How To Prepare Your First Photoshoot

 Photo by Carley Summers.

My sister and I had our first professional photoshoot for our business back in September with the very talented Carley Summers. We learned quite a few things during our shoot that we wish we had known before, so we wanted to share some tips with you all.

TIP # 1 - KNOW YOUR GOALS FOR THE SHOOT

Creating photos for your brand is so much more than just a photoshoot. It is setting your brand up for success. Make a list of where your photos will be used (website, social media, product shots, etc). We knew we needed website photos, but also really needed photos for social media and product shots. If we had planned this better we could have hired our photographer all day instead of just three hours and accomplished this. We were left without enough time to do it all. Rookie mistake.

TIP # 2 - HIRE AN ASSISTANT IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT

It seems like such an obvious thing but we didn't really think about the time it would take us to stuff and unstuff each pillow during our shoot, which really slowed us down and stopped us from getting more photos. We could have easily hired 1 or 2 assistants to help us with this task and it would saved us so much time. When you think about the investment you put into all of the elements of a photoshoot, this seems like a small expense with a huge benefit. We are 100% doing this next time. 

TIP # 3 - PLAN YOUR SHOTS

We knew we wanted photos of our pillows on the sofa and bed, but we could have staged other areas and created vignettes for more photos to use. It came down to a lack of time in the end (we were too busy stuffing those inserts) to even do this but I really wish we had. Also, images for the web needed to be in landscape mode, not portrait. Luckily our photographer shot both styles but a good tip to know!

TIP # 4 - BUY YOUR DECOR ITEMS WAY IN ADVANCE

Ok, so another obvious thing, but alas the procrastinator in me decided to purchase our items only two weeks out and unfortunately a lot of them didn't make it in time. I was left scrambling the day before to go shopping for decor items, which made me very stressed out to say the least. I got lucky and found an amazing shop in Williamsburg that had EVERYTHING, but it was not ideal. Don't do what I did people.

TIP # 5 - CREATE A MOOD BOARD

Luckily we loved our photos and we knew what we were getting with the photographer we hired, but creating a mood board ahead of time to share with your photographer is a good idea so that you both are on the same page.

TIP # 6 - PLAY MUSIC AND HAVE FUN

For some reason our nerves were running high this day and we eventually put on some music and had fun. This was a big day for my sister and I. It was pretty surreal to have started our company back in 2015 and to be finally doing a professional photoshoot for our website! We felt proud to say the least. 

Here are a few photos from our shoot:

Featured Pillows:

Taj

Amazon in Indigo

Vintage Blue And White Stripe

Caravane in Jafara

Floral Designer Pillow Cover 'Udaipur'

Featured pillows:

Vintage Rust

Maya Mustard

Green Batik

Cream Mudcloth

I hope these tips were helpful. Thank you for stopping by! x