Brand Shoots in Cafes – top tips!

Hello!

Ok, so we’ve all seen those brand photos in cafes on Pinterest – you know the one, sat with a cup of coffee in a cute café, laptop to the side, looking down at the cup or laughing just off camera. And the truth is, for a lot of businesses this sort of image can be relevant to your business IF you do remote work, have a laptop lifestyle and love cafes. If your business doesn’t include any of those elements, you hate coffee and you never set foot in a café, there are much better images to have for your business.

But for those of you that do need these images, what’s the etiquette for shooting cafe brand shoot, here are my top 5 tips for your cafe brand shoot:

Always buy something – don’t just rock up and expect to be able to swan around taking photos, it won’t win you any favours (as well as you won’t have a prop!) – remember these are businesses too, think of it as when you get lots of “can I pick your brain” messages so it’s the right thing to do to.
At this point, it’s also worth just asking / mentioning that you’d like to take some social media photos – I’ll always be really discrete, making sure I’m not getting in people’s way – certainly don’t want to be disturbing other diners. And I know my clients will always be super friendly anyway, but kindness and friendliness goes a long way.
Which brings me on to timings – it’s always better to avoid shooting in cafes outside of normal service eating times, so avoid breakfast, lunch and dinner – it means there are likely to be less people in the background and the staff will be a lot more accommodating when they’re not rushed off their feet with lots of orders and tables to service
When looking for a café, look for light and airy spaces, preferably where you can sit near a window for lovely light – as you can’t go setting up big lights in the middle of a café! This is another reason for avoiding the busy times. If we’re starting in a café or it’s one that you know is very popular, it’s also worth booking a table. If we’re going part the way through a Content Brand Shoot though, our timings need to be a bit more flexible so we wouldn’t book a table then.
Finally, utilise the time whilst waiting for your order to capture some images of you working, chatting on your phone, writing – anything that doesn’t involve the prop cup!