Keeping Your Photoshoot On Brand Effectively and Efficiently

by Chloë Thomas

For all business brand consistency is important. Never more so thank in fashion where every product, every photo, every word has to match up.

One of my inner circle members found a very innovative way to make sure their photo shoot went smoothly and easily delivered perfectly on-brand pics. A method that was very easy to pull together and much simpler than the usual multipage / multispreadsheet briefs we’re all used to. Luckily for all of you Karen of KFD Jewellery has kindly allowed me to write this blog post about her method…

Any brief for a photoshoot is multi dimensional, it contains lots of information that needs to be cross-referenced including:

  • The products that need to be shot
  • The style of the photos (often multiple ones, e.g. for KFD Jewellery some items needed to be photographed ‘normally’ and in a wedding setting)
  • Models
  • Type of shots required, and number of shots required

That means the brief often ends up very long and complicated (with lots and lots of cross-referencing and repetition). The more complicated the brief, the less likely the results are to flow. To create great photography you need to stay inspired by the project, and 20 sides of written A4 plus a spreadsheet tends to kill that – even in detail junkies like me!

Photoshoot Brief PinboardKaren’s solution to this is very hi-tech, yet very traditional! She created an online mood-board for the photoshoot, including all the key details that you’d normally find in a brief.

The brief took the form of a Pinterest board!

The board is filled with all the elements you’d expect in a normal brief, but by creating it this way it’s much shorter and easier to quickly get to grips with. Plus it’s visual – and as the output is going to be visual it makes sense to do the same with the brief.

building the brief
Style shots as well as the key information for the brief
Products to be shot
The products that will be photographed including key information about each

By creating it all on Pinterest Karen could quickly and easily share the board with those involved in the shoot, and discuss issues and queries right there within the brief itself. As Karen says: “It worked so well, the stylist even managed to match the clothes from the style photos!”

And of course there was no danger of the board and pins getting into the wrong hands as it was all set up as one of Pinterest’s Secret Boards – boards which you control the access to.

What do you use your secret Pinterest boards for?

How do you organise your photoshoot briefs?

I’d love to hear!