Planning a lookbook shoot
Locking the shot list before the day starts, holding lighting across looks, and a sourced answer to how many looks a day actually holds.
Guides
Guides for planning a photoshoot
Five practical guides to the parts of a shoot day that most often go wrong: the shot list itself, the call sheet built from it, the day’s running order against the light, how many looks or shots a day actually holds, and the lookbook shoot that combines all four at once. Each one is long enough to use on its own — a worked example, a table of realistic numbers, or a template — not just an argument for why planning matters.
Writing a shot list
What belongs on a shot list, the difference between a group and a tag, and a full worked example showing both at once.
What goes on a call sheet
Every section a call sheet needs, a filled-in example to copy, and the handful of omissions that cause the 7am phone calls.
Planning around golden hour
A worked day built around the light, and what happens when the day will not reach it.
How long a shoot takes
Realistic timings by type of work, where the hidden hours go, and how to build your own estimate from what actually happened last time.
Templates and worked examples
Two finished documents rather than guides — the same shoot day as a shot list and as a call sheet. Neither needs an account, and both print.
Shot list template
Every column a shot list needs and what each one is for, then a full day filled in and grouped in the order it gets shot. Printable, and the column order is written out for a spreadsheet.
Call sheet example
The same shoot day as a finished call sheet — per-person call times, the location, the light at both places, and the running order. Print it or save it as a PDF.
Shot lists for a particular kind of job
Three worked lists, grouped in the order each day gets shot and with a duration on every row. Every column on them is explained on the template page.
Wedding shot list
Five groups in the order a wedding day runs, the family groups written out one row at a time, and the portraits pinned to the last hour of sun.
Product photography shot list
A studio day grouped by set-up rather than by product, so the range is shot through one lighting build and still delivers per product.
Food photography shot list
A day ordered around how long a plated dish lasts: prep while the kitchen works, the hero the minute it lands, the table scene last.
Deciding whether to move at all
Two comparisons written for somebody who might reasonably not buy this: against the spreadsheet the list is probably in now, and against StudioBinder, which is production management built for film and television.
No card. The free plan holds one active project at a time, for as long as you like — it is not a trial, just a limit that lifts once you wrap or archive the shoot.