How to Write Creative Briefs for Photography

everybody my name is Kevin Patrick Robbins I'm a professional commercial photographer and in this video I'm going to outline how to put together a creative brief if you're soliciting photography Services what you should include and what you should probably expect in return so let's get into it I'm going to break this out into sections and bullet points so you can follow along easily it'll be nice and quick and painless the first thing you're going to want to do is introduce yourself and your company and your business the services it provides and the goods that you sell your products your offerings and so on this gives us as photographers more information to look into who your company is we'll take a look at your website and we'll look at the existing images that you have if you're asking for new look something that's different or you're revising your brand it gives us something to compare it to if you're building on your existing brand it gives us an idea as to what to expect and what kind of images that you might be looking for and what what your brand style is next you're going to want to define the project for which you're soliciting images what the scope of the project is how the images are going to be used are they going to be used on a website are they going to be for social media are they going into email marketing print ads digital ads are they going to be used in out of home advertising which is Billboards benches buses things like that how are the images going to be used we need to know this so that we can calculate when we're putting a budget together the licensing different usage of images comes with different licensing so we want to be able to give you an accurate quote in a fair quote that's representative of the current market conditions and the usage of those images you'll want to include how many images you need whether or not you have hero images a hero image might be an image that's used in an ad such as on a billboard you might also want to have supporting images that might be if you're shooting for example swimwear and you're shooting an image that's going to be on a billboard or images that are going to be in an ad campaign you might want secondary images that are going to be included in emails as well and so you would want to include that in information give the photographer an idea of what the scope of the project is and what you're expecting in return out of the shoot describe your target audience and the tone and the mood that you want to convey through the images lifestyle images you're trying to sell your products and services that are and convey a lifestyle that will make your target audience you know feel a specific way that's going to be different than e-commerce photos or product shots that might be still life images of the product against a background that would be great for a social media campaign if you have a shot list outline the specific shots you need include locations include props include models include wardrobe items make a shot list for the shoot make a shot list for the shoot and provide the photographer with an itemized shot list that will also help you define the total number of assets that you are looking for out of your shoot how you are going to use them and what the total cost of Licensing might be for those images if you are aware of any technical requirements for the images provide those if you know that you have a set number of billboards provide the technical specs of the Billboards as photographers we don't tend to need these things but if there are specific requirements for specific images then provide those we need to know not only how the images are going to be used but if there are technical limitations or technical requirements we want to make sure that we are renting the right equipment for the job and yes we do rent equipment for jobs in order to meet and fulfill the technical requirements of the job if you're wondering why we might rent equipment certain shoots might require equipment to fulfill the technical requirements of the job that we don't have that we know how to use but we don't keep on hand because that equipment can cost eighty thousand dollars so we will rent it for the shoot and then we will itemize that rental expense back to the client if you have any deadline line constraints let us know what is your turnaround time if you're waiting on product to be delivered and there are delays in the supply chain we need to know that if it's a rush job and you need the deliverables sent back to you two days after the shoot we need to know that we need to be able to line up the appropriate people such as retouchers to be able to deliver your images on time we don't want to be late you don't want us to be late we want to make sure that we have all the team members necessary lined up to deliver your images on time and that means getting people scheduled in advance and ready to go if you know your budget specify your budget if you have budget constraints we need to know that when we are asking you what your budget is we are not asking to try and get the most money out of you we are asking to know if what you're asking for is feasible with the budget that you asked I have put estimates together for people that end up being six figure then they come back and say well we only have fifteen thousand dollars for this job the only thing that I can say is you're looking for four models a photographer wardrobe makeup artist five locations which all need to be paid for and permitted so if we know what your budget is we can have a discussion about realistic expectations of how we can deliver what it is you're asking for and what you need and that might require some adjustment on the client's end in terms of expectations and deliverables we have the knowledge to be able to tell you this can't be done or this can be done or in fact we can actually come in under budget because we have the resources that you don't have so open up a discussion with a photographer about your budget be clear about what your budget is be upfront about what your budget is so that we can put together a quote that better reflects the realities of the market and your expectations as a client include any logistical details that you might have if you already have the location the date and time of the shoot and you and that is all set include that information so that we can exclude that from the budget if we don't have to include an account for something in a budget then that reduces the cost of the shoot for you on our end if you have branding materials and current branding assets provide examples of that put together a mood board that includes examples of current brand assets or assets that are reflective of the shoot that you want to produce if there's a color palette that the shoot needs to match include the color palette in the mood board we need this information to ensure that the images that we deliver are consistent with your brand and finally you're going to want to clarify ownership and Licensing of the images in the US and Canada the photographer owns the images that they take and they will license the image to you and give you what are called licensing rights or usage rights we will include licensing and usage rights in the estimate for you here in Canada there is no work for hire so you don't own the images even if you are hiring a freelancer in the U.S some contracts may include work for hire what you might want to do is buy exclusive rights or buy the copyright outright if you need to have copyright of the images for example if you're a Healthcare company and the images might include actual patients and you need to have ownership of the images then you will expect to pay three times of what the typical usage fee is for the photographer to give you copyright and complete ownership of the images if you are not buying copyright of the images do not own the images you are merely getting a license to use the images in a campaign for a specific period of time the length of that period of time for which you need to use the images will affect how much the licensing and usage is going to cost typically you might ask for one year if that campaign that you need the images for is going to be a year if it's for a website you might want to request five years if you know you're going to be updating your images regularly that period can be shorter but if you feel like you're going to need the images for a lot longer you're going to want to ask for perpetuity and that's going to be expensive so consider your usage and include that information in your creative brief so that we know how to itemize that item on the estimate so that's how you put together a creative brief I hope this video was helpful if you're a photographer please hit subscribe and stay tuned to this channel because I'm going to provide you with more informative and helpful videos like this one take care