How to Prepare for a Photo Shoot If You’re a Blogger or Influencer

How to prepare for a photo shoot as a content creator or influencer.

If you’re a blogger or business owner then you know how important it is to have beautiful images of yourself or your product to post online. Whether it’s professional photos of yourself or content for a brand collaboration preparing for the photo shoot will ensure that the end result is exactly what you imagined.

While it might sound like all you have to do for a photo shoot is pick an outfit and do your makeup there is so much more that goes into the process. The last thing that you want to be doing right before a shoot is scrambling to get everything that you need together. Here are 8 useful tips for you to prepare for a photo shoot as a content creator!

How to Prepare for a Photo Shoot

What is the Purpose of the Photo Shoot?

Before you even think about outfits or locations consider the purpose of your photo shoot. What are you going to use these photos for? Are you shooting a particular item for a collaboration with a brand? Do you need to be able to get close-up shots of an item, like a piece of jewelry?

Think about what are you looking to highlight in these images. Is it your hair, makeup, your outfit, or all three? Or maybe these are just going to be some fun lifestyle shots that you can use for your business. In any case, the purpose of your photo shoot will guide you when planning out your next steps.

What Mood or Style Will Inspire Your Shoot?

Now that we know the purpose the photos will serve you need to think about the concept of your shoot. What themes, moods, or feelings do you want the images of the shoot to evoke? Consider what it is that you want the person looking at these images to feel.

For example, if you’re doing a collaboration with a brand that makes straw handbags you might want the viewer to imagine themselves wearing that bag on a tropical vacation. That might mean you take your photo shoot to the nearest beach on a bright sunny day in order to create that feeling in your images!

Create a Mood Board

Now that you know the purpose and style of your photo shoot it’s time to start saving some images for inspiration. I like to create a secret board on Pinterest and start pinning images that relate to the mood and style of my upcoming shoot.

If you really want to get fancy you can save the images to your computer and upload them into a program like Canva in order to create a digital mood board. I don’t always do this step because it can be time-consuming but it’s a fun way to plan your project and it makes it easy to share with any other creatives that may be working on the shoot with you.

Scout Locations

Now that you know the purpose of your photo shoot and the mood you want it’s time to scout locations. Keep in mind the time of day that you are going to be shooting content. It’s good to have an idea of how busy the location will be when you visit.

When looking for places to shoot think about the things that are around the area that will make your photos more interesting. Are there any cool pieces of artwork or murals? Maybe there is a cute cafe or shop where you can snap a few pictures. While you’re out scouting different places take some photos of spots that you like with the GPS tag on your phone so you can easily remember where everything is!

Hot Tip: Make sure the location you choose allows photography if you are using a DSLR or professional camera. Some locations (museums, parks, etc.) do not allow professional photography without a permit or payment of a fee.

Plan Your Outfit

Planning my outfit is one of my favorite parts of the photo shoot process. I guess it’s the fashion blogger in me but I love the challenge of putting together pieces in order to create a chic look. 

After considering the location of your photo shoot and the mood that you desire you can start assembling your outfit. I always like to bring a few extra pieces to layer over top of my outfit to give variety and movement to my photos.

For example, even if it’s not entirely weather appropriate I almost always bring a jacket or some form of outerwear to my shoots. It gives you something to play with as you can layer it over top of your outfit, throw it over your shoulder, or simply carry it around. Try bringing a few different items like hats, bags, shoes, scarves, or any other accessories that you think will complement your shoot.

Pick Out Props

If it’s appropriate bring a few props with you to the location of your photo shoot. Think flowers, a retro camera, or sparklers. If you’re shooting somewhere near a bunch of shops you can even pick up something from there to go with your shoot.

For example, if you’re shooting near a beautiful bakery you can pick out a cupcake and make that a part of some of your photos. Or a cup of coffee if you’re close to a cute coffee shop! Work with your surroundings to add interest to your shoot!

Pack Your Bag!

A day or two before you shoot make sure that you have everything you need. That means laying out your clothes (make sure they are wrinkle-free!) and packing your bag with all of your props and extra accessories.

Taking your own photos? Make sure that you have all of the equipment that you need ready to go. Extra SD cards, lens, tripod, and an extra battery. There’s nothing worse than getting ready for your photo shoot just to get to your location and realize that your camera has died and you don’t have an extra battery!

Relax and Enjoy Yourself!

You can hours planning your photo shoot but if you’re not in the right frame of mind your photos are not going to turn out how you have envisioned them. Remember this should be fun! Some of the best photos I’ve captured are ones where I’m not taking myself too seriously.

I often have my partner take my photos when we are out and he’s always asking me to do silly things as we shoot. This actually helps me to relax, and laugh (a lot!),  Which in turn makes me feel more comfortable so we tend to get some really fun shots!

I hope these tips have inspired you and helped make it easier to prepare for a photo shoot in the future. Do you have any tips on how to prepare for a photo shoot? Be sure to share them in the comments below!

P.S. I don’t normally create posts sharing my blogging/content creation tips but I’m thinking about adding my experiences and tips as a section of this site. Let me know if that is something you’re interested in and I’ll start creating more posts like this!

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