As one who creates catalogs, ads, POP, packaging, etc. Planning is the most important part of this process even before you consider taking pictures!

I can’t stress this enough, if you are making a catalog plan it out to the smallest detail! Figure out exactly what you want on each page. The best thing to do is to draw out the layout of each page, and draw out each shot and label each piece and angle, even if it has to be stick figures , arrows and descriptions. The motion picture industry always does this and good graphic designers, too.

As harsh as this sounds, for saving your time and money (and dream) you have to remove as much of the creative problem solving and standing around as you can from the people doing the production, as this is how the price goes up and moves you farther away from what you want. Make some pictures and tell the Photographer and designer ‘this is how you want it’ – nicely.

It may seem silly, redundant or ‘crushing the creativity’ of the shoot, but trust me, this will save you HOURS and even DAYS of time, which means mountains of cash and ensures you actually get what you need,without reshoots and lost time.

ef

P.S. Love the site!

Our goal was to be on time and under budget for our clients. This is what made them most happy because, from experience, they new these things could easily get away from you, especially on location. I was constantly on shoots with budgets of over $250,000. While 15% was profit, it was really quite easy to see the other $212,000 being eaten alive. Often, there is an element of having to babysit some of these “fabulous” people one encounters on such projects, especially on location, where everyone has their special needs and, they all seem to come out of the woodwork when you take them away from home.

You are right about planning as being critical. It takes a lot of imagination to produce a completed photo shoot in your head, and on paper, before one starts the clock. This is true whether the budget is $250,000 or $2,500.

Now that you are the client, try and think through as much of the details as possible, beginning with the end in mind. I was always impressed when the client rep new what they wanted and, was at ease.

I am just now planning my own shooting schedule. (hang tags, website, POS, marketing material, merchandising, possilbe catalog images, all considered.)I am the client and, I have a low low budget. But with some experience and thorough pre-production coordination, I can save lots of time and headaches by knowing exactly what I want and, take the straightest, cleanest path to the end result. The photgrapher will love you for it. So will everyone else. Bottom line: as the client, consider your self as head of production coordination as well.

The single greatest thing for everyone involved is: “That’s a wrap.” People will enjoy working with you again, if you have this mindset.

But going back to garment catalogues, Ive admired the European bra companies (Lejaby, Simone Perele etc.) which tend to have one photo of each style in the front of their catalogues, but have line drawings (flats)in the back. Each line drawing also list all the different products associated with that style. So if bra 1234 has matching briefs, tanga and also high cut leg, they don’t show all the panties in colour in the front, but they make sure you know they are available and in what colours, in the back. Just a different way to approach it.