If you follow me on Instagram (@laurakiillz), you will have seen the amazing "Mean Girls" inspired Christmas photoshoot I shot for my best friend, Lauren Pimentel. These shots got a lot of love & I figured this would be a great place to break down the shoot, show the shots that didn't make it to my feed, and talk about all the behind the scenes that led to the final product.
THE CONCEPT
Lauren was the brains behind this whole shoot. She wanted to recreate the iconic Jingle Bell Rock scene from the cult classic, Mean Girls. She recruited 3 of her friends Shaiyana, Brittany, and Jasmine to be the other Plastics & together they coordinated outfits. Most of their skirt/top combos came from Amazon, but Shaiyana's & Brittany's skirt is from Francesca's.
Models:
Lauren- @spicypimentobean
Brittany- @swaggyb_100
Shaiyana- @chai_ana
Jasmine- @da.bwabe
THE LOCATION
Obviously, the girls needed a pink callback to bring their own creative flare to this shoot. Lauren found the perfect location at FD Photo Studio in LA. I've shot there before for another client, but never in this fun, pink room. The Christmas trees are part of their setup, but we added some more ornaments and the fluffy snow for dramatic effect.
You can check out the listing here: Hill 5 Room at FD Photo Studio
BEHIND THE SCENES
For this shoot, we had a total of 4 hours in the studio to make Lauren's vision come to life. I brought along my friend Vina (@probablyvina) to help me make sure everything went smoothly and to shoot some behind the scenes shots for TikTok, IG, etc. Preparation included fluffing up the trees, placing more ornaments, present placement, figuring out where we were going to pose them, and testing our lighting.
The one downside for this shoot was the wall on the left side with the pink stripes was shiny which means the flash we used was creating a blown out look. If I could change one thing, it would probably be that. We also could've benefitted from moving away from the wall in order to reduce the shadows of the trees. These are things that regular IG people don't notice, but my fellow photographers will. You live and you learn.
THE EDITING PROCESS
When choosing the final photos for this shoot, I was very particular. I wanted to make sure each girl looked their best in each of the group shots. It's so important to me to ensure that no girl thinks that a photo was chosen because only one of them looked good. And with four girls, sometimes it's hard to get a shot that's perfect for everyone in the photo.
I wanted the girls to really feel "plastic" and "perfect" because that's really what Regina George was all about. I even spent a long time editing out the dirt, scratches, and chords from the wall and the floor to achieve that ideal flawless final shot. Here's a comparison for you.
First photo is the edit, second photo is the out-of-camera shot.
For anyone asking how I achieved this look, I choose and color correct all my shots from Lightroom. Once I'm done, I send them all to Photoshop to touch up skin, add any additional color balance or effects, and then save as the final shot.
THE FINAL GALLERY
Ultimately, I always have MY personal favorites from a photoshoot, but there's usually a ton more shots that will never make it to my feed. My blog will be a place you will be able to see the shots that might never be posted on social media. Make sure to follow each of the models pictured here and make sure to follow me on Instagram for updates on future photoshoot breakdowns.