How to plan a Bohemian Chic Photoshoot

Posted by Gisela Cardenas on June 06, 2021

How to plan a Bohemian photoshoot

This past Sunday we conducted our spring / summer seasonal boho photo shoot, we gathered some of our VIP customers and special friends. We had such a great time!

Bohemian photo shoots are a lot of fun and they can be a great addition to your portfolio or content. At first, we thought this style was easy to capture, but it takes more planning than street fashion or an improvised photo shoot

Here are our tips and tricks for pulling off a Bohemian photoshoot

⇢ Concept: The first step of conducting a photo shoot is coming up with a concept. It's always best to be clear and upfront about your goals for your shoot.

For us, our concept was a Boho Picnic theme and our goal was to create images that will be used for our website, marketing campaigns and social media content; promoting our new Boho maxi dresses and Thai Harem pants collection.

Set up a mood board or create a Pinterest page with images that relate to your concept. These images will help inform the look, styling and mood of your photography session. Don't forget to share the mood board with your team!

⇢ Location: Head to a fun natural location (fields are pretty amazing!) For our location we found the rose garden area on Queen Elizabeth Park, located in Vancouver, BC. This park is a major draw for floral display enthusiasts and view-seekers, and as a popular backdrop for all kind of photos. The gorgeous flowers and trees were the perfect background for our images. If your budget allows, find a cool location that can provide many settings with indoor and outdoor options.

Keep in mind the lightening. What type of light source will there be on that day of the shoot? Is there natural lighting or will you need artificial light? ... don't forget to check the weather too! especially if you live in Vancouver ☔️

Find locations that have character and that add flair to your photos. In a bohemian case, this means vintage - rattan furniture, plants, boho decor, accessories and curated places.

If you are in the Vancouver area and would like to visit Queen Elizabeth Park, head over to their page:

https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/queen-elizabeth-park.aspx

⇢ Find your team: Selecting the right model to place in front of the camera is one of the most important decision you can make. Here are some suggestions to help you select the best model for your shoot:

Do you have any friends or family members who might be a fit for your shoot? if so, reach out and invite them to participate! Be sure to be upfront with them about usage, terms and time requirement of the shoot. If your shoot requires models with experience, trying reaching out to modelling agencies or go to the internet and try finding collaborators (models, makeup artists, photographers) also research for local Facebook groups for collaborative shoots as well as websites like Model Mayhem. Those are great places to start

Always get a signed model release form from your model, whether they’re friends, family, or professionals.
I make it a habit to have my models sign a model release and make sure to let them know this well before the shoot. A model release lets everyone on the team use the photos for the uses intended and stated in the release, and saves you a massive headache should there be any issues down the line.

In our last photo shoot, I wanted close friends and real customers as models, real people who believes in me and support my small business. Everyone was so helpful, happy and full of good vibes, we had a BLAST!

⇢ Styling: For a bohemian shoot to pop off right, the styling needs to be perfect. It is good to find models that already embodies this style.

Models can provide their own wardrobe or not. For our shoot we provided the wardrobe, our models worn our new Bohemian maxi dresses and Thai Harem pants, they provided some of their tops and own boho accessories. We found some inspiration online and on Pinterest and added to our mood board, we shared the images with our makeup artist, photographer and models.

Here are some things that work well for bohemian shoots:

Beach Waves
Curly Hair
Body Jewelry
Long Skirts
Neutral colours
Sandals
Bare Feet
Tattoos
Henna
Flowing Dresses
Hats
Maxi Dresses

⇢ Lighting: Time to get technical. When shooting Boho style you'll want to capture the photos with natural light.

This means shooting outside and scheduling your time to include some golden hour if possible, this can be in the morning or after 6pm. In vancouver during summer times, we find the golden hour to last longer in the evening.

Plan to shoot more midday to evening to take advantage of this.

The golden hour will give your shoot a more earthy / soft feeling, which is perfect for the boho free spirit vibes. If you have a professional photographer taking the images or if you are your own photographer, try to shoot at a hight shutter speed, that way you can freeze the movements of the model, which is important in this style of shooting. This allows the model to move without feeling rigid with poses.

On Sunday I looked outside and the weather was overcast and the sun was nowhere to be found! well you don't always need the sun and here is why:

If you've never tried it, then go out and do it. You'll be surprised at the photos you take, why? because the clouds act as one big filter resulting in a soft and even light. The harsh shadows you see sometimes in your sunny day images are just not there, there's no glare in the subject's eyes and it can look as if the photo has been taken by a professional.

Bright sunny days are not always the best time to take photos, too much bright light can be a bad thing so you need to know what time of the day is the best.

We started the photo shoot at 10am and finished around 4, we had a mix of clouds and some sun at the end of the day, but our photographer did an amazing job and the images turned out fantastic! I am very excited for you to check them out!!

Let me know in the comments below what do you think and I hope you enjoy my article

Sending boho vibes your way and don't forget to live your #bestboholife 🌻✌🏼