The Ultimate fitness photoshoot guide
Professional photos will go a long way in making every part of your visual brand look legit. Beautiful, on-brand photos will work wonders on your website, social feeds, ads, digital products, and more!
I truly believe that fabulous photos are one of the fastest and easiest ways to make your brand appear more established and trustworthy.
One could think that to plan a photoshoot you just need to find a good photographer with a good camera.
The truth is that you may be disappointed with the outcome or end up with many photos that look pretty but that you won’t use.
This guide is a compilation of my best advice on producing your own fitness or wellness brand photoshoot. It will be your trusty partner-in-crime in creating photos you’re pleased with and proud of. I promise that just a little bit more time and effort in planning this can give you photos you’re stoked to share around the internet for a long time.
Let’s dive straight into it!
Plan ahead: photoshoot timeline
Booking a photographer: up to 1 week.
Preparing for the shoot: 1 to 2 weeks.
Shoot day: 1 day.
While you might only be shooting for an hour or two, still block out most of the day on your calendar, as the prep for the shoot tends to take some time.
Receiving your final photos: a few days up to 3 weeks.
An important point to check with your photographer! Photographers need time to edit and perfect your photos before sending them over to you, so make sure you know what to expect.
TOTAL TIMELINE: Anywhere from a couple of weeks to over a month.
Professional photos will go a long way in making every part of your business look legit and attractive.
Beautiful, on-brand photos will work wonders on your website, social feeds and stories, ads, digital products, and more!
STEP 1: FIND A PHOTOGRAPHER
Let’s talk practically about how to actually find a great photographer!
📸 Local photographer Instagram hashtag: Head to your Instagram account and search for a combination of the name of your city or area + photographer. Example: #PerthPhotographer. Check out the hashtags used in some of the images that come up for other options to use in your search. It’s visual, quick and efficient to search in this way!
📸 Local entrepreneurs: If you’re familiar with other small business owners and entrepreneurs in your area, take a peek at their site and social media and see if there are any photographer credits on them. Or reach out and ask!
A couple of things to consider when looking for your photographer:
Hire someone who is used to shooting humans and maybe even humans in movement! Shooting interiors or landscapes require fairly different skills than shooting people during a workout. Someone who has done family photoshoots or couples/engagements/weddings could be a good bet. Basically, you want a photographer who is familiar with working with people, not cakes and home decor.
Look at their portfolio and ask yourself; “Would I be happy if these were my photos?” Some photographers might do beautiful work, but they edit photos in a way that doesn’t fit with your brand or style.
Questions to ask before contracting your photographer:
How long after the photoshoot until edited photos are available?
How many photos will you get at the end typically after a 1 or 2-hour shoot?
How many outfits or set-up changes are you allowed in an hour?
From there, if you’ve found someone you like, it’s time to talk pricing and how many hours you want to book in for.
STEP 2: PREPARE YOUR PHOTOSHOOT
You want to walk into the photoshoot both (you and the photographer) knowing exactly what kind of photos you want to get out of the session!
What I usually recommend is to create a Pinterest inspiration board. It’s great as it allows you to visually plan what type of photos you want, share this with your photographer and refer to it during the day. On that note, make sure that you have a short list of all the must have photos so that you can both make sure you tick these of.
You might want to consider having a couple of different outfits ready so that the photos don’t all look like they’re all from the same shoot. This quite possibly means to make a note to put your favourite activewear in the laundry a couple days before the shoot! 😉
One thing I find really important when thinking about your photos is to think about the following:
The platform you want to use your photos on! You can probably leverage photos for your website on your Instagram feed but you might need a few more specific photos for your website to illustrate your services or to be used as background images and some more inspirational (and square) photos for your Insta account.
From a Website perspective, you’ll want to have photos that allow you to visually introduce your services, future events, yourself, your team, your studio, your business vibe and possibly some background images.
✨ BONUS GIFT! 💝
Get a head start with my Photoshoot Inspiration board! I’ve created this Pinterest board for my website design clients. I’ve compiles ideas of photos that would be great for most Pilates or Yoga businesses. Feel free to “re-pin” anything you like and add anything that would be relevant to your services on your own Pinterest board.
STEP 3: FIND & SET UP YOUR LOCATION
With this one, we should have 2 scenarios:
📍 You have your own studio. This, of course, makes it a no-brainer about the location but there are still a few things to take into consideration.
Nothing is better than natural light streaming in through your windows for photos. Try to identify what time of the day will give you the best light for your photoshoot!
Make your studio look like it’s launch day! Take some time to really tidy up and make your studio look its best. Have a look around to make sure the background will look neat as well. Don’t hold back from moving mats or equipment to a different corner for your shoot day.
📍 You don’t have your own studio. In that case, it’s time to start looking for a studio or outdoor location which fits your vibe and style.
You’ve got plenty of options here:
Get in touch with one of the studios you work at. They may let you have the space for a couple of hours outside of classes for free or at a mate rate!
Check with a studio or space you love in your area. You will most likely be able to hire the place for a couple of hours.
Find a beautiful outdoor spot. A park or beach can be the most beautiful background for your photos.
Make sure to visit your location (maybe more than once) to see how the light is at the time you plan to shoot and the space is set up. If shooting outdoors, you’ll probably need to find a time that has the least amount of people traffic and still decent light.
Finally, if you want the opinion of a professional, talk to your photographer! They will be able to guide you with those choices.
FINAL TIPS
Make sure you’ve got a final shot list and share it with your photographer
When you get to your shoot, it can be hard to remember it all. You might end up being like “... Wait, what shot did I want to get again? Which poses did I want to capture?”
A shot list is a specific list of photos that you’d like to get. So head over to your Pinterest board and pick out the ones you definitely know you want.
Make sure to refer back to it on your shoot day so that you both know that you’ve got all the right photos on camera!
Get photos from different angles and orientations
Keep in mind that you’ll likely want some photos on your shot list taken in a vertical (portrait) orientation for Instagram stories for example and some photos in a landscape (horizontal) orientation for use on your website as banner images and backgrounds.
Super important (and don’t feel bad discussing these seemingly small details with your photographer!): When you get photos taken in a horizontal orientation, you’ll want yourself in the photo to be either to the left or right of the image, NOT in the centre.
Why? Because if you want to add some text and a button to go on that section of your page, you’ll have to cram it all to one side if you’re in the middle of the photo, or the text will run over you which never looks great.
Also, keep in mind, text on a website over a busy background is hard to read. So ask your photographer to get ‘nothing’ on the other side of the shot (eg. wall) when taking those landscape photos.
Tell your photographer what you want
At some point in your shoot, you might have an idea but feel a bit shy to say something. Later, you’ll kick yourself for not being more vocal. So just decide before going into the shoot that you’ll say what you think. “Hey, wanna try X?” is super easy and won’t offend your photographer. It’s your shoot to get the photos you want, so speak up!
Play Music
Music makes the vibe a lot more fun and less stressed. So put on a fabulous playlist if that’s possible at your location.
Ladies, change up your hair
Even when you change outfits a couple of times during the shoot, you might still feel like your photos all look pretty similar. An easy hack for that? Change up your hair! It’ll add variety to the photos. Ponytail, bun, all down, half up and half down. Changing your hair is quicker and easier than changing your top or the whole outfit, so be sure to make a mental note to do so while shooting.
Have fun!
You may not be a professional model and you might feel out of your comfort zone, but own it regardless. Pretend you’re a pro and have been through this before and focus on having fun. Remember, during this photoshoot you’re most likely doing what you love most and what you do best!
If you’ve gone through the steps above then don’t stress, you’re going to be well prepared for a really successful shoot! You have everything you need to create great photos which represent your brand in the best light.
