This is something I didn’t even realise was a secret until really recently. I was teaching a group of delegates on location and said to them…’don’t forget to find your square!!’….
The fact that I was met with 6 blank faces made me realise they had NO idea what I was on about!
SO, when shooting at a client’s yard, I am always looking for locations that are roughly 2m x 2m- a square. As you can see from the image below, we have scouted a barn with lots of straw bales. However, I don’t want the whole scene in. There are some distractions either side like the pillars and some untidy areas- I want to zoom to capture one small area.
Provided there is a 2mx2m area of something beautiful- I will put my clients there!
There is always the option to shoot wide, then crop in during post-production. However, sometimes you don’t get the shot you expected when you crop in after- you can miss the intensity and connection between horse and owner.
Try to implement this rule on your next shoot and see how you get on! Or if you think you need more help staging the perfect shots, check out our upcoming 2 day group training course!