If the year 2020 was tough on photographers, the year 2021 doesn’t seem to be any better. The situation with Covid is getting worse each day and it has affected almost every photographer across the globe. Photography is a service that is believed to be a face to face in-person contact. Last year a lot of photographers came up with the idea of Virtual Photography which opened gates for new ventures.
Facetime Photoshoots
As exciting and tempting as this idea looked there were a lot of challenges to make it work. In photography, the major challenge is the quality of the picture. If the quality of the clicked image is not good enough then the chances of the further possibility of color correction or any kind of editing are very low.
The trend started with iPhone Facetime shoots since Facetime calling can take photos while having the calls. Here again, the issue was quality, the size of the image clicked was not more than 150 kb or so and that made it tough to experiment more with it. Here’s my first attempt to Facetime photoshoot with a friend who lived in another city.
Shoots over zoom calls
Next came the strategy where the photographer and model can have a call via any platform be it in the zoom, skype, Whatsapp call or whatnot and then the photographer would click his/her laptop screen by DSLR and then edit those images. Again this was a cumbersome process and the results were not very amazing.
New possibilities with the Shutter App
This year, when the COVID wave hit again and the photography businesses went on hold, I came across this app called “Shutter App” which is specially designed for Virtual photography. After exploring the features and other details I was thrilled to see so many options to make the whole process of Virtual photography easy.
What makes the Shutter app awesome ?
It clicks High resolution images.
The photographer has full control over the focus system which can be switched between Auto and Manual as per the need.
The exposure and other controls can be managed by the photographer with ease.
Photographer doesn’t need any complex system to do the shoot. Only a laptop and a good internet connection is needed.
It’s free of cost!
My first trial with Shutter app
The moment I came to know about it, I planned an outdoor virtual photoshoot with a friend who was on a vacation in Bhimtal with her family. We planned what to wear and where to shoot and the results were beyond amazing.
After that, it became easy for me to arrange Virtual shoots for clients/friends/family and provide great looking pictures. My latest photo shoot was done for my sister who lives in Geneva, Switzerland. It was her birthday and I wanted to gift her something special so I planned an indoor photoshoot on a rainy day. The whole feel of the pictures was planned as a silhouette and cosy.
If you are a photographer and want to try this app for your first virtual photoshoot, there here’s what you need to know :
Ask the client/model to install the Shutter app. It’s available for both android and iPhone users.
Make an account on the shutter studio and log in to it.
Ask the client/model to either buy a phone stand like a selfie stand or a mini tripod/gorilla pod. They can even place the mobile with the support of an object like a coffee mug, but having a stand gives more scope to experiment in angles.
Make sure you both have a good internet connection.
Once the client opens the app, they need to share their model ID with you and you will enter the same in your studio login.
Once the shoot is done, you can download all the HD images and that’s it. There is even an option to show a preview of shots in the middle of the shoot to the client. It will help them understand what needs to be changed or how the shots are looking.
It’s good to plan on what to wear before the session and also have a home or location tour over a video call. This will give you a prior idea about how to plan the poses and shots.
That’s it. It’s so easy. Being in a creative field and having such tools in hand gives wings to your imagination and possibilities. With virtual photography, the gates have opened to have a photoshoot with a person in any part of the world. Even when the pandemic ends, this is something that you can venture as a new vertical in your business to click images of clients in other cities/countries.
Kriti Agarwal
Candid Memoir Photography
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