Is It Too Late to Book Holiday Photos for Your Smithfield Business?
Is It Too Late to Book Holiday Photos for Your Smithfield Business?
It is October. Here is the honest math on whether your holiday product photos can still happen, and what to do this week if the answer is "barely."
No, it is not too late, but October is the month it becomes urgent. Black Friday is November 27 and Small Business Saturday is November 28, and your holiday photos need to be edited and scheduled before that weekend, not shot during it.
- Book the shoot in early October and you have time for a full gallery, edits, and a real posting plan
- Book in November and you are shooting whatever is in stock that day and posting it the same week
- Decorate one corner, pull your ten best gift items, and the shoot itself takes half a day
I get some version of this question every fall, usually in a slightly panicked text. Quick intro: I'm Sarah Rasmussen, I live and work in Smithfield, and Sarah Rasmussen Productions is the commercial photo and video studio I've been running since 2019. Smithfield businesses are literally my neighbors, so I am going to answer this like a neighbor and not like a sales page.
Here are the questions I actually get, in the order people ask them.
Is early October really cutting it close?
Not for the shoot. For the plan. A half-day content shoot is a half-day, and I can usually fit one in. What takes time is everything around it: deciding what to feature, waiting for holiday stock to arrive, getting the space decorated, editing the gallery, and then giving the photos enough runway to be seen before people have already bought their gifts.
Work backward from November 27. If you want a holiday post going up every few days from mid-November on, you need finished photos by the first or second week of November. That means shooting in October. Which is now.
What if my holiday inventory has not arrived yet?
Shoot what you have that stays the same. Your gift cards. Your best sellers that will still be on the shelf in December. Your storefront with the lights on. Your team. The holiday feeling comes from the styling and the light far more than from the specific product, and I can bring greenery, ribbon, and warm light that make an ordinary product look like a gift without waiting on a shipment.
If specific new items really matter, we do a quick second session when they land, or you shoot them on your phone using the same corner and the same setup I leave you with. More on that in the tip below.
Do I need to decorate the whole store?
No. You need one corner that looks great through a lens. A table, a wall, a window, a shelf. We dress that one spot properly and shoot everything there. Polar Bear did this for their birthday with a balloon arch and a few party hats and it read as a full-blown celebration in every frame, because every frame was pointed at the part that was decorated.
If you want the wide exterior shot with lights, that is a separate ten minutes at dusk, and it is worth it. Smithfield Main Street after dark in December looks great and almost nobody has a photo of their own storefront lit up.
The holiday feeling comes from the styling and the light, not the specific product.
How many photos do I actually need for the season?
Fewer than you think, used more than you think. A half-day shoot gives you enough for a post every few days from mid-November through New Year's, plus a Google Business update, an email header, and a couple of story backgrounds. Ten gift-ready items, your gift card, your storefront, your team, and a handful of detail shots covers it. I wrote a whole list of seasonal content ideas that translates to retail too, if you want to see how the photos turn into posts.
What does it cost, and when do I pay?
Half-day content shoots start at $950, and the details are on my investment page. For holiday work I would rather you book a half-day now than try to squeeze a full brand shoot into November. The FAQ page covers the rest of the logistics, and anything it does not cover, just ask.
What if I really am too late?
Then we do the November version. We shoot what is on the shelf, I turn the gallery fast, and you post daily instead of every few days to make up the lost runway. It is not ideal and it still beats a December of phone photos taken under fluorescent light. And then we book January for the real shoot, when your competition is asleep.
This week, before anything else, clear one table or shelf near a window and make it your "photo corner" through December. Put one piece of greenery and one warm lamp on it and leave it there. Every new product, every gift bundle, every "we just got these in" goes on that table and gets a phone photo in the same spot with the same light. Your feed will look planned even when it was not, and if we shoot together, that corner is where we start.
So no, you are not too late. You are exactly on time, as long as "on time" means texting me this week and not the week of Thanksgiving.
I'm a Smithfield local and I shoot commercial photo and video for businesses up and down Cache Valley and into Southern Idaho, from one-corner holiday sessions to full brand days.
Let's get your holiday photos done before the rush does you in.
Tell me what you sell and when your holiday stock lands, and I'll find a half-day in October that works.
Book my October date📞 Call or Text: 435-764-3606
✉️ sarahrasmussenproductions@gmail.com
📍 Serving Northern Utah & Southern Idaho
