Make a photoshoot moodboard
the whole crew can shoot from.

Yes, and it is often the better reference, because much of the light and movement you want lives in a music video or film rather than a still. In Storyflow a YouTube or Vimeo clip plays on the board, and you can grab the exact frame onto the canvas instead of sending a timestamp and hoping everyone scrubs to it. Keep the clip itself when the movement matters more than any single frame.

Describe the shoot and the AI gathers a first set of references, or drop in your own images and links. Sort them into light, poses, styling, hair and makeup, location and colour, caption each with what it is for, and move what you are not committing to into a research folder. Share the board with the model, stylist and client by view-only link, then ask the AI for a shot list from the approved references.

Seven sections cover most shoots: the concept, one line and a few hero images; light, hard or soft, direction and time of day; poses and expression; styling per look, with garments, fabric, fit and props; hair and makeup; location or set; and colour and grade. Add the deliverables at the edge of the board so every reference stays tied to what the client commissioned. Storyflow keeps the sections side by side, with swatches beside the images.

Fewer than you collected: around fifteen to twenty-five references on the committed board, grouped in sections of three to five, plus two or three hero images. The board's job is to narrow decisions, and a hundred references does the opposite, because the crew stops reading and starts guessing. Keep everything else in a research folder. In Storyflow a folder is a whole board behind one tile, so nothing has to be deleted.

Usually one of four things: references that disagree; images with no caption, so the stylist reads a lighting reference as a wardrobe one; a board too large to scan, so it is not read on the day; and a client who first sees it on set. The fixes: cut to one direction, caption every image, keep the research in a folder and share for sign-off early. In Storyflow, Review my board gives notes on what misses your concept.

Send one view-only link rather than screenshots in three chats. In Storyflow the link opens the full board in a browser with no account needed to view it, and people who sign in can comment on a specific image, which is where a stylist flags a garment that cannot be sourced. Invite anyone contributing references to edit; invited people join free. On the day, export the board as an image or PDF so it is on every phone.

It becomes the reference the shoot is planned and judged against. The stylist and hair and makeup artist source against it, the shot list is written from its references, and the selects are checked against it afterwards. In Storyflow, select the approved references and ask the AI for a shot list on the same board, so the setups and the look stay together.

A good one makes a decision in every section, like this knitwear portrait shoot. The concept line reads 'quiet winter morning, one person, window light', with three hero images. Light holds four references of soft side light. Poses holds five, seated or leaning, eyes away from camera. Styling splits into two looks, cream and charcoal. Location is two white cottage interiors, colour is five swatches from cream to slate, and every image carries a caption.

It can build a first draft, and the photographer should edit it. Storyflow's AI gathers references from a description of the shoot and lays them out, and on Pro and Max it can generate an image for a look with no reference. It cannot supply your taste or this client's brief, so treat the draft as a pile to cut. For most shoots real references beat generated ones, because they show what a camera has achieved.

Not yet. 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. Anyone with the view-only link opens the moodboard in a browser with no account. If you need something free today, Pinterest works for collecting references, though the shot list and call sheet will have to live elsewhere.

Use both: Pinterest for discovering references and Storyflow for the moodboard the shoot runs from. Pinterest's recommendations are hard to beat for finding images, but it is built for saving rather than deciding, with no place for the shot list beside the pins. In Storyflow references are sorted into light, poses, styling and location, captioned, shared with the crew and planned into a shot list. Collect on Pinterest, then bring the shortlist onto a Storyflow board.