Studio rental Guides

Renting a studio for a brand shoot: what you still need besides the room

Renting a studio solves the room: light, backdrops, a make-up corner, no customers walking through. A brand shoot needs more than a room. Here is what else has to be in place, who usually does it, and how long to book.

What the room already gives you

Three Godox SK400 strobes with octaboxes, a beauty dish, stripboxes and grids; continuous LED for video (Godox SL300 III and 3× SL150); 10 paper backdrop colours; a window wall for daylight and blackout curtains for full dark; a lounge corner with a leather sofa as a second set; a make-up corner with a lit mirror and a clothes rail; a monitor on set and a 65″ screen. At the start we help you set up the light and the backdrop, free.

Everything else comes from you or from the people you bring.

1. A plan before the day

A brand shoot without a plan turns into four hours of trying things. Before you book, write:

• where the images will go: website, Instagram, ads, a catalogue, a press kit;
• the formats: vertical 9:16 for reels and stories, 4:5 for the feed, horizontal for the website;
• a shot list, one line per image or clip, in the order you will shoot them;
• the look: two or three reference images, the backdrop colours, the props.

Group the shot list by setup, not by product: everything on the white sweep first, then the coloured paper, then the sofa corner. Changing a backdrop takes longer than changing a product.

2. Someone behind the camera

The studio is a room; it does not take pictures. Someone has to frame, light and direct. If that is you, plan more time than you think. If you hire a photographer, check that they shoot in studios and have seen your shot list before the day.

If you also need video, decide who films. Photo and video on the same day work best with two people, or with a clear split: photos in the first half, video in the second.

3. Styling and props

Clothes ironed and on hangers, products cleaned and labels straight, props that match the brand colours. Bring tape, clips and a lint roller. Small things you notice on the 65″ screen take minutes to fix on set and hours in editing.

4. People on camera

Models, team members or the founder. Everyone who appears signs a release for how the images will be used. Book the make-up room for 1 hour before your time (€40) so hair and make-up are done when the clock starts.

5. Hands on set

Moving lights, holding a reflector, changing backdrops: a second pair of hands saves real time. A light assistant for the shoot is €40/h.

6. Editing and delivery

Decide before the shoot who selects, who edits and when the files are delivered, in which sizes and formats. Images from a brand shoot are only useful once they are edited and in the right formats for each channel.

How long to book

A focused brand shoot with one product line or one person: 4 hours (€300). A full day of photo and video, several setups and people: 8 hours (€480). Setup and cleanup are inside your booked time.

If you would rather hand all of it over

The list above is a lot of roles for one small business. If you do not have a photographer, a plan or time for the editing, the simpler path is a team that brings all of it and uses the same studio.

In that case, book a content shoot with Lux Photo Pro: the plan, the photographer and the editing come with the team.