Photo shoot: what it involves
A photo shoot is a planned session in which a photographer, often with a whole team, produces a series of images to a single brief: of a product, with a model or on location. The result is a consistent set of frames for an online shop, a catalogue, a campaign or a portfolio.
What separates a shoot from a batch of random pictures is the plan. Before the first light is switched on, everyone knows what has to be produced, in which format, on which background and who signs off the result. A shoot for an online shop works more like a production line than an artistic experiment: every product goes through the same steps.
Stages of a photo shoot
- Brief and concept - the purpose of the photos, a shot list, the background and the file format, and for styled shots a mood board of references.
- Preparation - steaming and cleaning the products, gathering props and, for shoots with people, choosing a model from their polaroids and planning the styling.
- Shooting - the photographer sets the light and the framing, and the client approves shots on set or remotely.
- Selection - reviewing every frame on a contact sheet and choosing the ones that go to retouching.
- Post-production and delivery - post-production, export in the agreed format and transfer of the rights to the photos.
The size of the crew depends on the job. A packshot shoot needs a photographer, someone to prepare the products and a retoucher. A fashion shoot adds a model, a stylist, a make-up artist and a hairstylist, and bigger campaigns bring in someone to run the set.
At marszalstudio you book a product shoot in our app: choose the type of session, the number of photos and any extras, fill in the brief and add your invoice details, then send the products by courier to our studio in Warsaw. The whole process is set out on the page how to order product photography. Clothing, jewellery and other products on a model are shot as a lookbook, priced on request.
Common mistakes when organising a shoot
- No brief, so the photographer has to guess the framing, the background and the number of shots per product.
- Products that arrive creased, dusty or covered in fingerprints, all of which then has to be removed in retouching.
- Approving the photos only after retouching, when every change means redoing finished work.
- No agreement on how long the model's image may be used in advertising.
The concept decides everything that ends up in the frame. In a seasonal set-up that means colours, props and their arrangement; in a packshot on a white background, the product alone.
Polaroids in modelling
Polaroids, now often called digitals, are plain, unretouched photos of a model: face and full figure, with no make-up, styling or filters, against a plain background. Agencies and clients use them to see what someone really looks like before inviting them to a casting or booking them for a shoot.
The name comes from Polaroid instant cameras. The company's first, the Model 95, was introduced in 1948, and the fashion industry relied on Polaroid prints as a record of models and potential models (Wikipedia). Today the pictures are taken on a digital camera or a phone, which is why agencies call them digitals, but the old name has stuck.
In modelling the camera does not matter; an honest likeness does. If you came here for the cameras themselves, see our instant camera definition and the comparison Instax vs Polaroid.
What a set of polaroids includes
- A straight-on headshot, one with a neutral expression and one smiling.
- A profile and a three-quarter headshot.
- A mid-length shot, from mid-thigh up.
- Full length from the front, smiling and not smiling.
- Swimwear shots, only if the agency or a client asks for them.
Every agency sets its own requirements, so check them before you shoot (My Model Reality, model digitals guide). Once a model is signed, agencies expect fresh digitals every few months or whenever a client asks, because haircut, hair colour and figure change.
How to take good polaroids
- Light: soft daylight, for example by a window or outdoors on a cloudy day, never harsh direct sun.
- Background: a plain, light wall with nothing else in the frame.
- Clothing: fitted and neutral, without patterns or logos, such as a black vest top and skinny jeans.
- Make-up and hair: minimal make-up or none, hair worn naturally and off the face, no sunglasses.
- Camera angle: avoid shooting from above, because a high angle distorts proportions.
- Editing: no filters, no beauty mode, no retouching.
Agencies say plainly that you do not need professional photos to apply: clear phone pictures against a plain wall in natural daylight will do, as long as there are no filters, Facetune or heavy editing (Sandra Reynolds Agency). The most common mistake is treating polaroids as a mini editorial, with strong make-up, loose styling and dramatic poses. The agency wants the opposite: material that shows proportions and features with nothing added.
For a clothing brand, polaroids are a practical tool before a lookbook. They show whether a model's figure suits the sample sizes and the character of the collection before anyone books the shoot.
When you choose a model, agree straight away how, where and for how long their image may be used. That is the job of a model release, the document in which the person photographed gives permission for the pictures to be published (Wikipedia).
From the studio: with photos featuring a model, marszalstudio clients receive full copyright, with no limit on time or territory. The one exception is the model's likeness, which may be used for 2 years, so plan campaigns and photo refreshes ahead.
Headshot
A headshot is a tightly cropped portrait of the head and shoulders whose main job is to identify the person: on a professional profile, an ‘About us’ page, in press materials or in a casting submission. A portrait can tell a story and show surroundings; a headshot is there so that people recognise you (Rory Lewis).
Casting directors quoted by Spotlight describe it as a photo of your face, closely cropped from the shoulders up, usually in a vertical 10x8 inch format (Spotlight). Their advice is blunt: no filters, no holiday snaps, no model shots, and new headshots every couple of years.
What sets a headshot apart from a polaroid is the purpose. A polaroid shows an unpolished look for an agency, while a headshot is finished for public use, with considered clothing, light and gentle retouching. Both follow one rule: the photo has to look like the person who will walk into the meeting.
What makes a good headshot
- Sharp eyes and a crop from the shoulders up, with a little space above the head.
- Soft, even light with no deep shadows under the eyes.
- A calm, plain background that does not compete with the face.
- Clothing suited to the profession, without large patterns or logos.
- A current likeness: a photo several years old, or one cut out of a holiday picture, shows at once.
In an online shop, headshots usually appear on the team or ‘About us’ page. What counts there is consistency: the same background, light and crop for everyone. Practical tips for your own profile picture are collected in our guide 9 tips to nail your social media profile picture.
Stylist
A stylist selects and prepares everything that goes into the frame apart from the product or the model: clothes, accessories, props, backgrounds and their arrangement. The stylist's job is to keep every image from a shoot consistent and true to the brief.
On a fashion shoot the stylist puts the outfits together, fits them to the model and watches the details between frames: a collar, a rolled sleeve, a fold of fabric. With products the work is less visible but just as meticulous: the arrangement, the angle of the label, the spacing of props, clean surfaces.
| Feature | Fashion stylist | Product stylist |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Clothes and accessories on the model | Arrangement of the product, background and props |
| Aim | Show the collection and the character of the brand | Bring out the product's features and use |
| Works with | Photographer, make-up artist, hairstylist, designer | Photographer, retoucher, marketing team |
| Example | Lookbook for a new collection | Catalogue photography of jewellery |
Preparing products for a shoot
Most of the time goes on work you never see in the final photo. A high-resolution image shows every crease, speck of dust and fingerprint, and each one then has to be removed in retouching.
- Clothing: ironing or steaming, removing loose threads and lint, arranging the folds.
- Hard surfaces: polishing, removing dust and fingerprints.
- Packaging: picking a unit without dents or scratches.
- Arrangement: angle, symmetry and label position kept identical across the series.
From the studio: product preparation is standard at marszalstudio. We iron clothing, polish surfaces and arrange every product before it is shot. If you order ghost mannequin photos of your garments, ironing is part of our job.
Common styling mistakes
- An overloaded frame, where props pull the eye away from the product.
- Styling that ignores the brief or the target customer, such as streetwear in a campaign for fine jewellery.
- Details that show only when zoomed in: creases, sticking-out tags, dust.
Photo props
A prop is an object in the frame that is not the subject of the photo but hints at the product's scale, use or mood. The word comes from the theatre: the earliest known use of ‘properties’ for stage objects is in the morality play The Castle of Perseverance from 1425, the Oxford English Dictionary dates the short form ‘props’ to 1841, and the person in charge of them is still called the property master (Wikipedia).
In product photography a prop works for the sale: a cup next to a bag of coffee, a sprig of herbs beside a cosmetic with a plant extract, a suitcase next to sunglasses. The usual choices are flowers as props, plants, fabrics, plinths, fruit and everyday objects.
- The prop is smaller than the product or calmer in colour.
- It suits the target customer and the selling season.
- It never hides what the customer is paying for: a clasp, a texture, a label.
At marszalstudio, an arranged set with props is part of the advertising shot styled by our photographer (Commercial Photography in our price list): €47 net per photo, with a minimum of 5 photos (€235).
Virtual photo shoot
A virtual photo shoot (online photo shoot) is a session the client does not have to attend in person: they send the products, then watch and approve the photos remotely, in real time, in a web browser. The photographer gets feedback while working, not after the files have been delivered.
Virtual does not mean generated. The products are real and photographed in a studio; only the client's presence is remote. The live preview relies on tethering, a connection between the camera and a computer that puts each frame on screen the moment it is taken.
An online shoot step by step
- Order in the app: session type, number of photos, extras, brief and invoice details.
- Send the products by courier to the studio (at marszalstudio: Konstancińska 2, 2nd floor, 02-942 Warsaw, Poland; you can also drop them off Monday to Friday, 8:00-16:00).
- Before the shoot you get a link and a password to the preview, with no account to create.
- Feedback during the shoot: mark each photo OK or Needs changes, draw notes with a brush or drop a pin where something needs fixing, and chat with the photographer and the retoucher.
- After the shoot, a contact sheet to approve, then retouching and the finished photos via a gallery link.
From the studio: the live session is always included in the price at marszalstudio. You watch the photos as they are taken, mark each one OK or Needs changes, draw your notes with a brush and chat with the photographer and the retoucher. When the shoot ends, you still have an hour to add notes.
Pros and limits of an online shoot
- No travel: you take part from your office or your phone, wherever you are.
- Instant corrections: a crooked label is fixed by moving the product on set, not by an hour of retouching.
- The limit: you cannot touch the product on set, so the brief, the shot list and the reference images have to be precise.
Contact sheet
A contact sheet (also called a proof sheet) is a set of thumbnails of every frame from a shoot, laid out on a single sheet or in a single file. It is used to review the material and choose the frames before any of them are enlarged or retouched.
The name comes from the darkroom. Developed negatives were placed emulsion side down in direct contact with photographic paper and exposed to light, so each print came out exactly the size of the original frame (Wikipedia). Photographers examined the sheet through a loupe and enlarged only the best frames instead of printing the whole roll.
Contact sheets also reveal how a photographer works. Magnum Contact Sheets, edited by Kristen Lubben, brings together more than 120 sheets selected by some seventy Magnum photographers or their estates, and shows whether a famous picture was planned, worked towards frame by frame, or a matter of luck and timing (ICP Library).
Contact sheets in digital photography
Today a contact sheet is a PDF or JPG with a grid of thumbnails, or simply the grid view in photo software. In Photo Mechanic the main thumbnail window is called the Contact Sheet and is built for fast culling: you tag frames, add star ratings and colour classes, and resize the thumbnails as you go (Photo Mechanic documentation). Photoshop builds a printable sheet through File > Automate > Contact Sheet II, with a set number of columns and rows and optional file names as captions (Envato Tuts+).
What a contact sheet is used for
- Selection: choosing the frames for retouching and publication.
- Approval: the client points to the chosen frames by number.
- Completeness check: making sure every product has all the angles and variants from the brief.
- Archive: a quick overview of a shoot without opening hundreds of files.
How to read a contact sheet after a product shoot
Look at the whole first, then at the details. A thumbnail shows framing, composition and the consistency of a series well, but it will not reveal slight softness or a speck of dust on the product, so open borderline frames at full size.
- Check that every product has the full set of angles from the brief, for example front, back and a detail.
- Compare colour variants side by side: a shade that is off in one variant stands out faster in a grid than in single photos.
- Send your selection as frame numbers or file names, not as ‘third from the left’.
A PDF contact sheet is easy to turn into images, for example to drop into a presentation for your team. Our free PDF to JPG converter does it in the browser.
From the studio: after the shoot, marszalstudio clients receive a contact sheet, and their approval is the signal to start retouching. Every photo includes basic editing (crop, exposure and colour) and one round of retouching corrections. You collect the finished photos from a gallery link that stays online for 30 days.
Frequently asked questions
What are polaroids in modelling?
Simple photos of a model's face and full figure with no make-up, styling or retouching, taken against a plain background. Agencies and clients use them to judge a model's natural look. They are now shot on a phone or digital camera and often called digitals.
What should I wear for model polaroids?
Fitted, neutral clothing without patterns or logos, such as a black vest top and skinny jeans. Keep make-up minimal or skip it, and wear your hair naturally and off your face. Some agencies also ask for swimwear shots, so check their guidelines first.
What is the difference between a headshot and a portrait?
A headshot is a tight head-and-shoulders crop meant to identify the person, for example on a professional profile or in a casting submission. A portrait can show the whole figure and its surroundings and tell a story. Every headshot is a portrait, but not every portrait is a headshot.
How often should I update my headshot?
Whenever it stops looking like you. Casting directors quoted by Spotlight advise changing headshots every couple of years and deleting any photo that no longer represents you, because the person who walks into the room has to match the picture.
What is a contact sheet in photography?
A sheet or file with thumbnails of every frame from a shoot. It began as a darkroom print made by laying negatives directly on photographic paper. Today it is a PDF, a JPG or a grid view used to choose frames for retouching and to check that every planned shot exists.
Do I need to be at the studio for a product photo shoot?
No. In a virtual photo shoot you send the products by courier and watch the photos live in your browser. At marszalstudio the live session is always included: you mark each photo OK or Needs changes and chat with the photographer and the retoucher.
How much does a product photo shoot cost?
It depends on the type of photo. At marszalstudio a packshot on a white background costs from €9 net per photo (€18 with retouching), an advertising shot arranged by our photographer €47 net with a minimum of 5 photos, and a lookbook with a model is priced on request.
What does a stylist do on a photo shoot?
A stylist chooses and prepares everything in the frame apart from the product or the model: clothes, accessories, props and backgrounds. On set they watch the details between frames, from creases and tags to the angle of a label, so the whole series stays consistent.
Sources
- Instant camera - Wikipedia
- How to take modeling digitals - My Model Reality
- Model digitals: how to take perfect polaroids for agencies and clients
- Do I need professional pictures to apply to an agency? - Sandra Reynolds Agency
- Model release - Wikipedia
- What is the difference between a portrait and a headshot? - Rory Lewis
- 7 headshot tips from casting directors - Spotlight
- Theatrical property - Wikipedia
- Contact print - Wikipedia
- Magnum Contact Sheets - ICP Library
- Contact Sheets: An Overview - Photo Mechanic
- How to make a contact sheet in Photoshop - Envato Tuts+
