Putting Editorial Photoshoot Together from Start to Finish

A behind-the-scenes look at how I plan and execute a full editorial photoshoot — from concept and casting to lighting, production, and final delivery.

When I start planning an editorial, I think less about logistics and more about how it should feel.
What kind of world am I trying to create?
What emotion do I want to sit with when I look at the final frames?

That feeling becomes the foundation of everything else — styling, light, movement, even the space itself.
Once I know the story I want to tell, everything else starts to fall into place.

Finding the Concept

I’ll usually start with a moodboard on Pinterest or Are.na, pulling references that share a similar tone rather than trying to copy anything directly.

The goal is to build a visual world that everyone on the team can understand. For this I try to go indept as much as I can. Having a separate reference for each departments is really helpful and your team will have an easier time understanding your vision. Pictures below is what I used for this editorial, a breakdown from styling, photo aesthetics, hair, make up and the general tone of what we are archeiving. Now this is a smaller editorial - in a different blog I’ll do a much deeper dive into what we do on a commercial or a look book shoot.

Building the Right Team

An editorial shoot is always a creative collaboration with a team.

I like working with stylists, makeup artists and hairstylist who understand my vision and my style working style and most importantly I like people who can adapt when things shift on set.

Casting is also huge for me I look for models who bring something unexpected but fits the project brief. In this case I know that I’m looking for someone with outgoing perosnallity, a bit cheeky and doesn’t take herself too seriously. At the end we decide to go with Victoria as I think she have a very strong feature and I’ve worked with her before so I know she fits the brief pretty well.

A strong team and good casting gives you space to experiment, which is often where the best moments come from.

Scouting the Location

Location is storytelling in disguise, it is very important as It sets the tone before the model even steps into frame. Although this shoot was pretty last minute and I know that we needed a kitchen so I decided to shoot at Victoria’s home in London. A quick scouting on the day before was done in order to plan some shots and look where the sun will be at the time of shooting.

Shoot Day

On set, I gave make up and hair about 2 hours of prep time. The shoot was from 2pm to 8pm. We had 5 looks to do so there was a plenty of time and we were shooting during the summer, the sun was setting down at 7:30pm.

The technical side was pretty simple. We have one right light only facing the model - bare bulbs with no modifiers since I want that specular hard lights. I have my assistant with me to help capturing behind the scenes.

I start simple, easing into the rhythm of the day, adjusting light as we move and seeing how the model interacts with the set. The first few looks is always a warm up, I always put the strongest look in the middle once everyone is vibing on set and the flow is going strong.

Post-Production

Not much going on for this editorial. When I go through selects, I’m looking for emotion first, not perfection.

Retouching stays minimal enough to guide the eye, but never enough to erase texture or personality.
The colour grade usually ties back to the tone of the original concept a visual echo of where the idea started.

Sharing the Work

Once the series feels cohesive, I’ll think about where it should live whether that’s submitting to a magazine, releasing it on my site, or building a short form edit for social. In this case, we only did the shoot for social content.

It’s very important to always credit every team member. A shoot like this only works because of collaboration.
Sharing the process not just the outcome often connects with people just as much as the final images.

Team
Photographer: @pip.director
Photographer assistant: @Macky.mann
Model: @victoria.rose.caine
MUA: @elianadecamargo
Hairstylist: @elena_elegancehairstyle
Stylist: @fatma.t.maalow

For my full portfolio click here