Planning A Photoshoot

Professional pictures and video showing your product adds a significant impact to your advertising efforts. Setting up a photoshoot is a great investment to gather tons of content in a short period of time that can be used for print materials, commercials, billboards, and social media feeds. It's also a great way to set you apart from your competition so you don't inadvertently end up using the same stock imagery as they did.

Hosting a photoshoot may sound intimidating and expensive at first but if done right, it'll go a lot faster (and cheaper) than you may think. All it takes is a solid plan to make the best use of the time you have booked for the shoot day. 

Make A List

Bringing in a camera crew takes a lot of equipment and set up. To get the most out of the time you have the team, it's important to create a list of shots you want to capture. This will help make sure you don't miss anything during the action, but you can also organize the pictures needed by location and/or equipment needed. This will maximize the amount of time is used to get your assets.

For example, let's say you needed to advertise a new pattern for child's backpack. If you begin filming in a kitchen to show a father pouring cereal for their child before getting them off to school and then head outside to film them getting on a school bus. The videographers will need different cameras and lighting in each situation. 

Finding A Set

So, where do you find this kitchen to film in? Building a set takes a lot of time and money, and most of us do not live in Hollywood to have easy access to pre-existing sound studios. If you're not comfortable using your own home, vacation rentals through Air BnB or VRBO are a great alternative. You can easily browse available locations near you to find one that fits your brand and most hosts are willing to give discounted rates if you only need the house for a few hours and don't intend on sleeping there. 

The same goes for those looking for a professional office setting. A lot more rental office space is available today than ever before with businesses offering remote work opportunities. Hotel board room and conference rooms may be good alternatives as well.

It is important no matter where you go to disclose to the owners that the location will be used in photography. 

Coordinate Video & Photo

If you need to build a library of customized images and video fast, it is possible to knock them out at the same time. Experienced photographers and videographers can work in tandem to capture still images and video during the same take. This reduces the set up time and builds consistency across all of your materials. 

Photoshoots are definitely a lot of work to put together, so it's important to do everything you can to make that day a success before you even walk on set. Plan a detailed list or storyboard of shots you need to capture, organized by backdrop to reduce setup time. It may cost a little more to hire both a photographer and videographer, but the result of that investment is not something you'll be able to recreate later.

If you have a photoshoot coming up and have some questions about how to best approach it, reach out and let us know! We'd be happy to help.