In my experience as a photographer I have yet to understand why 10 hour photoshoots for 1 person with no more than 3 looks exist…
I remember reading an article a few months ago about photographers taking a million shots in hopes to get that one good one instead of setting up their shots to guarantee they get that great one. I agree wholeheartedly as no one wants to spend hours sifting through a zillion photos, as they shouldn’t want to spend hours photographing the same look. There’s a huge difference in time between 100 images and 1000 images hence “Shoot Smarter, Not Longer.” There should be some schematics to your shoot that have been prepared ahead of time to help guide you on the shots you are going take. There also isn’t anything wrong with improvising as you go as long as you take a quick second to think this new idea through so that it is executed timely and effectively. Ready your camera, position your model, position your lighting around your model, take a couple of test shots (maybe), press the shutter. As much as I adore my clients, I value my time as well as theirs, therefore it’s wasteful to take 4 hours to do what can be done in 1.