production manager, production assistants, photographer assistants, drivers, warehousemen and ironing assistants.
Production managers
The production manager organises the location/set, the equipment, the accomodation and catering, the crew hire and employment contracts. She/he also solves the day-to-day problems of the photo production and shields the photographer from unnecessary interference and interruption (especially from the owner of the studio/location or from the client). Finally, she/he makes sure the production stays within the budget and everybody gets paid, unlike in the video here:
Production assistants
They assist the production manager at every stage of the photo production to help ensure the production runs smoothly.
Photographer assistants
They prepare the set, check the equipment, set up the lighting and accessories, transport film or prints to and from laboratories, catalog digital files, scan films, keep records of the film stock, exposures, lighting set-ups
Casting
Modeling agencies suggest models corresponding to the initial concept. Sometimes street casting is necessary. The client then selects the happy few that will attend the shooting.
Locations
In photo production, photo shootings take place outside the safe environment of studios more often than in movie productions. Various outside locations are completed by series of various apartments, houses, villas or mansions under private ownership available for photo shootings (that last only a few days).
It is the responsibility of the photo production that the crew feels at home during shootings, as demonstrated in this video:
We are currently building a list of city locations for photo shoots. We have currently added only Basel, Chamonix, Geneva, Lausanne, Milan, Paris, Zermatt and Zurich... please visit this page again soon for more cities :-)
Production
The equipment and the team have to be transported to the shooting location, catered to and accommodated.
Post-production
Photos are edited by specialists to remove any spot and add special effects.
A good example of the later stages of photo production is the "Dove Evolution" video:
