Photo shoot log

A shoot log is the record a photographer keeps so the next shoot starts ahead of this one. EXIF already stores shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and focal length, so the log is for everything the camera does not know: where the light came from and what modified it, why a setting was chosen, where the strobe stood, what the client asked for, what the location was like at that hour, and which frames are worth the editing time.

Kept over months, these logs become a working reference. "How did I light that headshot?" has an answer, a recurring client's preferences are written down, and the same mistake (a missed focus on a moving subject, a blown sky) shows up as a pattern instead of a surprise.

When to use it