Catalogue photography on a budget

Point – press – publish, and hey presto: welcome to the digital age of photography!

If only it were so easy.  The “happy slapper” school of photography may work in theory, but it won’t get you very far in practice if you’re setting out to produce compelling, high quality catalogue photography that’s going to send your new season products flying out the door.

Why then do so many start-ups and small retailers fall into the “DIY trap” when it comes to photography?  Well – most of us can snap a picture and some may even qualify as enthusiastic amateurs.  Desperate to reduce the break-even point for our catalogues, it’s tempting to target the photography budget as a potential area of saving.  It may be hard to resist – but any decision should be preceded by some sober contemplation of a fairly stern health warning: “poor photography can seriously damage the health of your business!”

So why is decent photography so expensive in the first place?  First let’s consider what we need to achieve with our photography.  On the one hand we need the customer to see enough product detail to make them comfortable about with making a purchase.  On the other hand, many of us need to show our products being used in a context with which the customer can identify or aspire to.  Rather like good copywriting, good photography sells the benefits of ownership as well as illustrating the features of the product.

Capturing the product features is usually achieved with simple, uncluttered pack shots – generally photographed in a studio against a white or neutral background.  A good quality, well-lit pack shot at a high enough resolution to print in your catalogue as well as publish on your website will cost you anything between £20 and £40 per shot plus an extra £10 or so for the clipping path if you wish to use the picture as a cut-out. 

Lifestyle shots on the other hand are usually photographed in a purpose built studio set or on a suitable location and may well require models, props, an army of helpers, good weather and a generous dose of inspiration!  Broad brush budgeting here is very difficult until you know exactly what you need.  A good fashion or lifestyle photographer will cost £750-£1,000 a day, plus an assistant at around £150 a day.  An art director will cost around £750 and a stylist around £300.  Catalogue models can cost from £200 upwards.  On top of all that, you need to budget for props, transport, catering – as well as studio time and labour for building and taking down your set.  If you’re on location, a house can cost you upwards of £1000 a day and remember that if you’re asking an agency to manage the whole process, you’ll be paying for their admin and mark-up too.  Don’t overestimate the number of shots you can achieve in a day – then do the maths: it won’t be pretty!

The reality for a small and growing catalogue business is usually something like this.  You have a chunk of new products for the season so you need a fresh and new-looking catalogue.  You already have existing shots of your continuing products, and you’ll have a selection of supplier shots that may or may not be of appropriate quality to use.  With your limited budget, there’s no way you can afford to shoot or re-shoot everything that you’d like to.  So where do you start?

1.    Work to a budget.  It’s easy to build a basic costing model in a spreadsheet – you’ll need this to keep track of whether your plans fit with your budget. 

2.    Compile your wish list.  Work with your team and, in another spreadsheet, detail every shot from every page and include columns for shot type, props, models and locations.

3.    Properly assess your supplier shots and use what you can.  You’ll need to learn how to check for adequate resolution and size and be aware of the technical requirements for your catalogue – it’s not rocket science.

4.    Prioritise.  Starting with your covers and hotspots, your hero products and your page stoppers, and you’re bog-standard pack shots.  Keep playing with your spreadsheets until you’ve got a shoot list you think you can afford – then consult your photographer to make sure he or she agrees!

A good plan of your requirements makes all the difference so it’s really worth investing the time, consulting your team and getting it right.  With a plan in place you can begin to turn to the practical issues of executing it within the constraints of your budget.  This is the point where you face a lot of choices in terms of what you can achieve yourself, and what you need to dig into your budget for.

Some companies will already be working with an agency on their catalogue design and the agency in question is likely to be keen to manage the photography too – it helps them to achieve a consistent look and feel throughout the book.  Work with your agency and help them to prepare a proposal.  It’s not always “the expensive option” to hand over the reigns, so long as the agency is properly briefed and really understands your products, their key selling points, and your branding objectives.  In fact, agencies are very often rather skilled at executing a cost-efficient photo shoot so you may even save some money. 

Many of us will be working with a layout artist (either in-house or external) rather than a design agency to execute the catalogue layout – and in such cases it will fall to us to plan and orchestrate the catalogue photography in it’s entirety.  This is by no means impossible, and provides the greatest opportunity for making those economies that we so desperately strive.

Choose your photographer.  It’s so important to choose a photographer that matches your requirements and has the right skills and experience for your job.  In the past I’ve mistakenly believed that a great “fashion” photographer will manage to add the creative “X-factor” – only to find that the specification of each shot and the number of shots scheduled for the day have constrained the photographers creativity to such an extent that you end up with fairly bland but expensive shots.

Use your internal resources.  Never underestimate the administration effort required for successful photography, but if you can spare the resource you will certainly save some money by managing it yourself.  Similarly, if you have creative talent within the organisation use it to both in the planning and execution of your photography.  There’s a good chance your buyer or merchandiser will have a deeper understanding of your brand than a third party stylist – if they’ve got the talent, use them.  Second a member of your warehouse team to the logistics effort.  They will certainly know what the product looks like and there’s not much worse than having to bin a shot because the product can’t be found.

Choose good models.  We all remember the early Boden catalogues full of Jonnie’s good-looking friends but is it a cost effective strategy?  There’s no doubt that if you can pull in a favour or persuade some friends with fistful of vouchers you’ll make some savings on model fees but the pitfalls are many.  Will they photograph well?  Will they put up with the waiting around?  Will they take instructions?  Have you complied with all the procedural and legal requirements?  We suspect that Jonnie valued his friendships and the quality of his shots long before he let on to his adoring audience!

Many companies are now saving money by doing their own pack shots.  For an investment equivalent to around 50-75 pack shots at commercial rates, you can buy a decent camera and lighting kit and some white background coving. Send someone on a one-day course on studio photography and you’ll soon recover your investment and be in the wonderful position of being able to shoot, shoot and re-shoot products at a very low cost.  There will always be limitations on what you can produce this way, but so long as you are aware of them and create shots for an appropriate purpose, you’re quids in.

In summary, photography is rarely a black and white choice between DIY and outsourcing.  Most of us end up in the grey middle ground, managing elements of it ourselves, but using professionals of varying standards to fill the gaps in our internal skill sets.  There aren’t really many corners to cut and there is no substitute for a detailed plan and thorough understanding of every detail in the process.   With this knowledge you’ll be well placed to make the choices that will eek out your budget to the maximum.

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Top 5 tips for photography on a budget
1.    Plan, plan and re-plan
2.    Understand the process and know your capabilities
3.    Choose the right photographer for the right job
4.    Crack the whip and drive the process
5.    Invest in a basic pack-shot set-up

Top 5 pitfalls of managing your own photography
1.    Poor planning and lack of prioritisation
2.    An underestimation of the resources required
3.    Unrealistic scheduling
4.    Exhausted creative team
5.    Unprofessional models

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© Murray Kenneth 2009
First published in Catalogue & e-Business

Tags: Catalogue Photography