5 Ways to Prepare for a Business Shoot

So you have finally booked that photoshoot for your business so you can show your ideal customer the friendly face behind your business and what makes it unique? Fantastic!

No more scrambling around with slightly dodgy selfies and phone snaps of your products or premises, desperately trying to find something decent for your website and social media! You will come away with a bundle of varied, super useful, professional images to really make you and your business stand out in all your marketing.

BUT! There are a few things you can do to help prepare for your shoot and make sure we really make the most out of our time together. Here are 5 ways for you to prepare for that long awaited business shoot!

1. Think: all about your business!

I’ll start with the really big one..before your shoot it is super important for you to sit down and have a big think about your business and your ideal customers!

This will really help us figure out what you need from your shoot and help lead us in all decisions such as what to wear, what locations to use, what props you may need and the general atmosphere of the photos.

Grab some paper, and jot down any ideas that come to mind so you can share them with me. I think you will find this a super useful exercise!

A few questions to get you started might be:

– What is the character of your business? ( Laidback? Formal? Friendly? Slick?)

– What makes your business special or unique?

– What do you want customers/ clients to understand about you?

– What is your ‘why’? (why do you do what you do?)

2. Think: what locations should we use for your shoot?

Once you’ve had a think about your business and what kind of character you want to convey, it should really help in choosing locations.

Perhaps your workplace is central to everything and you want the bulk of your photos taken in there?

Or maybe you feel your laidback, friendly nature is really crucial to your business and you’d like to show a bit more of your relaxed side with a few pictures in a local cafe you love?

Or perhaps you feel really central to your local community and would love some pictures out and about around your town?

Do you feel you really want to show some more of the person behind your business, doing something you love to do in your free time like out walking the dog?!

With two of my packages for business photo shoots you can select more than one location which can be brilliant for helping show a bit more of the person behind your business. Pop to my website to download a brochure to hear more about what the packages include: sonyasmithphotography.com/commercial-photography/business-photography/

 

3. Think; are there any ‘must have’ shots?

To really make the most of your business shoot it is crucial to make a list of any shots you definitely need to get..we can then get a shot list together and make sure you come away with some super useful images for your website and social media.

Some ideas to get you started;

• Are there any tools of the trade you would definitely like to have photographed?
• Anything about your premises you need to capture?
• Is there an aspect of your work you’d really love customers to see you doing?
• Do you need images of you working on your computer?
• Is there any signage/ uniform featuring your business name you would find useful to have decent images of?
• Do you need some headshots?

At this planning stage it can be helpful for you to spend a bit of time online checking out business photoshoot/ headshot images you do and don’t like..putting them together into a shareable Pinterest board is a super useful and quick way for me to get an idea of the kind of images you feel drawn to and that would work for you. I will never try to precisely recreate these images from other photographers but it is a super easy way to show me what you do and don’t like so we know we are on the same page!

4. Think: what will you wear?

Probably the most commonly asked question before any photoshoot is ‘what should we wear?!’

The clothing you are wearing for your business photoshoot really does say a lot about your brand and it’s style. Once you’ve done the work thinking about the personality of your business it will help guide your decisions on what clothing to wear..

• is it laidback?
• Fun?
• Slick and professional?
• Vibrant and lively?

The clothing you choose to wear can help convey all of that and let the personality of your business really shine.

My business shoot packages each allow for varied changes of outfits so make sure you bring along a few options that are easy to change into and out of so you take away a collection of images in a variety of outfits (otherwise you will be posting pictures of yourself in the same single outfit for the next year!).

Accessories like scarfs, jewellery and easy to take off jackets/ layers are a brilliant way to change your look easily and quickly throughout the shoot without the need for a changing room/ tree to hide behind!

Some practical tips are:

• No brand names, logos or slogans please (slogans can be especially awkward when the fabrics fold and you end up with nonsense words that are super distracting!)
• Make sure the clothing fits well! Obvious maybe but a crucial one so you don’t show a bit more than you had in mind!
• Solid colours work well and very thin stripes or tiny squares should be avoided as they do crazy things to your eyes in images.
• Iron! This is from a self confessed ironer of absolutely nothing but it is a good idea to make sure your clothes are as crease free as possible..don’t stress this too much though as some creases are unavoidable but screwed up in a ball t shirts are definitely best avoided!

5. Think: What tools of your trade will help tell the story of your business?

Every business has tools that are absolutely crucial to them but that also help tell their story. It’s a great idea to incorporate these into your shoot either as detailed close up images, images of you using these tools or a combination of both.

This may be as simple as a laptop or phone, or perhaps something a bit more specialist such as a sewing machine or crafting equipment.

Thinking ahead and preparing any of this equipment to bring along to your shoot means we will make the most of our photo shoot time together and create you some fantastic story telling images to help make you and business stand out in all your marketing.

 

I hope you’ve found these tips useful for preparing for your business photo shoot. If you want to see a bit more what a business shoot with me is like, have a read of my blog post about the shoot I did with William and his team at  Mano a Bocca pizzeria in Sale : sonyasmithphotography.com/blog/mano-a-bocca/

 

Visit my website now to download a brochure to hear more about how my shoots work and my package prices: sonyasmithphotography.com/commercial-photography/business-photography/

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