To deliver the best images for your brand, product photographers will often ask you to complete a product photography brief. The reason for this is so that they deliver on-brand images, in line with your vision and your expectations.
It is always a good idea to think about some of these questions even before asking for a quote. The more information you can give your photographer, the more accurate their quote will be.
How to brief your product photographer
Here are nine questions you may be asked by your product photographer:
1. Background – can you describe your business? When did it start, what do you do, and what products do you sell? What is the purpose behind your business?
2. Who is your target audience? – be as specific as possible. List their demographics (age, gender, location, etc.) and psychographics (interests, habits, values). This is so the photographer can understand your audience and tailor images to appeal to that audience.
3. What is your brand’s personality? Describe your brand’s personality as if your brand was a person. E.g., adventurous, healthy, relaxed, feminine
4. What are your brand colours? This information is useful in knowing what coloured backdrops and props to use in the shoot. If you have brand guidelines or a visual style guide, send these to your photographer.
5. What products and props will you be sending? Part of planning for a photoshoot is prop-sourcing. Photographers need to know what you will be sending versus what they need to source or supply.
6. How many images do you need? If you are new to e-commerce, you will need to think about what images you need for your website plus what images you need for social media and other marketing purposes.
Do you need multiple shots of each product or just a front-facing shot? For example, if you sell handbags, you may want to show all sides of the bag (including the inside), as well as shoot the bag in use to show the scale of the product.
If you sell beauty or skincare products, you may want to show the packaging, the product with the lid on and off, as well as a swatch/texture shot.
Do you need hero images for your website, or shots to show bundles of products? If so, be sure to communicate this to your photographer.
7. What style of shots are you after? Are you after dark and moody images, or light and bright images? Do you want the images to be colourful and playful, or would you prefer minimal styling? If you have any reference images, these are always good to share with your photographer so that they fully understand the creative direction you want to take with your images.
8. What orientation would you like the images? It’s best to communicate to the photographer whether you need the images shot in landscape or portrait orientation (or a combination of both). Portrait mode is great for social media as it can easily be sized to square or to 9:16 mode for Instagram Stories. Landscape orientation is better for range shots and for hero shots on websites.
9. When do you need the images? Be realistic in your timing. The more time you can give the photographer, the better.
So as you can see, there’s plenty to think about when you are preparing to brief your photographer on a photo shoot.
Need more information?
If you have any questions regarding the briefing process, feel free to get in touch.