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E-Commerce Shoot

This quick tutorial is from a commercial shoot with one of Peter’s long term clients Kathy from Calor Yarns. As they have been working together for years Kathy is generally pretty happy to go with Peter’s suggestions on the shoot but he still listens to her input as it is her brand which is a really important relationship to have with smaller clients who don’t have art directors or graphic designers. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they  nailed the whole shoot!

17 comments on “E-Commerce Shoot

  • capturedlight says:

    Hi Peter,

    What are you feelings (or rues) with “onlookers” either doing video or images with the cell phones while you’re working? I noticed several times in the video an onlooker using their phone to get some recordings while you were working.

    Also, do you feel different about this happening based on the type of shoot (e.g., e-book, editorial, model portfolio, etc.) or the client?

    Eric

    • Hi Eric,

      Generally the person taking any behind the scenes is the client, so I don’t mind if they take some photos or videos. In this case it was the clients husband who also works for the company so I didn’t have a problem with it. It only matters if the shoot is a commercial editorial where none of the images can be released before the edited & printed version, but I generally don’t have anyone in the studio who isn’t a direct part of the shoot so I don’t come across many issues with it. Model portfolio’s I always tell the model they can take photos or videos of the screen and don’t mind if they post them, because you can tell it is a photo of a screen and not my finished work.

  • kay.bohlmann says:

    Thank you for sharing this with us.
    It’s like a music player who knows his instrument: it looks so easy!
    Ra Ra as always great!
    All my best from Hamburg/Germany
    Kay

  • frank_a_nguyen says:

    Another great tutorial and fun to watch – thank you Peter. what are your tips and advice for the final photo deliveries – Do you send proofs first? how many final edits do these types of shoots require? do you use Google Drive, Dropbox, or other websites to deliver the final photos? i’ve been using a website called pixie set and wondered if you’d come across that and have any opinions. thanks again Peter.

    • Hi Frank, thanks heaps. For these shoots it whatever the client wants, if there’s only one dress you might only send 3 edits, but some e-commerce shoots have have 200 gowns and they need a photo from the front and both sides, so the client would get 600 photos. In this particular shoot the client picked was bout 10 pictures, I give them a USB with the previews from the shoot and get them to email me the file numbers of the photos they’d like edited. I’ve never heard of Pixie set but I send the edits through Hightail.

  • Know how you feel about Ecom, (haha) but this was great and insightful. Also great to see when everything/one meshes and the talent how quick and smoothly it will go.

    ps I use pixieset.com as well. By far my favorite image delivery option I’ve found.

    • Makes such a difference when everything goes smoothly, it’s amazing how quickly we can get an entire shoot done 🙂 which is better for Peter & his dislike for ecom :p
      I’ve just looked into pixieset and it looks like a better way of doing things rather than usb’s! I’m gunna suggest it to Peter, thanks heaps

  • Interesting shoot! I really like how you not only have the technical and artistic skills but, you also have great interpersonal skills as well. The clients and models respond to this and is the key to running a successful small business.

  • thank you. Would love you to provide some guidance on the business side of things. Especially that all important pricing question. Just some ballpark recommendations for those starting out and those who have been in the industry a little longer. Winning the bids is a big part of the game of getting clients products in front of the camera, making a successful career and establishing a brand. I know its hard as there is a spectrum of experience, quality, how the image will be used, but would love to hear your thoughts

    • Hi Mike, no worries. It’s really hard to give a general pricing recommendation as every company and divison has a different pricing. From portrait to fashon, there’s different prices everywhere. I base my prices on what I think I’m worth and my overheads, I’ve never tried to be the cheapest. My recommendation would be to have a look at the industry you’re in and see if it fits in with what your overheads are. I hope that helps.

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