WHY ARE TEST SHOOTS SO VALUABLE?
Recently we were approached by a potential client, who presented us with the opportunity to execute a new project, one that got us very excited. It was something a little different from what we were used to doing, and that alone never fails to spark renewed creativity. The business owners appeared to be very friendly and so we could not wait to meet them. And to make our lives even easier, they were located not far away from our studio, so it was an easy decision to conduct our usual free consultation at their premises rather than by phone. Yes, we have many buttons on our website that you can click to book a free 30-minute consultation with us, but our process tends to be very flexible, it revolves around the potential client's needs, and we simply do whatever we feel is appropriate to meet those needs. Plus, it enabled us to meet them and view their product with minimal delay.
As with any other business, we have a process that has evolved over time and if we are honest, it is also one that is still changing as we adapt to each client's differing needs; we are simply here to serve our clients in the most effective and efficient manner we can. This particular project involved photographing one of their high-end products, but during our meeting, they raised a concern that despite the fact that they were impressed with our photography, we did not have any experience photographing that particular type of product. And they were right. I quickly reminded them of our guarantee, which is that if they did not love their images then we did not expect them to pay for them. But that can be a double-edged sword. In one way it protects them financially, but it also means they have wasted a lot of time, and as a consequence, their project will be behind schedule. So, while our guarantee is unique and exudes our confidence and ability, I quickly came to realize that it’s not a complete solution to product-specific inexperience.
The physical size of their product, together with the quantity that had to be photographed quickly ruled out the possibility of using our studio. This was a shoot that was going to have to take place on their premises and due to the project scope, was expected to be lengthy. This underlined to me that reminding them of our guarantee was not enough, we had to do a lot more to reassure them that they were considering the right photographers for their particular project.
The problem with product photography is that it differs from many other genres. All products differ in some way, and many reflect in different ways. Glasses and bottles reflect light, as do jewelry, chrome, and even silk rugs. They all have unique quirks when it comes to photography. For some, we can get away with presenting the finished image as a single frame. Others may dictate multiple frames being required, which are then blended together in post-production. Many products must be lit differently, so unlike some genres such as portrait photography, knowing one or two light setups is insufficient. It’s a case of understanding each product’s intricacies, understanding light and essentially being lighting engineers. It’s akin to understanding the intricacies of a foreign language.
Realizing that we had to do better to reassure our potential client came with the realization that our process had to evolve further. To reassure our potential client of our capability and also confirm to both them and us that we possessed the capability to execute their project correctly, we came up with the idea to conduct a test shoot. I use this term carefully as within photography this term often applies to a private non-paid shoot conducted by a photographer to produce images for their portfolio and/or social media. But I haven’t come up with a more suitable term so the name “Test shoot” remains in place, at least for now.
We conducted this test shoot a few days later on their premises, explaining to our potential client beforehand that the intent of the session was to learn lessons, both from the perspective of what worked and what didn’t. For this photoshoot, both were considered acceptable and in fact, both were welcomed. For those shots that worked out well, we were able to collect a lot of data on camera and lighting setup. For those that had some failings, well, that helped us to know which approaches should be avoided and also helped us to identify solutions to those failings. Again, invaluable information that would help us during the actual photoshoot.
As of writing this post, we have not yet conducted the final photoshoot, but it’s not far away so I will likely update this post to let you know how it went. But at least we will be conducting that shoot as we have been able to demonstrate our capability in advance, as well as demonstrating our capacity for identifying solutions to problems. Following the test shoot we edited and delivered the small number of images that we created, for which our potential client was grateful. Again, another opportunity to demonstrate capability and deliver valuable pre-photoshoot reassurance. They were pleased with those that turned out well, agreed with our conclusions regarding those that did not, and also agreed with the solutions we intended to implement. In short, our suggestion of conducting the test shoot provided us with valuable product-specific experience, and most importantly, provided our potential client with the necessary reassurance that they had selected the right photographers for their particular project. This was definitely a win-win situation that we needed for this project, one that proved itself to be invaluable.
In my next post, I will discuss our process in more detail. As a reminder, True Images Photography provides professional beverage, food, and product commercial photography that gets your business noticed. Feel free to book a free 30-minute consultation here. But if you are located close to our studio you may find we suggest conducting your free consultation there. And we are not strict about the 30-minute duration, it can take as long as it needs to.
Do look around the rest of the blog here for more helpful posts, and if you have any questions please reach out. I’m happy to advise. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn where I always answer messages with a detailed reply.