Great images will reach millions of people with the story of your organisation, so you need them to be exactly right for your purposes. In these cash-strapped times councils, schools, charities and commercial organisations all need to get the best possible value for money out of their photoshoots. Based on my 25 years as a press, PR and commercial photographer in the North East of England I’ve put together a few tips for a successful photoshoot, to help you make sure your photo library works as hard as you do.
How do you want your images to work for you? Where do you want to use them and who are you trying to reach? Do you want them for print and online purposes? Will you use them in brochures and newsletters, on your website, in social media profiles or on sites such as Flickr and Facebook? And how about news stories for regional, national or trade magazine titles – different publications want different photo styles and formats and resolutions. And some might want black and white portrait layouts, while others want landscape and full colour. With some clever planning you can get enough shots to run several differently-angled news stories aimed at a range of publications.
Choose your photographer carefully. To get someone who is right for the job take a look at their work and quiz them on where it has been used. You need someone with professionalism and personality, and if the photos are for a news story you definitely want someone with a press background. Newspaper and magazine picture editors can be very choosy about the photographs they want, and how they want them delivering. If your photography involves children book a photographer who is CRB approved, experienced in that area and can put them at their ease so your photos are fresh and engaging. And make sure your photographer understands how to take photos that are timeless – you don’t want to end up with pictures that quickly date and are unusable.
Make sure you are happy with your chosen photographer’s manner and presentation, remember he represents your organisation while he’s on your job. Would you be happy to send him out to photograph royalty, for instance, reassured that he has the confidence to observe protocol but still get the photos you want?
How would he handle problems - can he react on his feet? None of us can predict weather conditions or VIP illnesses, so it’s important to be able to adapt to circumstances. I’ve been out to photograph launches or take crowd shots only to find low turnout numbers, but there are ways and means of making the best of the conditions and taking photos that make an event look like a sell out.
Decide on a location. How you want to use the shots will dictate whether you need to do the session at your premises, out on location, or in a studio set up. An experienced freelance photographer will have a portable studio of high performance lights, reflectors and other tools of the trade so he can quickly turn a spare office into a studio if necessary. If you’re going out on location, plan ahead and check you have the right permissions set up for your photographer. This is essential if you want to take photos at an airport or railway station for instance, or on the top floor of a building with panoramic views. Your commercial photographer will be able to advise on suitable locations if you are not sure where to choose, whether you want a backdrop of Newcastle’s busy Northumberland Street or an iconic landmark such as Darlington’s famous clock tower. In my years as a professional PR, press and commercial photographer I’ve worked at locations in and around Darlington, Sunderland, Durham, Newcastle and pretty much everywhere in between, so I’m never stuck for location suggestions for a client.
Prepare a brief. This gives your photographer a check sheet with the ‘who, why, where, what and when’ details. This is a ‘nice to have’ but not essential for experienced photographers, who will be used to doing last minute jobs with very little direction from the client. I sometimes get a call at 9am asking if I can do a shoot at 11am which is usually no problem, but thankfully I usually get a bit more notice. If you have a particular ‘feel’ in mind for your photos help your photographer by including some descriptive words - such as lively, traditional, atmospheric - in your brief, words that sum up the look you are expecting.
Confirm how quickly your photographer can get the photos to you. If you need a news story photo within minutes of the shoot, such as the Olympic Torch relay coverage I did in Saltburn recently, make sure your photographer will have the right kit with him to wire the photos straight back (same day service) from the photoshoot. Press deadlines wait for no man!
Establish the cost. Remember that you are not just paying for a couple of hours of your photographer’s time, you are paying for years of experience behind the camera. This is why it’s useful to establish what shots you want and how you will use them, so you get the best value out of your session. I used natural light to take a simple but very effective shot (pictured below) for the launch of accommodation booking website www.bedsearcher.co.uk, which combined with a press release and a good PR consultant saw the company gain over £14,000 worth of regional and national newspaper and magazine space. PR’s professional body the CIPR (http://www.cipr.co.uk/) rates editorial as having three times the credibility of advertising space, showing how a one-hour PR shoot can be worth many times its cost.
Getting the right pictures is about getting good value. With some careful planning and a professional, experienced photographer as your ally, you will have a set of stunning images that get your message across to a range of audiences and promote your organisation and its values for months to come.
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