Location scouting notes

Scouting notes turn a walk around a place into the answers a shoot day needs: can we get in, where do we park, do we need permission, where is the light at the hour we plan to shoot, which angles work, and what can go wrong. Film crews call it a recce or a tech scout; photographers often just call it scouting. The point is the same: problems found on a quiet weekday cost nothing, and the same problems found with a client and a crew waiting cost the day.

Light is the heart of it. A location that is perfect at 9 a.m. can be in flat shade by noon and backlit at 5, so good notes record the compass orientation of the main view and what the light was doing at the time of the scout, and mark what still needs checking at the shoot hour.

When to use it