Right, so this Keke Palmer photoshoot practice I decided to tackle. It wasn’t quite the walk in the park I’d initially imagined, let me tell you.
Getting the Idea Rolling
So, I figured, why not try to soak up some of that Keke Palmer energy in a practice photoshoot? You see her stuff, all vibrant and looking so effortless, right? That was the main idea, really. Get some solid practice in, play around with some new angles, maybe mess with a different lighting setup I hadn’t used in a while. Sounded simple enough on paper.
The Setup Saga
First things first, I spent a good chunk of time, probably an hour, just scrolling through images, trying to lock down a specific look or a particular mood. It’s not like you can just magically become Keke Palmer, you know? You’ve got to pick a Keke Palmer vibe or moment. I ended up settling on something that felt pretty bright, a bit playful. At that point, I thought, “Okay, I’ve got this.”
Then came the actual setting up part. Oh, man. My little home studio setup, which, let’s be honest, is just a cleared-out corner of my living room, suddenly felt incredibly cramped. I started dragging out my lights. And wouldn’t you know it, one of my main lights decided that today was the perfect day to start acting up, giving me this really annoying, inconsistent flash. Just typical. I must have fiddled with that thing for what felt like an eternity. I swapped out the batteries, I checked all the connections, the whole nine yards. Eventually, after a lot of sighing, it started to behave, mostly.
- I dug out this super bright backdrop cloth I’d bought ages ago and completely forgotten about.
- Spent ages trying to get my camera settings dialed in just right to match the mood I was going for.
- Then I had to scrounge around the house for some props – basically grabbing anything colorful I could find.
Actually Taking the Shots
Then it was finally time to actually start shooting. If you’re like me and often end up doing self-portraits for these practice runs, you definitely know the routine. You set the timer, you make a mad dash into position, try to strike some kind of pose, and just hope for the best. Then you do it again. And again. And again. A lot. To make things even more fun, my camera remote decided it wanted to be finicky too. So, that meant a whole lot more running back and forth to the camera than I’d originally planned for.
I was really trying to capture that dynamic, energetic feel you always see in her photos. But let me tell you, that’s a lot easier said than done when you’re also the one trying to press the button, or in my case, fighting with a dodgy remote. Some of the shots that came out were actually okay, but a lot of them were just… well, blurry evidence of me in a mid-sprint trying to beat the timer. Practice is definitely a humbling experience, that’s for sure.
What I Ended Up With
After a couple of solid hours of this, I was definitely sweating, feeling a bit on the frustrated side, but hey, I had a batch of photos to look through. Were they anywhere near Keke Palmer level? Absolutely not. Not even in the same universe. But that wasn’t really the main goal, was it? The real point was the practice itself, the act of trying, and the process of figuring things out when they inevitably don’t go as smoothly as you’d like.
I did manage to get a few shots that had a tiny hint of what I was aiming for. The lighting, once I finally wrestled that rogue light into submission, actually created a pretty nice effect on one or two of them. And I definitely learned a few new things about working with really vibrant colors and trying to nail dynamic poses, especially in a cramped space with gear that clearly had its own agenda.
It’s always kind of funny, isn’t it? You see these super polished celebrity photoshoots and you just think it’s all glamour and high fashion. But even for a tiny little practice session like the one I did, there’s a whole lot of grunt work involved, and plenty of things that just decide to go sideways. It really makes you appreciate what the real pros do even more. Or, you know, maybe it just serves as a stark reminder that my cheap camera remote desperately needs replacing. Probably a bit of both, to be honest.
