The planning for this shoot began in July, with the shoot date at the end of August. I delivered the photos in mid-September.
Acaia is a manufacturer of specialty coffee scales, dosers, grinders, and accessories—the products are high-end and used in many cafes around the world. The customer base is a mix of professionals, retail cafes/roasteries, and home baristas.
tip: why you should choose branding over an event shoot
Branding shoots take longer in all the stages: pre-shoot planning and prep, shoot, and post-production. While you can absolutely use event photos as branding shots, it is best to go with a branding shoot if you want more control over the final delivery. Events are far more fast-paced and more nebulous in structure (you really do have to roll with changes). Event photos also spend less time in post-production, because most people want the photos to be delivered quickly.
Branding photos, on the other hand, are meant to be used as custom stock for marketing, press kits, and websites. More time is spent crafting the perfect shot and editing the photos to match a client’s branding guidelines.
Adjusting the dial of the Acaia Orion Mini Doser
Product branding photo goals
The main goal of this shoot was to create lifestyle images of Acaia’s products—by themselves (still life) and in-use by baristas-turned-models. The photos would mainly be used on the company’s social media accounts, but they may also be used in newsletters. Baristas were recruited as models because Acaia’s audience has keen eyes, and real coffee needed to be ground and made with a pour over. Unlike traditional product photos against a white background, these products needed to be plugged in and in a realistic situation.
We began with a consult call to discuss usage, goals, needs, and products. Normally, this is also when we talk about the brand’s visual identity. But because I worked with Acaia for 10 years as their digital marketing manager (including lots of lifestyle photography), I had written up the company’s identity details: modern, minimalistic, and a touch of warmth for lifestyle images.
We settled on a custom shoot of four hours at a rented home location and two barista-models. I scouted venues on Peerspace—this was meant to be a warm home atmosphere—and found one with a beautiful kitchen. I also recruited the help of a friend to find two baristas in the requested demographics who wanted to make some extra money.
In terms of the cost, I gave a custom project fee that included all the planning and photos. The 50% deposit was used to cover the reimbursable expenses of venue rental, props, and modeling fees and secure the booking date.
designing the product branding shoot plan
Once specific products and models were settled on, I was shipped any products I didn’t already have, and I got to work on the shoot plan and shot list. After this was drafted, we had a pre-shoot planning call, during which I presented the shoot plan. If you can’t tell, I’m a detail-oriented person. While I’m not so type-A that every minute needs to be mapped out, I am type-A enough to have lists for everything.
The shoot plan encompassed the following details:
- Timeline for the shoot, including when the models were arriving (1 hour each, separately)
- Product models and colors and what shots were needed for each.
- Angles of shots
- Backgrounds: which spots in the rented space for what kind of shots
- Moodboard
- Props: I pulled from my supply and also purchased flowers and prop coffee
- Model brief: the models each received a model release form, as well as a brief on the location, time, outfits, and general usage of the photos. Fingernails needed to be clean, because many of the shots would include closeups on the hands.
After talking it over on the call, I made any necessary adjustments and finalized it!
The shoot itself had a minimal setup: only natural light (from a skylight and windows), no reflectors, and no assistants.
The Moodboard
Every branding client gets a custom moodboard to guide the shoot. This was the one I presented to Acaia. I used a combination of stock images and my own that I have shot for Acaia (there are four here). The center image is of the venue!
branding photo delivery and usage
One week later, I culled through all the photos and sent over a proofing gallery of 213 images. They chose 100 to be fully edited, which I delivered two weeks later in the brand’s style. The photos were then immediately used on their social media accounts!
If your products can be shipped, I can plan the session!
After the shoot, I shipped the inventory back with pre-paid labels. For this branding session, I handled everything for shoot prep: location scouting, model recruiting/communication, prop sourcing, shoot plan, load-in/load-out, photographing (by myself, no assistants), editing, and final delivery.
Even though the products were shipped from the US, my client contact worked remotely in Ireland, but we handled communications and planning just fine. I have a lot of experience working across time zones, countries, cultures, and languages.
In this shoot, I used my marketing eye to create a gallery of images that could be used solo or in a storytelling set. Most of the shots were not mapped out in a storyboard—I didn’t have a numbered list of exact products and sketched compositions—which is how I prefer to work. My photo-taking style is very fluid. Unless I’m working with a tabletop still-life, I find tripods constricting. I like to move around, stand or sit on things, lie down, etc.
With 100 images that cover four main products in different colorways and two accessories (a total of 11 products), they supplement the existing content library. The photos focused on products that needed more lifestyle images and will help Acaia fill the content calendar through the end of Q4.
