Test shooting is good for you: five reasons why

You’re not being paid to do it and no one is asking for it. So why should you spend a little time shooting projects for nothing?

1) Getting yourself used to new gear

I remember the time I rented an expensive and clunky Hasselblad for a test shoot with a performance artist. For the first time, I’d made a lighting plan for the space I’d booked. Turns out that Canon flash triggers don’t fit on Hasselblads. Luckily for me, there was no client around to watch me make a mess of it. Test shoots help you avoid any unexpected hitches when clients are around.

2) Freedom

Freelancing is usually working to your client’s brief. It’s the story they want to tell, in the place of their choosing, with the assets of their choosing. Test shoots are an opportunity to indulge yourself a little bit; write your own brief, express things your own way.

Also: Your tests are yours to share with whomever you want, whenever you like. Your commissioned pictures might still be your IP, but it’s good politics to check with clients before sharing, and they might discourage you.

3) You can check your ideas actually work

Paid jobs usually have a full brief fitted into too little time, so it’s usually best to stick to what works. Test shoots are a chance find new things that work, on your own time. I did a test shoot with Katie (left), meaning to try out a few posing table setups and poses I’d like to add to the repertoire. A few weeks later, Yaz saw the setup and paid for her own version of it.

Test shoot on the left, paid shoot on the right.

4) Portfolio updates

Clients are unlikely to hire a photographer for a job if they don’t seem to have the portfolio to back them. So if you’re looking to get hired to do a certain kind of work, put a test shoot together and prove you’re capable. A significant proportion of the work on my website is non-commissioned, and that’s perfectly ok; I’m signalling to clients the sort of work I want, and that I’m capable of delivering it.

5) Grow your network

Whatever level you’re at, if you’re looking to do a test shoot you’ll be able to find other artists happy to work with you. There’s performers and models who’ll want fresh content, and makeup artists and stylists out to try new things. Forming teams with other creatives is a great way both to meet more people, and have your work seen by more people.

Then there’s just taking pictures out in the real world. People usually consider what they do every day to be pretty dull, and when a photographer expresses an interest in shooting it they can often be happy to welcome you in.

… and here’s an example

I rang up a garage in Gorton, Manchester, to ask if I could pop in and take some pictures. It’s a pretty interesting environment and I had a new piece of medium format gear, a Hasselblad X2D, to try out.

A Hasselblad X2D with a 55mm f2.5 XCD lens.

I’ve shot some bits and pieces on it but wanted to do some environmental portraiture on my own terms, and in my own time. I let the garage know they could have and use whatever I was happy with. No client brief, no time limits, no pressure.

So here’s what I got:

Some of the boys of Hyde Road Wheels and Tyres

These were all taken on the 55mm f2.5 XCD lens at f2.5, and a dab of fill in flash from a gridded dish off a Profoto B10x.

The fixed 55 has just the right perspective for this sort of work, and the lovely background separation you get at f2.5 on medium format is more like f1.8 on a regular 35mm sensor.

I’ve got a few clients who I know will like this stuff. It’s already in their email inbox.

One more thing about wheels

Make sure that if you’re working for free, you’re shining your own wheels as much as anyone else’s. If people agree to work with you on a test, be they other creatives or the local garage, it’s usual to include a little give and take - the makeup artist will be looking to showcase a look that’s important to their portfolio, or the local garage may want to take advantage of you a bit while you’re there, and that’s ok. The most important thing is; make sure you get what you need from it.

Thanks for reading, all.