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How to Plan a Product Shoot on a Budget
Is your product shoot budget a bit smaller than you would like?
I
know it can be very difficult to come up with the money for a full professional product shoot of everything you offer all at once.
So let me give you the suggestions I’ve given a lot of business owners who are unsure about how to get their professional product shoots done on the budget they have.
1. Realistic Budget
When the product photo budget is tight, you can always go the DIY route for your images. (See my Flatlay Method Ecourse for my best tips and tricks for business owners taking their own flatlay photos.) But you may get to the point where the amount of time you have to invest in the shoot process doesn’t make sense when you could use those same hours to create more of your product to sell instead.
One way to build up your budget is to consider setting aside money every month to put toward a photo shoot. When you’ve got several hundred dollars ready to go, reach out to a photographer.
Also, think about how many photos you really need. If you’re wanting images of all 75 items you sell but only have a few hundred dollars, a photographer might think you’re a little crazy! But if you can narrow that number down to a few items that are the most important, your shoot will become MUCH more affordable. (More on this below.)
Additionally, you might want to get in touch with less experienced photographers or freelancers who will charge you less. Let them know what your budget is, and see if it’s something they can work within. Sometimes we feel a little shy about our budget, but hey! We’ve all been there! We’ve all started a business and had a small budget at one point, so reaching out to somebody and letting them know your budget is really not something to be afraid of.
2. A Little Bit at a Time
Chunking away a little bit at a time with your product photos is much softer on your budget. Start with your most popular items or well-liked seasonal items. Look at what variations you have in your products, too. If you have earrings that come in 15 different colors and prints, you’ve got the same product with lots of variations. Choose the most popular one and just shoot that. Building your photo library gradually is a lot less overwhelming, and it still gets you quality photos for your product shop so you can get more sales and have your product recognized more by your ideal audience.
3. Generic Labels
To keep costs down, you might also want to give thought to generic labels. For example, you might have a product that changes periodically throughout the year for different seasons and holidays. I take photos for a skincare line that updates its scents several times a year. But overall, the products are always a body butter, a scrub, and a spray. So because the products themselves don’t actually change, using generic labeling without scents listed is a perfect solution so that their product images are evergreen and can be used all year long. The product description can always cover scents or other variations.
So even if you’re on a smaller budget for your product photos, you’ve got options! You put a lot of effort into creating your products, and good photos to help you sell them are not out of your reach.
And since we’re in the holiday season, don’t forget to check out the Create Your Content Kit my biz bestie, Natalie of Beau and Arrow Media, and I created so you can have better looking photos, great copy, and everything planned out for yourself in this quarter. Right now, I’ve also included my presets mini-course for those of you using Lightroom for free!
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