Finding someone skilled with a camera doesn’t mean you’re okay to rush into product photography. There are things that can waste both your time and budget, and to prevent that, you must get a good grasp on how to plan a photo shoot for your clothing brand.
This becomes even more crucial when you are in the startup phase. If you think that finding a model right away won’t be a big deal, you won’t get very far in this case.
Even though you have a lot of passion, since this is a business, it won’t spare you from juggling many schedules at once. And this is why prior planning is nothing less than a necessity.
In this article, we’ve broken down the essential things you need to do before your very shoot day, even if it is your first time. Stick with us, and you’re going to have an efficient checklist to go through.
1. Start By Setting a Realistic Budget
If you first know how far you can go, you will feel how powerful it will be for you with each upcoming step. Things you’ll want to look at carefully when planning your spending:
- How expert the Photographer is: How long he/she has been photographing clothing products, and how much quality he/she has in their portfolio.
- Photo asset building costs: How much does it cost to produce photos of your merchandise, whether in a studio or off-site?
- What kind of shot do you want: Are you up for a single dress photo or a group shot of several clothing items? Keep in mind that the more products you want to fit into a frame, the higher the cost of the photo will be.
- What is the pricing model: Find out if you will be billed by which one of the following:
- Per hour or day
- Per image
- Per product
Also pay close attention to the cost of image retouching after the photos are taken.
2. Prepare the Merchandise (Clothing)
Since your business is clothing, you already have merchandise ready to go. But if you don’t have any yet, then start by getting some clothes ready for the photoshoot in sizes that suit everyone.
Bring all your clothes for the shoot together at once. This will save you shipping charges or car fuel (if you do it yourself). And with one shipment, take as many as 50+ photos; it will save you a lot on the cost per photo.
3. List What Kind of Shots You Need
A big part of knowing how to plan a clothing brand photoshoot includes deciding from which angle you will take shots of your clothing. Every seasoned fashion photographer and studio knows which shots are truly essential for clothing brands.
Even then, when you provide the clothes for the photo shoot, you will provide this information along with them.
- Dress type (Tops/Bottoms)
- Color (Red/Blue/Beige)
- Size (Small/Medium/Large)
- Would it be wrinkle-free
- Shot angles (Ghost mannequin, Lay flat, Close-up, Front, or Side)
- Background (White/Non-white)
- Number of images
4. Design a Mood board That Goes with Your Brand
A mood board essentially helps to produce quality results for a shoot as expected. So you’ll want to create it in advance of any necessary consultations with the people involved in the shoot so you can share it with them.
You can tap into Instagram and Pinterest for the necessary resources for mood board design. You can send this moodboard as a PDF to your stylist. This will help them prepare the right outfit for the model to wear during the photoshoot.
5. Find the Right Models for the Shoot
Based on your clothing type, you can choose models who can carry your clothes easily. Here are the important things you need to follow when booking a model:
- Book well in advance for the famous ones.
- Go for bargaining with their agents to get some discounts.
- Prioritize how diverse and natural they are rather than how sensational they are.
- Send a list of clothes and possible accessories to wear before the shoot.
- Have a makeup artist and hairstylist ready in advance.
- After booking, follow up regularly with gentle reminders.
6. Decide Where to Do the Photoshoot
Will you do all your photoshoots in the studio, or does your clothing brand also demand natural environments? For lifestyle and editorial photography, which is very important in this industry, you have to get outside and close to nature.
| When it comes to locations for luxury clothing, you can try castles, museums, galleries, city squares, rooftops, and yachts. And street markets, abandoned building sites, shopping malls, cinemas, and hotels go well with mass-market dresses. |
However, be careful in public places so as not to violate anyone’s privacy. In this case, choosing the right time is very important, such as early in the morning.
7. Hire the Fashion Photographer
Choosing a fashion photographer can put you in a reliable position in your photo asset supply chain. And you can confidently say that this is how to plan a clothing photoshoot.
Just one of the best photographers in the industry is enough to increase your brand value. What’s more? They come to take charge of the entire visual aspect of your apparel products.
How do you know you’ve found the right photographer?
- He/She has a proven track record (high impressions on photos on his/her Facebook page and Instagram)
- He/She is ready to fulfill your urgent order or reshoot if needed.
- He/She lives near your city
8. Properly Schedule the Photoshoot Day
Set a day and time for the photoshoot that works best for everyone involved. Early discussion with everyone, in several stages, can make it easier to get that perfect timing.
More importantly, don’t make the shoot day a continuous workday, but take occasional coffee breaks. This quality time-slip will fuel the entire team to produce better results.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Plan a Photo Shoot for Your Clothing Brand
1. Why are lifestyle shots outside the studio important?
Studio shots (even with models facing the camera) often look artificial, but lifestyle photos give viewers a sense of how the dress will look on them.
2. What type of photography is used for first-page commercials or fashion magazines?
Editorial photography is widely used in this field because it’s all about storytelling about the brand and creating its image.
3. Why is diversity the most popular on-model shot trend right now?
Behind this lies the diversity of ethnic groups around the world. The more diversity a photo can bring in terms of culture, race, color, age, and gender, the wider its audience will reach.
4. What type of pricing offers the most cost savings on photo shoots?
Usually, with the cost-per-image pricing model, there are ways to get a good discount if you shoot photos on a large scale. For instance, taking 100+ photos instead of 10-20 photos reduces the cost per image.
5. How can I find good wannabe models in my city?
The easiest way to do this is to search for “city name + wannabe model” on Facebook and Instagram. It also works well to be regularly active in fashion photography-related FB groups in your area.
Giveaway
Talk thoroughly with the relevant people upfront and keep everything in order. And that’s the point of this guide on how to plan a photo shoot for your clothing brand.
This planning will save you from any mishaps during the photoshoot. Not only that, this precaution is also useful for your photo post-production. In fact, this proactive thinking about image editing can make your plan comprehensive.
The thing is – you don’t necessarily have to look for this retouching power in a photographer. You can exclusively hire the services of professionals in that field to handle this responsibility.
One such photo production partner is Retouching Zone. They have been making images from photo shoots viewable and clickable for viewers for over a decade.
You can check the quality of their work with this free trial. This could be the very first step to ending the worry about all your upcoming photo projects.
