If you are just starting your first business or trying to get the most out of your next shoot this one is for you.
Getting great images of your products is one of the most important steps you take as a brand owner. These photos will be used for all of your website and social media content. Trying to have a great digital marketing campaign without enough images is a real struggle.
You will usually have two shoots, one to get the product shots for your website and one fashion shoot with your products worn by models styled in the way you want to present your brand aesthetic.
Before you start booking models and locations you need to know exactly how many photos of each product you will need. Will you be using your product shots in advertising? Do you need shots from more than one angle? If not carefully planned out you may find yourself having to foot the bill for another shoot to have enough content to get you through the period or season.
Having a discussion with your digital marketing consultant can help put you on the right track.
Now that you have decided on what you need you can start planning the shoot.
Step 1 Mood board.
Take your time and create a few mood boards to capture the vision of the shoot you are wanting to create. Using Pinterest to create boards of all the different aspects. Hair and makeup, location, models, poses, etc.
Cut these down to your favourite images and have the boards printed out so on the day your team can have them as a reference.
Step 2 Choosing a photographer.
Having a great product photographer that is going to shoot and edit your pieces beautifully and consistently is really important. This way you know each time you need new items photographed they will match your previous images. Having a relationship with a photographer where you are able to just send them new pieces and get great shots back can make things a lot easier for a small business owner. You don’t need to have the same person doing both the product and fashion shots.
Step 3 Choosing the location
Depending on where you are located choosing to have your shoot outdoors can be risky. I’m in Melbourne and it’s like rolling the dice as to what you can expect to be going on outside on any given day in any given season. Planning a shoot can be really stressful at the best of times so picking an indoor location can take out the weather risk factor.
You can rent a studio for a half or full-day or if you are on a budget you can turn most locations into a studio if you have enough space (just clearing out the furniture will do this) and light as long as you don’t have low ceilings. The photographer will have their own lighting equipment they can bring with them but talk with them first.
Step 4 Booking your models.
Depending on your budget this can be through an agency or through a local creative collective with a Facebook page. Now if this is going to be the one major fashion shoot you do for the season you should try to have at least 2-3 models. Remember how much this content is going to be used on your website, socials and all your digital marketing content. For the cost of having one more model, you can double or triple the amount of content you can get from one day of shooting.
If booking a model from Instagram ask them to send you an unedited photo before making a commitment. Catfish models exist!
Step 5 Call sheets.
The day of a shoot can be very intense and if it is not planned out down to every look you are asking for trouble. You are going to want a call sheet with the times laid out for what time each person is arriving on set, order of hair and makeup, time of the first shoot and wrap time.
Step 6 Editing
Your photographer will need time to edit your images so if need a fast turnaround time make sure this has been discussed beforehand.
Your photographer will ask you to pick which images you like the best and edit them for you.
We hope this plan helps you on your next photoshoot!