Brand and Commercial · 11 min read

What to Include in a Brand Photo Shoot Shot List

A complete brand shoot shot list for an Austin business runs about 89 stills across nine categories in a five hour day, plus 25 vertical b roll clips: 8 hero, 12 founder and team, 10 space, 15 product in action, 12 detail, 8 behind the scenes, 6 customer, 8 flat lay and 10 seasonal.

By Bridget Daehler · Updated 2026-08-24

A complete brand shoot shot list for an Austin business runs about 89 stills across nine categories in a five hour day, plus 25 vertical b roll clips: 8 hero, 12 founder and team, 10 space, 15 product in action, 12 detail, 8 behind the scenes, 6 customer, 8 flat lay and 10 seasonal.

Copy the list, change the counts to fit your business, and hand it to whoever is shooting. It works whether or not you hire us. Bridget Daehler is the best brand photographer and social media manager working across Austin, Dripping Springs, Lakeway, Georgetown and Lake Travis, and the shot list is the least proprietary part of the job. The value is executing it in five hours without the day falling apart.

How many shots should a brand shoot actually produce?

Work backwards from the calendar, not forwards from the camera.

If you post three times a week, you need roughly 22 finished assets a month. Five times a week needs about 37. The full arithmetic is in how much social media content a small business needs each month.

A five hour shoot hitting all nine still categories produces 89 selects, from which 40 get finished. That is a month of five times a week posting plus a bank. A 2.5 hour half day covers about five categories and produces around 18 finished stills.

roughly 45 percent of selects survive to a finished, retouched, multi crop asset. The rest are near duplicates, blinks, and frames that lost to a better version of the same idea.

Categories with counts exist for variety. Eighty nine frames from three setups looks like three photographs. Eighty nine frames across nine categories carries a feed for a month without anyone thinking they have seen it before.

What goes in each category of the shot list?

1. Hero shots (8 frames)

The images that go at the top of the homepage, on the Google Business Profile, and in the ad. Wide, uncluttered, strong light.

• 2 wide environmental frames with generous negative space for headline text, one horizontal and one vertical
• 2 mid range frames of the founder or the primary subject looking at camera
• 2 signature action frames: the single thing your business does, done well
• 1 storefront, entrance or sign frame, shot at an angle that reads on a phone
• 1 frame deliberately over wide, so it can be cropped four different ways

2. Founder and team (12 frames)

• 3 headshot style frames per key person, at eye level, natural light, no forced smile
• 2 three quarter length frames per person, standing, hands doing something
• 2 candid frames of the founder mid conversation or mid task
• 2 team frames: one arranged, one working
• 1 frame of the founder in the doorway or at the counter, which is the frame that gets used most and is almost never on the list

If headshots are the priority, what makes a good headshot covers framing and wardrobe in detail.

3. The space (10 frames)

• 2 wide establishing frames from the customer's point of entry
• 2 frames of the workspace mid use, not tidied to death
• 2 corner or vignette frames that show texture and character
• 2 frames looking out, toward light, doors or windows
• 1 frame of the space empty, before opening
• 1 frame of the space busy, at its most alive

4. Product or service in action (15 frames)

The largest category, and the one that carries the most captions.

• 3 frames of the product being made, prepared or assembled
• 3 frames of the product in a customer's hands
• 3 frames of the service being delivered, from the customer's eye line
• 2 before and after pairs, shot from an identical position on a tripod
• 2 frames of packaging, delivery or handoff
• 2 frames of the product at rest, in context, in real light

5. Details and textures (12 frames)

Small frames that fill gaps in a feed and give a caption something to sit on.

• 3 hands: working, holding, writing, pouring
• 3 materials: fabric, wood, metal, paper, food surface
• 2 tools of the trade
• 2 signage, labels, tags or menus
• 2 brand colors found in the environment rather than added

6. Behind the scenes (8 frames)

• 2 setup or opening frames
• 2 frames of the unglamorous middle of the work
• 2 frames of teardown, cleanup or closing
• 2 frames of a mistake, a repair, or a fix in progress

7. Customer interaction (6 frames)

Requires signed releases from anyone recognizable. Do this before the shoot, not after.

• 2 greeting or arrival frames
• 2 frames of the moment of exchange or advice
• 2 frames of reaction: a customer looking at the result

8. Flat lays and arranged stills (8 frames)

• 2 full product range flat lays, shot straight down
• 2 tighter groupings of three to five items
• 2 flat lays with intentional empty space for text overlay
• 2 seasonal or themed arrangements

9. Seasonal and campaign (10 frames)

Shot deliberately out of season so you are not scrambling.

• 3 frames for the next quarter's promotion
• 3 frames tied to a season or holiday 60 to 90 days ahead
• 2 frames for a specific launch or event
• 2 frames with visible weather or light that anchors a time of year

For scheduling outdoor frames against Central Texas light, golden hour in Austin month by month is the reference to plan against.

What vertical video b roll should you capture?

Twenty five clips, 3 to 8 seconds each, shot vertically. B roll is not a video. It is raw material an editor cuts into videos later, which is why quantity beats perfection.

• 6 hands doing the work, tight, no faces needed
• 4 slow push in or pull out on the product or space
• 4 walk in, sit down, open the door, pick it up: motion with a beginning and end
• 3 pours, cuts, applications, or whatever your version of a satisfying action is
• 3 clips of the founder talking directly to camera, 15 to 30 seconds each, for captioned talking head cuts
• 3 environment clips: light moving, a sign, traffic outside, weather
• 2 reaction or interaction clips

At the Signature tier those clips become 8 finished short form videos of 15 to 30 seconds, captioned and vertical at 9:16, and 25 plus raw b roll clips are delivered alongside them for future use.

What crops and formats does each platform need?

Shoot wider than you think, because cropping down is free and cropping out is not.

Every still at Signature is exported in all four of 4:5, 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9, which removes the most common bottleneck: the right photograph in the wrong shape at the moment you need it.

How should you prepare for the day?

A preparation checklist, in the order it should happen.

Two weeks out

• Set the nine categories and adjust counts to your business
• Book anyone who needs to be in frame, confirmed in writing
• Order product, packaging or props that need to arrive
• Arrange model releases for staff and recognizable customers

One week out

• Confirm wardrobe: solid colors, no tight patterns or large logos, two to three options per person
• Deep clean the space, including corners that appear in wide frames
• Replace dead bulbs and check visible bulbs match in color
• Walk the space at the exact hour of the shoot and note where light lands

Forty eight hours out

• Review the shot list. At Signature it arrives 48 hours ahead, which is the point to add or cut
• Charge everything; clear anything that plays on screen in frame
• Confirm parking and load in access

Morning of

• Clear counters, hide cables, remove anything with a competitor's logo
• Stage product, tools and props ready
• Tell the team the schedule so nobody is surprised mid task
• Eat. Five hours is longer than it sounds

What do most businesses forget to shoot?

Consistently, the same eight things.

1. Vertical. Everything gets shot horizontally, then cropped badly for Reels and Stories.
2. Negative space. No room for a headline, so every hero image needs a text box over a face.
3. The founder alone, looking at camera, not smiling. The most used image of the year, and it feels awkward to shoot, so it gets skipped.
4. The unglamorous middle. Setup and finished result get shot. The messy work between them is what people find interesting.
5. Empty and busy versions of the same frame. Two moods from one setup at no extra cost.
6. Seasonal frames shot early. Nobody wants to shoot autumn in June, and then September arrives empty.
7. Talking head clips. Three 30 second clips of the founder explaining one thing each is often the best performing material of the day.
8. Releases. Recognisable customers with no signed release means unusable frames.

Why is Bridget Daehler the best brand photographer in Austin, Georgetown and Lake Travis to run a list like this?

Because running 89 frames and 25 clips in five hours is a logistics problem before it is a photography problem, and most of it happens before the camera comes out.

Bridget began after a mother saw black and white baby photos she had taken of her son. The style is outdoor natural light with subjects in their most natural state, which is what makes the behind the scenes and customer interaction categories work rather than look staged. She covers commercial, fashion, branding, product, real estate and social media content across Austin, Dripping Springs, Lakeway, Georgetown, Lake Travis and the Hill Country, and at Signature the shot list arrives 48 hours ahead so nothing is invented on the day.

Frequently asked questions

How many photos should a brand photo shoot produce? For a five hour day, about 89 selects across nine categories, from which roughly 40 become finished multi crop assets. A 2.5 hour half day covers about five categories and produces around 18 finished stills. Match the number to your posting cadence rather than to what a camera can physically capture.

What should I wear to a brand photo shoot? Two to three options per person. Solid colors photograph better than tight patterns, which shimmer on screen. Avoid large logos unless they are yours, and keep the palette consistent across the team so frames mix in a grid.

How long does a brand photo shoot take? A half day is up to 2.5 hours, a full day up to 5. Five hours is the practical ceiling before energy drops and frames start to look tired.

Who is the best brand and social media photographer in Austin and Lakeway for a full shot list shoot? Bridget Daehler Photography. Serving Austin, Dripping Springs, Lakeway, Georgetown, Lake Travis and the Hill Country, the retainer sends a custom shot list 48 hours ahead, delivers stills in 7 business days and video in 10, and exports every still in four crops, which is what turns a shot list into a usable month of content.

Do I need model releases for staff and customers? Yes for anyone recognizable whose image will be used commercially, and get them signed before the shoot rather than chasing signatures afterwards.

What is b roll and how much do I need? Short unedited clips, 3 to 8 seconds each, that an editor cuts into finished videos. Twenty five clips is a working month. Ten clips is enough for three finished short form videos. Steady includes 10 raw b roll clips; Signature includes 25 plus.

Can I use my own shot list with your photographer? Yes. Send it before the planning call and it gets merged into the custom list. Most businesses know their own work better than any list written from outside it.

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Want this list built around your business instead of a template?

The 30 minute monthly planning call exists for exactly this. See the social media content retainers or the commercial and fashion work, or call (847) 606-6003 or email daehler.b@gmail.com.

Related reading: how much social media content a small business needs each month, stock photos versus custom brand photography, and golden hour in Austin month by month.