Production Notes: 

Photographying Locations

These are some ideas i wrote, that i feel are necesary to take care of when you are photographying Locations:

Very important, you must know exactly the type of location this production needs (architectonic style, built decade , social-economic status, etc.)

And before you begin your seeking, i recommend having some elements with you.

Photo Camera:The best of all is taking the one that you know how to use it and you feel cmfortable with. It´s very important to be familiarized with the camera you´re using, cause the shoted location will be the one you´ll take with it.

Compass: Many Directors and directors of Phorography, wants to know where is the sunrise, to optimize the shooting.

Location´s folder: after some years seeking locations, i recognized that it was some of the things i never felt relevant, but it might bring you a headache 

(view Picture )

My recomendation, is trying a folder like this one.The idea, is hang it up from your neck. Doing it this way, you´ll got your hands free, so that you can take notes without taking care of wind. It is better to write with a black pencil. Rain doesn´t erase it.

Maps: If you are seeking a location in town, a city map would be right. But if you are going away, you´ll have to take general maps with possibles road to accedd to the place. 

It´s allways better to make a plant or a site of the place,with some tree or another thing relevant from the image, and the Sun orientation. If you are drawing an Interior, it´s better to include the doors and windows, besides the sun orientation. Take note of what kind of lens are you using.

Aa good way of showing in pictures the place you´ve gone, it´s to take the photos from the 4 angules of the room or the field (like policemen do). This is necessary to recognize beneffits and difficulties of the place at shooting time.

If you are on an interior, you´d make the same thing, trying to photometer  the interior and the exterior, so that you can watch both places with a right light.  This will help you, if during shooting, you have to put some light through the window.

If you are photographing an exterior, you can take with you a red arrow (1 meter long). And another helpfull thing is to take the picture with an human reference.

As you can see in this picture, the red arrow, doesn´t bother in the image, but it´s very usefull to make a good script. The same thing happens, with the human reference.

It´s easy to know where the sun rises if you are photographying in town, but if you are in the middle of a field, beach or some other place with no real references, it becomes very difficult.

Doubts may disapear, if you use this arrow and the site of the place.

Even in interiors or exteriors, the location manager have to take care of several things that will be very important during shooting time:

Access to the place: although the location you´ve seen could be brillant, muddy roads are not production friends.  The final determination of going there or not, may have economic aspects.

Spaces: You must study external and internal spaces to know where exactly put the catering, make up, wardrobe, trucks, and the electric usine.

Sound: as the access problem, noise is not your friend in a location.

I recommend scanning the pictures to zip them or save them on a CD, writing the ubication, and the  contact of the place.