Life Science Photography Preparation
Life, as they say, is in the details. And, prepping for a successful life science photography session is certainly no exception! Here are some tips on how to get great marketing photography for your labs and start ups.
If you work in the Life Sciences Industry, chances are you have organizational skills already.
You are probably a planner, scheduler and organizer. And, that is really good for creating strong, eye catching photography for your web site, social media and presentations.
Like any good endevour, it all starts with the plan:
Concepting to Prep for Life Science Photography:
Often, your marketing partners have put together a list of images that they would like to have to help illustrate the pages on your web site.
Other times, different departments may make requests for images that they can use for their presentations, articles and speaker posters.
Make a list of all of the image requests and include the primary places that these images will live. For example:
- Image of the company logo on the door, for use on the home page.
- Headshots of the company founders, for use on bio page and for speaking engagments
- image of the very cool, high tech equipment for use on the Investors’ page.
- “Casual” images of office life for use on the careers/culture page.
- Product photos for ecommerce page and in sales presentations.
And, don’t worry if the list gets long. This is the starting point and it can be prioritized, depending on need, time and budget allowances.
This is also the starting point for the photo team to start building the project estimate.
The Life Sciences Vision:
One of the biggest challenges for commercial photographers is that we need to try to climb inside our clients’ heads and look at the company through their eyes. Each company has its own specialties and features.
One of the ways that you can help us, and get better results during your photoshoot, is to put together a vision board.
Lots of my clients will create one on Pinterest (Labs, headshots) that they can share with me, so that I understand the mood and feel of the photography that they are looking to achieve.
Life Science Photography PreProduction:
Once we get a feel for what needs to be accomplished and how you want the results to look, the next step is for us to do a location scout. That is, we visit your location and start really refining the shot list and schedule for the shoot day.
This involves taking the shot concepts and the mood board and seeing where we can set up to create those images. Often times, the architecture of the lab has unique spaces that can be good for creating that unique look.
We also look at what kind of props and people we will need and how to best light the image.
We can take into account any scheduling challenges that may come up and any “set dressing” that may need to take place. This could include organizing a corner of the lab, removal of sticky notes, getting lab coats laundered, and making sure the correct PPE is available for the shoot.
Some times, it is not possible for us to do the location scout ourselves (distance, schedule, etc). In that case, we have a couple of choices: the next best bet is to have someone from the company shoot scouting pictures for us.
The Photography Schedule:
Once the location scout is complete, we will work up a final shot list to schedule the actual shoot date that will include the approximate times for each location, what team members will need to be there and any other notes, such as props etc.
On the day of photography, everyone will know where they need to be and when they need to be there.
All of the props and wardrobe are ready to be prepped and we will have all of the equipment that we will need to create your photography ready to rock.
Everyone’s time will be used efficiently and all that is left to do is show up and start creating great images!
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