Making the perfect moodboard with errol douglas

Creating the perfect moodboard is a great way to back up your entry to a competition and keep your plans on track. Here's Errol Douglas's advice for making a standout board. Even if a moodboard isn't a compulsary part of the competition, it's a good idea to create one for a shoot to express your ideas or really pin down the concept you want to create.

Where to start with your moodboard

Magazines are a great starting point - cut out everything you like, whether it's a cut or colour, fashion and clothes, a general mood of a picture or something specific about the background. Inspiration Look at everything, and I mean everything, that you're inspired by. So not just magazines; art, architecture, nature, food - inspiration comes from everywhere! Assessing your work Put together a number of mood boards with your clippings and swatches, take a step back, then start to zone in on the key bits and pieces that are working for you. Final mood board Make yourself a final mood board that draws together the key pieces that interest you.

Using your moodboard on your photoshoot

Use your mood board to reference the whole way through the shoot process - show it to your photographer, stylist, make-up artist, models. Don't be tempted to stray from it while you're shooting by trying totally different ideas - this is how a shoot can lose its way and become confused. Stay true to the idea and your shoot will be coherent. This should mean that you achieve exactly what you set out to create.