Setting the Mood: The Secret Behind Moodboards

As a photographer and creative director of most of my shoots I'm often involved in developing moodboards; a presentation of visuals and text to reflect the concept/ aesthetic of a brief. This stage is so important, not only for production value (proposing to publications, model agencies etc) but also to share full mutual understanding of the concept with the team.

It is advantageous as a fashion photographer to attain a level of knowledge in all aspects of fashion- most importantly styling, makeup and casting models. Luckily for me, I attended various short courses at LCF in makeup, styling and the history/evolution of fashion which have been beneficial when communicating and translating ideas with the creative team. I would never refer to myself a makeup artist or stylist based on this experience but dexterity of knowledge within the fashion industry is key.

Moodboards need to be in depth, clear and concise. I'm rarely fond of a single page moodboard as I feel its important to spread the layout over a couple of pages, enriched with visual references and accompanied by short, pertinent sentences. I'm fond of Microsoft Powerpoint or the equivalent 'Keynote' with my new Macbook Pro. Both programmes are simple and professional, containing all the necessary actions to create the perfect board.

I separate each creative component into individual pages; concept, styling, hair & makeup, lighting/ art direction, poses and models. If its a major editorial shoot or brand campaign, I will often devise a shoot plan in a similar style to the moodboard too, with each page hosting 2 shot ideas with visuals to elaborate. An example page from an editorial shoot plan is below.

Key benefits of allocating a full page per creative focus come into action on the shoot day. They are flexible to physically move back and fourth from prep room to shoot location; allowing the team to stay on point and are ideal to incorporate additional annotations if required- a black sharpie pen is perfect for this.

Most of my moodboards begin with a title page. Sometimes if I feel it's strong enough, I will include a title suggestion for an editorial, or if a S/S brand campaign for example I will simply call it ' (brand name) S/S Campaign'.

The moodboard images featured below are from my editorial shoot 'The Third Degree' for Stylenoir Magazine. I haven't included the page describing the concept (which would be featured directly after the title in a PDF presentation) or the page suggesting specific models.

If I had skills in illustration I would avoid using other photographer's imagery where possible, especially in the shoot plan. Film still references are great to broaden the horizon of inspiration in addition to face charts created exclusively by the MUA for the shoot.

Useful websites for Moodboards

Pinterest- Visuals

Pinterest is fantastic at the pre-moodboard stage- collecting a vast range of imagery relevant to each shoot brief. I'm often a little frivolous at this stage, pinning all images that may reflect the aesthetic/ mood (without too much thought) to be filtered down during the next stage; sub-conscious pinning as it were. You can also invite others to pin to any selected board and create a number of secret boards only be viewed by yourself and those invited. I'm an avid nocturnal pinner...

Style.com- Styling

Style.com contains a filtered selection of catwalk shows/lookbooks during fashion week season, ideal for Pinterest boards. I create 4 boards every season on Pinterest featuring my personal highlights from Milan, New York, Paris and London Fashion Week which are useful when putting boards together. I may even take it a step further and create a trend based sub board from the season as a whole, titled 'futuristic' or 'metallic' for example.

Models.com- Models

To stay in the loop of the current circuit of models, models.com contains all top agency packages from major fashion weeks in addition to top newcomer faces. I have folders on my Macbook and save the model's cards that particularly stand out for future reference.

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I hope this has been helpful, happy moodboarding!

Alice Luker
www.aliceluker.co.uk