Here are our top hints and tips that will increase your photo studio productivity - ensuring you get the best out of your day(s) as a photographer in our studio.
There are 3 main objectives here,
Decrease your cost per image
Increase your sales
Increase your profitability
Tip 1 - Maximise you studio work space
It’s difficult to be efficient working in a cramped and cluttered space. Make sure you have more than enough space when planning.
Sketch out your ideal photo studio space, calculate the square footage needed - then double it!
Think about room for your photography equipment (table, lighting, backdrops etc), the product or subject preparation, and staging.
Tip 2 - Hire or train studio helpers
Photo studio helpers have a significant impact on productivity. The most expensive resource in a photo shoot is the photographer, the more time than can concentrate and focus on the photography, the better.
Look to hire photographer helpers that know about the products or subject in question, with experience. Ensure they are organised and they are a fast worker. It is key to be a good communicator.
Tip 3 - Develop workflows
Efficiency is critical to a well managed photo shoot. Organisation of products or subjects to be photographed should be in a logical and categorised order. Ensure the stage is set so 100s of similar photographs can be achieved without adjusting the camera, lights or set.
Ensure there is a flow between the helper(s) and photographer. For example, while the photographer is shooting, the helpers are prepping the next shoot.
Have a numbering and image recording system in place as items are photographed. This saves time, and will be better than an error-prone manual spreadsheet process.
Workflow software can be a huge time-saver to help automate time-consuming tasks. This will help you associate images to products/items/subjects. Recording all the images taken, saving and backing up images and uploading to an online system for later editing.
Tip 4 - Effective photography lighting
Adjusting lights between photography is time consuming. An experienced photographer will have a plan in place to quickly adjust lights from image to image. Less adjustments results in less post photography production required.
Tip 5 - Minimising time between photography and QA
Minimising this time results in less reshoots. Images should be captured at the studio and automatically uploaded to an image production management system.
Any editors should be able to access this system to edit images effortlessly. Once images are edited they should be made available for review and QA. The photographer can then be notified asap regarding any reshoots required on the day.