Equipment needed for Commercial Shoot

Perhaps you're asking, what kind of equipment or what kind of set up do you need to do a commercial photoshoot?

In this photography training video, I'm going to show you exactly what I use; the equipment, backdrops, lights, photo gear and the thought that goes behind preparing for a commercial photoshoot. Check out the end bit – the timelapse packup at about 6:25sec

Highlights from this video:
0:37 What is a commercial photoshoot?
1:34 Run down of all the photography gear needed for commercial photoshoot
6:32 Commercial photoshoot behind the scene

What is a Commercial Photoshoot? 

A commercial photoshoot is when the photographer is working for a client and photographing for advertising purposes or promoting their business.

The shoot I'm going to go on is for an organization that promotes football (soccer) in their area. We're going to be photographing some of the key star football players. They are not models. They are simply ordinary people who play football.

We're going to be photographing them on a white background so that we can easily separate them from the background that way we can take the players and put them into some kind of marketing material afterwards. 

Photography Gear for Commercial Photoshoots

1. Backdrops: The first thing that you will need is a background. I've got a white background here and a white floormat that the players can stand up on to complete the final, white backdrop.
2. Backdrop Stand: A stand to set the background up behind the players; I've got stands and all of the poles that goes with it.
3. Lights: Main Light & Fill Light & Light Modifiers: When it comes to the lights, I've got the Main Light that is connected to the Soft Box, which is used for lighting up the players. I also got a Fill Light which actually lights up the shadow parts of the players.
4. Background Lights: I got a couple of backdrop lights to lighten up the background so we can separate the players from the background.
5. Sandbags: It's also good to have a sand bag that you can place at the base of the light stand to make sure that they don't fall over unto your subjects.
6. Power cables & adaptors: I have some power cables and adapater to power all the lights.
7. Extra backups of everything: I have some backup things like a backup umbrella if I need them for the strobes to light up the players. I have a see-through umbrella if I have a light that I want to go through it. I've also got some manual triggers that comes out of my camera and goes into the strobes of one of these lights to actually manually trigger lighting in case my triggers fail. Clamps and other bit and pieces might come in handy on the shoot.

Above: All the gear you will need on a commercial photo shoot

8. Laptop Computer: Of course, you need your laptop so that you can show the client the progress of the shoot and to make sure that you are actually getting the right images for the client.
9. External Harddrive: A backup hardrive to backup everything in case my laptop fails.
10. Laptop stuff: Power cables for the laptop, mouse, and a card reader so that we can get the images off the camera unto the laptop.
11. Color Checker: I've got a color checker so that I can make sure that I've got the right white balance and the perfect colors when I'm photographing; to make sure that the colors are correct.
12. Camera and Lenses: Of course, I have my camera with the camera lens. I've got extra lenses and flash units as well, in case I need them.
13. Extra Batteries for Camera and Flash: Extra batteries for the camera and the flash unit that are fully charged.
14. Extra Memory Cards: Extra cards for the camera which have been formatted and ready to use.
15. Camera Flash: I have my flash unit which is used purely to trigger the strobes to make sure they fire at the right time.
16. Radio Triggers: I've got two pocket wizard triggers to trigger the strobes in case the flash unit fails or when I can't use the flash unit indoors for some reason.
17. MuIti-tool: I also have a leatherman multi-tool because you'll never know when you'll need it. 
18. Mobile Phone: And obviously, your mobile phone which is important for communication. 

Above: Me (Brent) working hard for my clients – while the pro football players look bored!

So these are basically what you will need for a commercial photoshoot. What you will see below are some images while I was doing the photoshoot.

Before – those are all shot on my single white backdrop.
 

Above are the original images from the photoshoot. Below are the poster images – see how the players have been extracted from the white background and then combines into these posters – pretty cool hey?

After – extracted, then combined in photoshop – COOL!
 

If you like this tutorial, please comment below and share with your friends. I'd love to hear some feedback from you. Finally, if you haven't already signed-up then please do so at the top right hand side of this page and I'll send you some more free photography tips and other photography related goodies. 

Have a great day! Brent