Okay ladies, today’s post is for all of my fellow bloggers, creatives and photographers out there. I’ve been blogging for five years now and I am a little embarrassed to admit that it’s taken me this long to get organized when it comes to capturing content for my site. Keep reading for some of my go-to photo shoot tips to staying on top of things and how to best maximize your time with your photographer! (spoiler: you might even come across a fun behind the scenes video)

Blogger Photo Shoot Tips

Tip #1:

Get your vision straight. Whether you’re looking to capture content for specific posts or just looking to create evergreen photos to accompany a wide range of assets in the future, nail down your vision before making plans with your photographer. For me, I like to schedule one “evergreen” shoot per month in addition to general shoots to capture photos for upcoming posts. A few weeks ago, Shelby and I shot for 6 hours split between two days. The first day was a combination of evergeen and post specific photos and day 2 was all about capturing street style shots. I pulled together a moodboard with inspiration and we connected before the shoot to ensure we were both aligned on the vision. Make sure you also gauge your photographer for tips on how to bring your vision to life!

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*hint – don’t copy your moodboard. instead, use for inspiration to capture unique photos for your blog!

Tip #2:

Make a shot list. I picked up this tip from my PR days. Once you have your vision locked in, write out a list of the physical shots you need. This comes in handy especially for sponsored posts or content. Some brands have set image requirements and if you’re planning to shoot a variety of projects, staying organized will be your best friend. I get pretty granular with my shot lists and go as far as listing out the project, the outfit I’ll be wearing in the look, listing out ay props in addition to outlining the “shots” I want. I print out a copy and save a copy to my phone. I also send a copy to my photographer before the shoot to make sure we’re on the same page. We then work our way through the list and cross of the shots as we go!

Here’s a quick example!

Shot List Example

Coffee, wearing grey sweater + boyfriend jeans (props: white mug, coffee in thermos, magazines, Warby Parker glasses)

• shots from overhead with coffee in lap, flipping through magazine
• shots on couch sipping coffee, candid

Wine campaign, wearing polka dot blouse and black jeans (props: 2 wine glasses, bottle of wine, gold straws, marble tray)

• shots of me pouring wine into glass (close up and far away)
• product shots of wine with glasses full and straws on marble tray
• candid shots of “party host” with wine and glasses
• candid shots sipping wine
• laughing shots with wine in focus in background

Navy Outfit, wearing navy pants and turtleneck (props: n/a)

• streetstyle, candid walking across crosswalk
• candid and staged shots of look; far away with negative space, close up on details, shots for square and shots for Instagram
• headshot/portrait style photos

Tip #3:

Prep your looks + props…and take photos. Just like I do before traveling, I try on all of my looks and take photos of each outfit. I do the same with props for each specific project. Then, on the day of the shoot, I have those photos to reference in my phone as a reminder. I love pairing these photos with the shot list I created to make sure I am as organized as possible and don’t forget to capture anything! These pics are also helpful when pulling links for posts (blog or IG) before you get the photos back from your photographer. I like to get all of my affiliate links ready to go for blog posts beforehand so I typically will reference these photos as a reminder for the items I styled.

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catch a behind the scenes look from my latest shoot below!