We Did a Photoshoot via FaceTime and Think You Should Too

Virtual photoshoots have taken the internet by storm as thousands of photos flood the hashtags #facetimephotochallenge and #facetimephotoshoot.

This isn’t just any trending hashtag. FaceTime photoshoots shed some much needed sanguine on our current realities. 


As normal life and daily social happenings have been put on pause, we find ourselves having to improvise, make do and be innovative. 

Even before the quarantine, we indulged in photo documentation of our everyday lives, and that has certainly not stopped. Unexpected, virtual photoshoots have allowed for beautiful documentation to take place, pushing photography’s limitless boundaries even further. 

Scrolling through the 1,000+ photos under these hashtags reveals a raw collection of emotion, and many leave us in complete awe that they were actually captured on FaceTime. (Seriously, some of them have the quality of an HDR camera. When have you had a FaceTime look that good?) 

Among the plethora of images are ones captured by high profile photographers, such as New York-based photographer Kat Irlin (@Kat_in_nyc). For the past few weeks, she has been posting images from virtual shoots with celebrities such as Cindy Crawford and Alton Mason (just to name a few). She captions each of these posts with two words: “Via FaceTime.”  Her images are playful, while some appear highly editorial and others more intimate. Nonetheless, she leaves us amazed at the art created by screen capture. 

Here at The Edge, we wanted to see just how a FaceTime photoshoot would play out, so we put it to the test. 

We called up a friend in New York City, Melissa. She answered the phone dressed and ready to go. She took us on a virtual tour of her apartment so that we could scout out potential shoot locations. We quickly settled on the window that has a breathtaking view of the city skyline. 

We soon realized she didn’t have a tripod to hold the camera, and while we tried a couple of makeshift tripods, the phone managed to keep slipping or not capturing the desired angle. Ultimately, her sister came to save the day and graciously offered to hold the phone up. 

While her sister stood in-front of Melissa, she sat perched on the window sill posing for the camera. I shouted out poses and words of encouragement as one would during a photoshoot—the only difference being this time, it was through the phone. 

During the virtual shoot, we utilized the new photo capturing feature on FaceTime, which captures the screen without the self-view box in the corner. 

Before we knew it, we had taken over 400 photos, and for a second, we seemed to forget that we were miles apart from each other. 

After light editing in Lightroom, we were blown away with what we had captured. Our photos certainly weren’t iPhone 11 portrait mode quality— rather, they gave off a more vintage film aesthetic.

If you try this at home and want to capture a more crisp photo, we recommend checking your lighting to make sure it’s even and ensuring that you have a good WiFi connection. The WiFi was not entirely in our favor during the shoot, which added to the grainy effect. While our human tripod and iPhones worked well for our first go around, we’ve also seen people experiment with laptop cameras for a wide-angle lens. 

The takeaway? The possibilities of photos are endless, and the creative innovation people have at this time is truly inspiring. If you’re looking for a new quarantine activity, we highly recommend trying out a virtual FaceTime photo shoot. 

FaceTime a friend and don’t forget to tag us in your #virtualphotoshoots @theedgemag!