How to Do Your Own Calendar Photo Shoot

Pick a theme for your calendar. Once you have your theme, you can begin to make the necessary arrangements for either models, animals, cars, motorbikes or landscapes to fill the 12 pages of your calendar.

Contact a local modeling agency or other organization that can provide models or vehicles for your photo shoot.

Pick a location. If you have access to a studio and want to use the studio for your photo shoot, plan the day ahead of time and allow for an hour for each picture. This will give you time to position the model or subject and photograph it the way you want. If you plan to shoot outdoors, find the location and the time of day of that provides the best possible light.

Arrange for model and property releases to be signed. These are legal documents that, once signed, allow the photographer to use the pictures taken of the models or subjects in the calendar. A model or property release will stipulate how the pictures are being used and what the model or owner of the property will receive in exchange for the release.

Shoot the 12 pictures. Download them to your computer and review them to make sure they meet the style and direction you wanted for your calendar. When shooting photos, take multiple shots of each model or subject; this will give you a number of different pictures to choose from for each calendar page. If your calendar is based on outdoor landscape images, bracket your exposure by shooting one slightly under exposed, one slightly over exposed and one at the correct exposure. This will eliminate any minor exposure mistakes at the time of the shoot.