 Now what is a photo shoot photo shoot allows you to plan a month of content in just one day so then that way you can have the consistency to post and have content to post every single week or every single day, whatever the schedule that you create. Last thing you want is to have a really good run in the first week, but you fall off in the second, third or fourth week because you're too busy dealing with operations dealing with the logistics delivering out your items. That's the reason why having and scheduling a photo shoot is so important because it allows you to create everything in just one day. It also allows you to set up the best version for your pictures because high quality photos would definitely capture more people's attention. And when people are scrolling through the feed and if your photos are not engaging or appealing, people can just scroll through. That's the reason why having a photo shoot is so important. Now, why is it important? Once again, we covered this a little bit. It saves you a ton of time. Having a photo shoot allows you to create content a month of content all at once. And that's what we do for all our businesses. We create a photo shoot and just do it one day. We batch everything and we create it all in one day for a month of content. You don't need to schedule multiple shoots and also it just is way more efficient when you have a photo shoot created because by you planning what photos you want to take, you prepare all your props, your equipment to showcase your product. That allows you to do one time of job and to create 30 days of content. And that's what we like to do, much more efficient. And on top of that, it just saves you a ton of money. Hiring a professional photographer costs you a thousand plus dollars. And oftentimes you won't be able to see that return when you're just posting pictures. That's the reason why I wouldn't encourage you to invest in a photographer to begin with because you're not going to be able to see the return right away. And it also allows you and your staff to do it or your friends and family to help you do it. That way you can save a ton of money. Now the six steps of a successful photo shoot. First up, define your goal. Ask yourself, why are you shooting this? Is this for a new product? Is it for a new campaign? Because you're going to come back to this photo shoot all the time. If you're creating a new launch, you can be doing a photo shoot. Or let's say if you're doing a holiday themed campaign, you'll be doing a photo shoot. However, regardless of what you're doing, you need to define your goal. Why are you doing it? Okay, define it right from the get go. Understand ahead of time what types of content you want to create. Whether it's a holiday theme, let's say I'm shooting something for Christmas or I'm shooting something for a brand new launch. I need to know that because everything else is dictated by our goal. For example, we created this case study, Bulbasaur, which is a bubble tea kit. And we schedule our shoot to create content for our launch. And we're doing 15 photos for our initial post for Instagram feed. That's our goal for our initial launch. And we want to be able to shoot 15 pictures. So then that way we can have content on our Instagram and we can start selling our products. This is why we're doing it. Next up for you to create an inspo board. What is an inspo board? It is basically collection of inspiration of other photos that other people have taken from different brands, different photos. And this helps you with your photo shoot because it gets you being able to visualize what you're trying to create. And it also allows you to have your creative juices flowing. When you see something like this that you never thought of that, oh, maybe I can just pour some milk right on the top. This creates a lot of action dynamic on your picture and you enjoyed that. This is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. That's the reason why every time we have a shoot, we always go back to creating an inspo board. Pinterest is the perfect place for you to be able to create this inspiration board. Create a board each time for your photo shoot. So for example, if you're doing something for Christmas, the looks and the feels might be completely different. It might be something with a little bit more of a holiday theme. Type in the food item in the search bar and any specific feeling, adjectives or ideas you have. And like what I was saying, I would type in bubble tea and then Christmas to see what kind of inspiration I have for my Christmas launch. Add this into your inspo board so then that way you can start compiling a bunch of ideas for your own photo shoot. Now, how are you going to be able to create that and how are we going to add that? That's the reason why we created and have these links in the resources below. Click on those resources for you to learn how to create your own Pinterest boards and how to save pictures onto your Pinterest boards. It is very, very easy to do so. But creating an inspo board definitely helps you with your photo shoot. Now that you've done that, develop a shot list. What is a shot list? Basically, it is after in the previous lesson, we talked about the different content you're creating and that you're shooting. So now we need to be able to have an idea of, hey, if we're creating this specific content, a lifestyle content, what would the shot list be looking like? What kind of shot do we need to take with our product in order for it to be a lifestyle shot? This acts as a great photo reference that you can always click into. So then that way, when you're on the day of the shot, you already have a shot list in front of you. You're not doing any thinking. You're just following this process that you created for yourself, right? It could be different posts for the month. You will need different types of items. So for example, your friend enjoying a couple bubble tea and a hero shot of the item or someone pouring tea into the cup, whatever the pictures are. This acts as a great photo reference for you to replicate the same angle and the same type of feeling. So when you're doing the shoot on the day of, you know exactly what shot you're looking for. And it also lets you easily check off the shots during a photo shoot. Last thing you want is for you to miss a shot during a photo shoot and think about what shots to do next. Because you want to focus on creating and executing the best shot. Because on the day of photo shoot, it is a lot of work. You're going to be able, you need to think about how the product looks, whether it's melting or not, is the ice melting and is the lighting okay? You're thinking about a lot of logistical and execution problem. So you do not want to think about what shot you need to take. You need to have a shot list just tells you, hey, this is what I need to do next. And this becomes a really great way for you to prepare for a successful photo shoot. Pro tip here is that don't be too rigid on the shot list. As much as I preach, having a shot list is essential for the success of your shot. Do not be too rigid because some of the best shots are taken spontaneously, right? So as long as you're following that as a guide, as a reference, that shot list, it is good. Follow that, create that. But don't be too rigid in terms of the whole process. You're okay to actually go off script because this is just to guide you along the way. Putting your product on the grass, you and your friend interacting with your product. This is just an example of whatever is coming to mind on the day of the shoot. This, you can be creative with this whole thing. Don't forget to have fun because when you're having fun, creative juices keeps flowing and you're going to be able to have one of the best shots for the photo shoots that you didn't plan for when you're not too rigid. Next up, use props. I can't emphasize how important it is to use props because using props helps enhance your product. It helps enhance everything else. So for example, if you're doing a strawberry muffin, having strawberries in the back just allows people to actually see and feel what you're trying to create, right? Emphasize the shots. It's either products, seasonality, or holiday specific props. So for example, you can have ingredients, you can have utensils, you can have Christmas decorations depending on what you're shooting, depending on if you're shooting something that is a holiday themed. You can add those items in there so then that way it can make it more festive. You can add in, let's say Christmas lights, whatever the case may be. Create a list of props that you have on hand. And if you don't have those, ask your friends and family if they have specific props so then that way you can save money because a lot of these props could be lying around in your home, believe it or not. Because a lot of our props we have lying around in our home already. These are things that we already have. We already have the milk jug. It just makes this whole shoot much more dynamic and much more engaging when you do all this, okay? After you identify the different props you would need, create a list on Excel so then that way you can check off all the different props and you're not going to forget which props to bring and which props are for whichever shot you're looking for. Next up, prepare your equipment. It doesn't have to be the best camera that you have. It could be an entry level DSLR or mirrorless or even just a smart phone because for us we started off using just an iPhone and then we upgraded to a mirrorless camera and then we upgraded to a DSLR. All the phones nowadays does an exceptional job as long as it's a somewhat updated smart camera, okay? Make sure all your equipment is ready. Your battery is charged. Don't forget to bring your equipment. Have a checklist of all your equipment the day before the shoot because actually something that happened to us when we did our ice cream shoot is that we've wasted the full day. We coordinated with our shop. We coordinated with our team to help with the photo shoot and we coordinated basically with two other individuals as our models for our shoot. But on the day of I forgot to bring my tripod. I forgot to charge my battery and in turn wasted two to three hours of time and thus our model needed to leave and basically we just need to reschedule the whole photo shoot and just wasted a ton of time because I forgot to bring my equipment. So make sure you guys have all your equipment ready. Have it as a checklist and make sure you charge your phone and your battery. Make your product. Make sure to prepare more units than you need of your specific product because a lot of times you might need to use it as props on the background or you might need to stack it up or you just might just need multiple different units of your product. Bring extra ingredients. So for example, if you're selling a cake then bring extra icing, extra chocolate drizzle, espresso powder because on the day of the shoot you're trying to be creative. You're going to be pouring more espresso shots, more chocolate drizzle, maybe an action shot. This is also a reason why you need to bring extra ingredients. Make sure to be creative so then that way you can amplify the characteristics of your product. Let's say if you're selling a tiramisu, right? Then amplify it by sprinkling lots of espresso powder on the top. When people see that espresso flakes coming down it gives them a feeling of, wow, this looks really great. It has a really good coffee taste to it and it just really amplifies the characteristics of your food product, okay? Or you can even bring a blow torch to make your ingredients hot and steamy if you're selling something that is hot, right? So definitely be creative with this whole process. Now that you've figured out your six steps, set a date for your shoot, get a friend to help you out and don't forget to have fun, guys. During this photo shoot, make sure you guys have fun. The first time you're doing it, it's going to be hectic. It's going to be busy and it's not going to come out as perfect as you want. However, practice makes perfect. So set a date and then get prepared and go to your photo shoot. Now, if you want to learn more, you can continue on this lesson on the food photography tips. There's five of them. First up, lighting. Take photos near a window with natural lighting that is a little bit softer and it is definitely natural lighting is always the best choice when it comes to lighting. Avoid using flash or harsh overlights because it's just going to have these reflections that's not going to look nice and natural. Use natural lighting. It gives you this kind of effect. And also, this is actually studio lighting, but natural lighting does give you this kind of effect as well. So definitely natural lighting is always the way to go. Next up, create action with your props. A lot of people just put the props on the table and that's that. But using your props and actually utilizing it actually allows your picture to be much more dynamic. You see this because now you can see yourself pouring the tea into the cup and it just makes your photo that much more interactive and it appears much more inviting and much more realistic. For example, stirring a bubble tea, adding eggs or drizzling sauces. These are all great ways to add action with your props in your photo shoot. Next up, use neutral backgrounds. Don't have messy backgrounds lying around because what do we want to do? We don't want the attention away from what we're selling. We want the attention to be at the pearls. We want the attention to be looking at, wow, this looks really, really great, right? So if it's a really messy background, then people are much more drawn to a messy background and the focus would be away from the pearls right here which is the whole point of this picture. Using neutral backgrounds allows you to focus on this. Now what are neutral backgrounds? In this link and in the resources, click on the link to learn what are neutral backgrounds for your food product, right? This doesn't mean it has to be completely white. It just means that you need to complement your food, okay? So once again, go and check out the resources below to not understand what are backgrounds that complement your food. Next up, rule of thirds. Avoid taking photos straight, front and center because when you're having a photo that's fixated at the lock like let's see right here, front and center, then this image becomes quite boring and it becomes very, very static. It becomes really one-dimensional. You're just focusing on the lock. There's really no room for any exploration whereas if you're having this lock and this image as a third sided on the third right here then your eye travels around the image to the lock but it also has room to explore the background right here which makes this whole image much more dynamic, much more appealing, much more space for your customers to actually wander off and have much more imaginations. That's the reason why rule of thirds is so important. It allows you to create very engaging and intriguing images as well. So as you can see here, this is the rule of third and when there is a grid, just imagine there's a grid and eight, sorry, nine different boxes, right? You want to be able to have your subject, the item that you're trying to shoot in between the intersections of these lines and once you're able to position it right here, take that photo, you can see automatically this photo looks already a lot more engaging than if we were to shoot front and center because now you can actually, your eyes has room to kind of go around here, much more engaging when you choose to shoot in thirds. Now, most cameras already have the feature of showing grid options, so just turn it on and point at your product and then make sure you find these intersection points and take pictures and have fun and be creative with this whole process. Practice makes perfect once again. Lastly, it's not always about your food only, right? Be creative with this whole process. Don't just show off your food. Take photos of your surrounding, your staff working or just someone enjoying the product and be creative. Don't be too rigid when you're taking photos. That's part of the fun, okay? Now, it is your turn. Open up your Instagram content planning document in the link below. Write down your goals. Your first goal is to create your first 15 posts. Create an inspo board using Pinterest and then drag 15 of your photos from your Pinterest board onto your shot list and add in the props and equipment. Take photos using the five tips provided and there you go. Your photo shoot created all for you.