Commercial photography for Scottish businesses — what to brief, what to skip

Most commercial photography briefs we receive contain three things: a Pinterest board, a list of locations, and a deadline. They almost never contain the one thing that determines whether the project succeeds — the answer to the question 'where is this image actually going to be seen?'

Start with the destination

An image destined for a billboard on the M8 needs to behave differently from an image destined for an Instagram carousel. A founder portrait used on the homepage of a Series A pitch deck is not the same brief as a founder portrait used in a Sunday Times profile. Before any shoot we ask for a list of every surface the image will appear on — including the surfaces no one has thought of yet.

What to brief in

• 01Destinations and crop ratios — square, 16:9, 9:16, print bleed.
• 02Three reference images you genuinely admire — not 'inspirations', but specific images.
• 03Three reference images you actively dislike, and the reason.
• 04The non-negotiables. Brand colours, talent, location constraints, NDA.
• 05The negotiables — clearly marked.

What to skip

• 01Long moodboards of other photographers' work. Helpful as flavour, useless as a brief.
• 02Detailed shot lists assembled before the location has been scouted.
• 03Asking for 'natural and authentic'. Every brief says this; it commits to nothing.
• 04Suggesting 'we'll figure out usage after the shoot'. Usage drives the fee. Always.

We take on around forty commercial commissions a year, split roughly evenly between Edinburgh, Glasgow and clients further afield. Briefs come in through the Commission page; the first reply is always personal.