Guide: How to Work with Us

Congrats! This is the first step to having kick-ass commercial photography for your brand or product. If you got to this page you are probably curious about what it’s like working with Lathala Creative Studios aka us.

So read on and if you have questions after this, feel free to email us!

1. Have a moodboard, brand guide, and shot list ready.

We encourage our clients to always have these ready before approaching us, regardless if it’s a studio, lifestyle, or ecommerce shoot. Having these would help you organize your thoughts and settle on the creative direction you want to go. A commercial photography shoot is a collaboration between the client and the photographer, and having these essentials would help the photographer understand your brand better and provide the most accurate cost estimate for the project.

If you don’t have these yet, you can easily create one on Canva. Pull your brand colors and imagery (if you don’t have any yet, go on Pinterest and grab the photos that best represent your brand’s aesthetics). The shot list can be as easy as a table that specifies HOW MANY images you need, what you hope each image to look like, and where you intend to use these images (digital, print, etc.).

2. Fill out our Client Intake Form.

As soon as you’ve gathered the essentials together, fill out our Client Intake Form. You will need to upload the brand files you put together in Step 1. Please do not skip this one, otherwise we will be unable to provide you an accurate job estimate.

When filling out the form, make sure you have pre-determined where you intend to use the photos and for how long. We add a licensing fee depending on the usage.

P.S. Our production timeline is 4-6 weeks from paying the non-refundable retainer so kindly consider when determining your deadline.

3. Accept or reject the estimate.

After we receive the Client Intake Form, we may either ask more questions or proceed to creating the Estimate within 3 business days of completing the form.

If you’re happy with the estimate, we can proceed to the next step. If not, let us know via email and let’s talk about it.

4. Review and sign our contract.

If the estimate is a-ok, we will send you our studio contract detailing everything that has been agreed on, i.e. creative fee, scope of work, usage, deadlines, etc.

Review the contract and if everything is good on your end, send back initialed and signed as soon as you can to proceed.

5. Pay the non-refundable retainer.

After signing our contract, we will send you an invoice. We always require our non-refundable retainer paid prior to beginning any work on the project. The retainer is 50% of the agreed total cost of the project. Once it’s paid, it’s non-refundable due to fact that we block off weeks of our time for our clients, from pre-production, execution, to post-production.

6. Client call and mockup design (Week 1).

As soon as we receive the payment, we will schedule a client call where we will finalize the details of the shoot. After which, we will create a digital mockup of the concepts we have in mind for creative, lifestyle, and stop-motion projects. This process usually takes 7-10 days depending on the size of the project… unless, you already have concepts in mind (complete with sketches or mockups) and you only need a creative to execute them for you. In that case, we can skip to the next step! 🙂 For ecommerce photography, this process does not apply as well.  

7. Approve or reject the mockups (Week 2).

In this week we will send the mockups your way for approval. If you’re good with them, we’ll proceed to the next step. If not, kindly allow another 5-7 days for revisions.

8. Prop sourcing, set design, and other miscellaneous tasks (Week 3-4).

When the mockups are approved, we can start sourcing materials and props, cast talents, and scout locations if the shoot is on-location (on-location shoots will incur additional travel and setup fees). Note that props and materials we do not have available will be added to your final invoice should the expenses be more than what’s initially estimated, per our contract.

9. Shoot week (Week 4).

This week is reserved for executing the shot list.

10. Post-production (Week 5-6)

It takes us about two weeks to edit and digitally deliver assets.

11. Delivery (6)

We upload the assets in a digital gallery for proofing and feedback.

12. Revision and Payment (Week 7)

Should you have any revisions, it will take another week for re-edits. We provide 1 complimentary revision and any revision after that will incur an additional editing fee. Please note: we do not do unpaid reshoots. This is why we do digital mockups first so you have a visual reference of the outcome of the shoot.

In the event you don’t have any revisions, simply pay the invoice balance. As soon as we receive the final payment, you will receive a downloadable link.

And that’s it! Are you ready to create the most beautiful imagery for your brand?