Brand photoshoot planning
that starts with where each image runs.

Shots grouped by where they will run: the website hero (horizontal, with space for a headline), the about page portrait, services and process images, social verticals, and a press headshot. Give each shot its orientation, location and outfit. Mark the five or six that must exist for the website to launch, and shoot those first.

Ideas that show the business, not just the face: the person at work with their real tools, a client session, hands on the product, a candid mid-conversation, the workspace in the morning light, a flat lay of what they sell, a walking shot for the website hero, and a clean headshot for press. Pick the ones their pages actually need.

What they sell and to whom, what makes them different, three words for how they want to come across, their colours and fonts, brands they admire, what they never want to look like, every page and channel the images will run on, how comfortable they are on camera, and the photos of themselves they like and hate.

A common shape is three to four weeks. Week one: questionnaire answers back. Week two: moodboard lanes and a first shot list, agreed on a call. Week three: locations confirmed and wardrobe photographed. The final days: timings, and when hair and makeup start. A shoot planned in the last week usually skips the questionnaire, and it shows.

A few outfits in the brand's colours, in solid fabrics without small patterns or large logos, including one the client actually wears with customers. Layers give more looks from fewer outfits. Lay each outfit out and photograph it a week before, so the photographer can check it against the moodboard and the locations.

A headshot session makes one to a few portraits against a plain background, for a profile or press. Brand photography makes a library of images for a business: portraits, the work, the products, the space and details, each planned for a page or channel. Brand shoots need a questionnaire, a moodboard and a shot list; a headshot rarely does.

Count them by use rather than by the hour. Add up the website pages, the social posts planned for the next few months, email headers and press needs, then add variations for the hero and about images. State the number of edited images in the package, who selects them, and the price of each extra image.

Brand packages commonly license the images for the client's own marketing: website, social, email, press and print materials. Paid advertising, third-party use, book covers and merchandise are often licensed separately. Say how long the licence runs and whether the client may pass images to partners or publications. Put it in the plan in plain words and in the contract.

A starting point, not your eye. Paste the answers into Storyflow and its AI drafts the reference lanes, a first shot list and a timetable for the day. Replace the references with your own, cut what does not suit the person, and add the shots only you would think of.

No. Questionnaire forms, contracts, e-signature, deposits and invoices belong in Dubsado, HoneyBook or Pixieset, and galleries and favourites in Pixieset or Pic-Time. The shoot itself is planned in Storyflow; its link goes in the welcome email your client tool sends, so the founder sees the look and the shots next to the booking.

Not during early access. Storyflow is paid-only during early access, with plans from $7.99 a month billed annually ($9.99 monthly). A free plan launches before the end of 2026, and anyone a paid member invites to a board joins free. Your client pays nothing to open the plan.