Modeling Shoots Lessons Learned

I finally managed to schedule in a photo shoot with a local model/actress from Toronto. I was aiming to enhance my portfolio with something edgy, and figured the local "grafitti art" near a school would be a little more interesting than the white or black backdrops I usually used.

Jasmine arrived on time, and we headed to our shoot location, not far from the Go Station. We were on location and setting up within 15 minutes of meeting her. Smooth.
=> Lesson learned: use professionals and they show up. Using models from Craigslist or teenagers from Model Mayhem have highly variable (negative?) results.

We ignored the dark clouds on the horizon, knowing the forecast told us no rain was coming.
=> Lesson learned: weather forecasting is an inexact science, even when the predictive timeframe is < 1 hr

I quickly set up using my two lights, stands and an umbrella. Within taking my first few shots, the flash, transmitter and stand hit the mud.
=> Lesson learned: even in sheltered outdoor environments, wind will find an umbrella. Luckily, everything continued to work. Maybe use light modifiers that don't catch the wind.

I switched from soft to hard light for both flashes (the plan was one of each). It was necessary to be a little more careful with the direction and power of the lights to avoid hot spots on the grafitti and avoid any harsh, horrible shadows on Jasmine's face.
=> Lesson learned: whatever you planned, expect you'll need to change it up on the fly to play nice with the environment.

I dropped to ISO 200 to darken the available ambient light, and used the harsher direct flashes to make the pictures "edgy". In hindsight, the grafitti was a little hot, so the eye is drawn to the grafitti first and not the model.
=> Lesson learned: take time to review shots on something bigger than a camera LCD screen.

About 75% the way into my shoot, I realized I was still shooting JPG so I switched to RAW. Later, after reviewing the photos on my netbook however, the exposure and white balance were where I wanted them, so RAW wouldn't have added any value.
=> Lesson learned: shooting RAW helps to contain WB and exposure mistakes. Next time, I'll leave myself some wiggle room.

Recycle times were a bit of a problem (I learned later) where 2-3 of the 100 shots didn't flash correctly. Could have been the transmitters, but probably likely the batteries in one of the flashes didn't recycle fast enough.
=> Charge batteries the day of, not the night before.

By 7:30pm, I was starting to be pelted by raindrops. Jasmine was in a better spot and stayed pretty dry. Eventually I called it, we packed up quickly and within minutes we were heading back to the Go Station.