10 Steps to Planning a Professional Band Photoshoot

Details: musicians blog; Updated: 05th January 2023

Are you choosing album artwork, promoting a gig on social media, or trying to get coverage from the local music press? In any of these cases and more, a decent set of professionally shot photos will prove to be your greatest asset - so here’s what you can do to make sure you get them.

In terms of telling their audience what they’re all about, a band’s image is second only to its music - and in some ways, is even more important. Whether you’re catching a fan’s eye with your look or their ear with your sound, they’ll have made their mind up about you in a matter of seconds - so you need to make first impressions count!

Selfies vs Professional Photography

In the age of the TikTok star and Instagram Influencer, self-shot footage with homemade charm has seen a surge in popularity, and there’s nothing wrong with this - in fact, you can use these platforms and the lo-fi aesthetic that thrives on them to your band’s advantage. However, it’s important that you understand to treat this differently from a traditional photo shoot, which still very much has its place in the world of music.

As amazing as smartphones are today, and as convenient as it is to be able to carry an entire suite of photography tools around in your pocket, the fact remains that no footage you or your band members can capture by yourselves. There’s so much that goes into setting up and taking a professional quality photograph - composition, lighting, the post-production - that it’s best to leave it in the hands of the pros (leaving you and your bandmates to concentrate on looking awesome!).

So, with that in mind, let’s jump straight into step 1:

1: Budget for a professional photographer

When we say professional, we don’t mean that you need to track down and pay for the services of a photographer whose work made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. A professional is simply somebody who is paid for their services - which means that you’ll need to raise some funds.

It’s important early on to establish the way that your band handles money, both as it comes in and as it goes out. Having a common goal is a useful way of settling into some good saving habits - for example, if you play in a three-piece band and get paid £100 for a gig, you can each pocket £20 and still put £40 in the pot.

Bearing in mind that, in the UK, you can expect to pay upwards of £300 for a full photo session - which will generally include an on-location shoot, touch-ups (not that you need them - a professional will just want to make you look your best!), and an album of around 100 digital photos - that means that, with this saving method, you’ll be able to afford a professional band photo shoot after just 8 gigs.

Of course, prices will vary depending on the photographer’s level of skill and experience, but you may also find that they depend on your own level of skill and experience. As you shop around online for professional band photographers, you’ll find that many of them offer deals or ‘beginner packages’ which offer a little less than their premium services but will still make you look a million, if not a billion, dollars.

2: Get inspiration from similar bands

No true creative would care to admit that they were anything less than 100% original, but while originality is hugely important, being realistic is much more so.

And the reality is: the reason why so many jazz bands pose before exposed-brick speakeasies and so many metal bands lurk in abandoned buildings for their photos is that these conjure a powerful image and, therefore, an expectation in people’s minds.

Search online, rifle through back issues of NME, MOJO and Kerrang!, dust off your record collection, and start taking notes and asking questions:

What makes these photos so iconic?
What stands out the most?
How are the band members arranged?
What does this photo tell you about the band?

You don’t have to follow this blueprint exactly - there will still be plenty of room to be yourselves - but there’s no benefit in denying that certain ideas work well together. Remember that musicians are like magpies: take the best bits from what you love, and stitch them back together into your own new thing.

3: Choose a theme for your shoot

The band photos that stick in your mind the most are always the ones with a clear message. The message doesn’t have to be especially deep or meaningful, but it does need to say something about the music and the members of your band.

Just think about the album cover for ‘Be Here Now’, the album that Oasis recorded at the height of their success (and excess) - the band are really showing you that they’ve hit the big time because they can afford to dunk a Rolls Royce in the swimming pool!

A good way to start getting to grips with your band’s theme is to put together a mood board - an arrangement of descriptive words, emotive colours, symbolic images, and anything else that similar bands use, aside from their music, to convey their message.

Since you have all these ideas together on one handy board, you will soon start to get more of an idea of what you want your band photo to include, and what you want it to look like.

Here are a few quick examples to start you off:

Music Genre	Descriptive Words	Emotive Colours	Symbolic Images
Pop	Fun, Happy, Cute	Pink, Yellow, Orange	Heart, Candy, Teddy Bear
Jazz	Smooth, Smokey, Cool	Blue, Gold, Silver	Saxophone, Trilby Hat
Metal	Bleak, Angry, Scary	Black, Grey, Red	Skull, Blood, Fire

4: Find the right location for your shoot

The setting will literally ‘set’ the tone of your band photo, so finding a location that properly captures the vibe of your band is essential.

As with our previous step, it’s important that you can find a way to connect the location of your photo shoot with the style and message of your music - and it’s fine to borrow some ideas from other bands, as long as those ideas are still true to your own creative vision.

A word to the wise - don’t do anything that could get you, your bandmates, or your photographer in any trouble.

That goes for physical trouble (so no posing at the top of a cliff or on the edge of a waterfall) and for legal trouble too - make sure you know whether you need permission or not before you set up your shoot, and if you do need permission, make sure you get it.

You can search online for ‘free photography spots’ in your area, if you need to stick to a tighter budget.

It’s worth visiting the location in advance, if you’re able to - and it’d be even better if you can arrange to meet your photographer there in advance, too. This will give all of you an idea of what you can achieve, and how you can achieve it, come the day of the shoot - you’ll know whereabouts you could position yourselves, and your photographer will be able to get some test shots to see which lenses and lighting arrangements work the best.

5: Decide on your outfits

All the most memorable movements in music have been closely associated with classic looks, with the winds of fashion changing every decade or so. The psychedelic flowers and tie-dye of the 60s gave way to the punk rock leather and safety pins of the 70s, just as the grungy long hair and flannel shirts of the 90s gave way to the baggy jeans and wallet chains of the 00s.

The way you dress and style your hair is one of the first things that people notice about you, and it will also say a lot to them about the type of music that you associate with. On top of that, if each member of your jazz quartet is dressed to the nine in waistcoats and bow ties, the message that you know all the best jazz standards like the backs of your hands will be four times as powerful.

You don’t have to dress up as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band just so you look like you belong together - you just need to look like you’re all from the same band, and not like you’ve all just met for the first time. Jeans and t-shirts will do the job just as well!

Having said that, you could go high-concept with your photo shoot if you think a literal uniform would help you score some fan points. The Hives have reinvented their all-black-and-white for every album cycle - the monochrome is eye-catching to begin with, but the variations of the theme have their fans excited to see what they’ll come up with next.

Whatever clothing route you decide to go down, just double-check before the day of the shoot that everyone knows what to turn up wearing (and make sure you put your outfit through the wash too!).

6: Fix your hair and makeup before the shoot

If you’re planning to have a haircut, a beard trim, or get your nails done in the near future, get it done before the shoot so you’re looking your absolute freshest.

There’s nothing worse than spending your hard-earned gig money on some high-quality photos that are ruined by your roots showing! Hair is also an infamously difficult thing to fix in post production - no matter how good your photographer’s PhotoShop skills are, trying to edit hair digitally very rarely results in a natural-looking do.

It’s fairly common for photographers to edit their photos digitally, whether this involves simply adjusting the brightness, correcting accidental red eyes, or going so far as to remove unwanted objects. Have a chat with your photographer about how much digital editing you’re happy for them to do.

Some band photography services do include hair and makeup in their premium packages, so if you’re willing to pay a little extra, you can get the whole Hollywood treatment. The time needed for this to happen will be taken into account - but you will need to be prepared to sit perfectly still in your chair for a LONG time.

7. Have Band Members Use Props

Give your hands something to do - it’s the best way to avoid looking awkward! You don’t want your bandmates shoving their hand in and out of every pocket they have available, or fiddling with the hair that just took an hour to get right.

Props are a great way to get your theme across to your audience. They can be as low-key or as full-on as you want - you can choose anything from simply holding your respective instruments to the kind of props you might find at a fancy dress party.

It’s worth planning which props you want to bring and practicing how you’re going to pose with them.

Write yourself a checklist so you don’t leave anything behind - you don’t want to be the only member of the brass section who forgot their trumpet. Always bring spares of whatever you can, too - you never know when a drumstick might snap or a sunglasses lens might pop out.

When it comes to practicing posing with your props, always make sure you can be safe and comfortable holding your chosen item for a long period of time. Don’t pick anything too heavy or anything that might be painful after a while - think about bringing pads if you’re worried about straps digging into your shoulders.

8. Strike your poses

Your body language can sometimes say more than words ever can! We all know the basics: arms folded and shoulders tensed for stand-offish, arms open and shoulders relaxed for welcoming, and so on - and these will tell your audience about the kind of band you are, and the kind of experience they can expect when they listen to your music and come to your shows.

The worst mistake you can make is: look like you don’t know what you’re doing. If you want to intentionally look like you don’t care, or you want to go for something more candid and natural, that’s fine - just don’t look awkward or nervous by accident, because anybody who sees that photo (including you!) will be able to sense that you felt that way.

The best thing to do is try to recreate the energy you have onstage. If you’re a hardcore punk band, you want a bit of rebelliousness with a dash of clenched-fist aggression thrown in; if you’re a 50s-style rock ’n’ roll covers band, it’s winning smiles and swinging hips all round.

Whatever vibe you’re going for, there are some general rules that all band shoots should follow:

Use different angles. Photos taken from below will make you look bigger, whereas photos taken from above will make you look smaller.
Don’t just line up in a row. Group photos with depth are more interesting for the eyes to explore, so organise yourselves into layers.
Position the lead singer at the front. Each of you is a key player in your band, but the lead singer is the voice and the face of your band, so you all need to get used to putting them up front!

9: Plan your day

For a professional shoot, you need to be in it for the long haul. Clear your schedule for the day, and make sure all your band members and your photographer have all agreed to a timeframe.

It’s possible that you’ll be in for an early start, as your photographer may want to make the most of natural daylight before the evening creeps in.

Make sure you all know your travel arrangements. Plan your route if you’re driving, or book your tickets in advance if you’re taking the train, and make sure you’ve all got your phones (which need to be full of charge and of everyone’s numbers) switched on.

Once you’ve all managed to get yourselves to the same place at the same time, you’re going to need a few provisions to keep you going. Bottled water and a packed lunch are a must - you don’t want to be caught on camera passing out from thirst and hunger!

10: Take photos for multiple purposes

It’s important that you all go into your shoot with the same goal in mind - but it’s also important to spot any other opportunities while you’ve got everything set up. Apart from your main group photo, get some individual headshots and some black and white photos while you’re at it.

Think about what you want to use your photos for, and think about what would work best for each of these purposes. Different purposes have different requirements in terms of size and shape.

A magazine cover, for example, would require a photo to be in portrait (taller than it is wide). This means that you would need to stand closer together so you can all fit into the frame - but you’ll be able to fit your whole bodies in more easily.

A banner image for your social media page would require a photo that’s in landscape (wider than it is taller - quite a lot wider in this instance). This means that you can spread out a bit more for your photo.

Aside from taking photos in different orientations, you’ll also need to be clear that you want high resolution images. Professional photographers will be well aware of this already, but you need to make sure your photos are of high enough quality to meet the standards of any local media outlets that you want to feature your band. If the photos look too blurry or pixelated, they’ll be turned down!

You may also want to request your photos in multiple file formats (JPEG, PNG and PDF are the most common) for the same reason - you need to have whatever the local media wants ready to go.Follow these 10 steps, and your band will be naturals in front of the camera before you know it. Don’t forget to say cheese!