how to plan a photoshoot.

If you aren’t convinced you need photos for your brand read this first.

#1 - Define your objective.

First and foremost, define what the goal of your shoot is. Do you need founder headshots, do you need 8 lifestyle images for your website design, or do you need 30 images and video clips for social media this month? Defining the objective of your shoot will help you plan all the steps that follow. I’m sure many of you, like myself, have done photoshoots unplanned. By unplanned, I mean you may have shown up to a location with a photographer and a bunch of different looks, but you didn’t really have a plan outside of “I need pictures”. Sometimes you get lucky and strike gold, but more often than not you spend time and money for 70 similar photos that you end up not really knowing where to use.

#2 - Define Your Budget

It’s always wise to understand the market value and not overspend as a small business. That being said “you get what you pay for”. I’ve seen so many clients over the years who will order $1,000 of new clothes for their shoot but then ask the photographer to work for “trade and exposure”. Working with a photographer who understands lighting, the importance of a location and understanding and translating your brand vision, will always be worth it. Here are some line items to add to your budget when you are putting together an estimate: Photographer, Models, Wardrobe, Location, Videographer, Video Editor, Hair and Makeup, Creative Director.

Keep in mind, not every photoshoot needs every single one of these members and many times, especially if you are on a budget, you can find talented creatives that have multiple skills. (For example: you can ask the videographer if they also edit). Once you define each role that is needed for the shoot, you can start filling in the line items and estimate the total investment for your shoot. Remember to prioritize the skills of your creative team over things like wardrobe investment and location rental. Unless you are a fashion brand, a $100 white button down is going to shoot the same as a $700 white button down. However, a $100 photographer compared to a $700 photographer will most likely be a night and day difference in quality.

#3 Plan your Mood Board

If you are working with a creative director, they will be involved at this stage. If you are developing this in-house, Pinterest and Canva are your best friends. This is the time to take your objective from Step #1 and combine it with your Brand Guidelines. You then elaborate with lots of visual examples. The mood board will be your North Star for the whole creative team. I usually print my boards out and have them handy for everyone to reference the day of the shoot.

Let's do an example. You are an interior designer in need of founder photos to be used in press mentions and on your website. You specialize in relaxed luxury residential and want your homes to feel elegant, but comfortable. You prefer to wear solid colors in bold cuts.

#4 - Create the Timeline

Trust me when I say, time flies on shoot days. I’ve been on countless 12 hour shoots that feel like “but we just got here!” Time flies when you’re having fun, but when time flies things fall through the cracks unless someone is managing the schedule like a prison warden. When you map out the schedule for the day you need to take into account time-eaters like set-up and getting ready. If you tell everyone to arrive at 8 am, chances are you will not start shooting until 10 am. If you want to be taking photos at 8 am then you need to plan around hair and makeup, arrival times, and set-up. The bigger the team, the more time it takes. Don’t forget to schedule in things like water and bathroom breaks, lunch, and outfit changes.

#5 - Create a Shot List

This ties in greatly with your “Objective”. If you need 8 gorgeous lifestyle images for your website, but you spend half the day shooting vertical full body images, those aren’t going to work on your horizontally spaced website. Or if you need 30 DIFFERENT images for social media content but you only brought one outfit, things are going to get repetitive. Creating a shot list isn’t the most fun part of planning your photoshoot, but it is one of the most important parts.

#6 - Make the shoot day, a social media day

By this I mean utilize tagging your team and re-sharing each others stories to create a buzz around your brand that day. Whether you are a 3 person team or a 30 person team, everyone likes seeing behind the scenes from a photoshoot. It’s a change from your normal content and it makes people aware you’ve got things going on! Even if you aren’t ready to share the final images yet, you can still create a buzz without posting any spoilers. Tell the team to stick to hair and makeup photos, selfies, group lunch vibes, and teasers of the location.

#7 - Enjoy

If you follow these steps and thoroughly prepare yourself and your team for the day ahead, you will be able to relax and enjoy the day. Shoot days are fun, and they should be! Relax knowing that everything is planned and everyone has their job defined. If things don’t go exactly as planned, just go with the flow. Stress, Annoyance, and Awkwardness show on your face, so it pays to relax and trust the process.