Photography production software for commercial shoots
Photography production software for commercial shoots: a looks list, a call sheet built from looks, usage on quotes, selects gallery and retouch board.
CreativeBase is photography production software that runs a commercial shoot from the brief to the final retouched delivery: a looks list, a call sheet built from those looks, a photo budget with creative fee and usage, a client selects gallery and a retouch board. It is built for commercial photographers and the photo producers who run their shoots, on lookbooks, e-commerce, product and campaign work.
In short: A photo shoot is its own kind of production here, not a film job with the word "shot" crossed out. The looks list drives the call sheet, usage gets its own line on the quote, and the client picks selects from a link. Pricing is set on a short call.
Your job: 30 looks, one day, nobody waiting
The pictures are the talent. Everything around them decides whether a client books you again: quoting usage properly instead of throwing it in, running a 30-look day without losing an hour to wardrobe, getting selects back without a 40-message email thread, and knowing which jobs paid.
When the looks, the budget, the crew, the selects and the invoices live in one place, each job sets up the next one. That is what we mean by from talent to leverage.
Your week in CreativeBase
Monday: the brief and the pitch
Drop the client's brief (the email, a PDF, screenshots of the chat) into Import a project, and Grizzo fills in New production for you to confirm. Choose photo, or photo and video if they want a cutdown too. A photo production asks for deliverables and usage up front, so the scope is in writing before you price anything.
If it is still a pitch, send a pitch page: the idea, your treatment, recent work and up to three price options, each with its own usage. The client approves one, and the pitch moves to Won.
Tuesday: the budget and the quote
The photo budget template is APA-style, with the creative fee and usage as their own lines beside crew, talent, studio, equipment, props, wardrobe, catering and post. Or import your own spreadsheet once and reuse it. Every line is quantity times rate times a multiplier, with an actual beside it, so margin is visible while you spend.
The client quote is built from the budget, and photo quotes carry a separate usage and licensing grant. The client sees the fee for making the pictures and the fee for using them, in the media, territory and term they asked for. Usage is where photographers undercharge most, and its own line is the simplest fix. See our photo shoot quote template for the layout.
Wednesday: the looks list
The looks list is the photo version of a shot list. One row per look: reference, products or SKUs, talent, wardrobe, set, crops (4:5 for social, 2:3 for web), minutes and day. Start from the look count in the brief, or paste SKUs straight from the client's spreadsheet. Reorder by dragging.
Thursday: crew and studio
The Crew tab reads the budget: what is left for crew, and which priced roles (digital tech, stylist, hair and makeup) nobody holds yet. Send an availability check to three stylists; book the one who says yes, and the rest are told it is filled. Short a second assistant? Post a crew call on your story and collect applicants by role.
Each booked person gets a Crew Pass: only their days, call time, run of show, map and contacts, plus their invoice and a W-9 they sign in the browser. Need a space? Find rental studios in Discover and send an enquiry (the studio directory is Florida first).
Friday: build the day and send the call sheet
This is the part a film tool cannot do. CreativeBase builds the run of show from the looks: a hair and makeup lead time before the first look, a lunch block, the minutes per look, and talent call times from when each model is first needed. Adjust it, and it becomes the run of show on the call sheet.
The call sheet carries the client's logo, the studio with parking and gate codes, weather, sunrise and sunset, the nearest hospital, and crew with their own call times. Each person confirms in one tap. On the day, shoot-day mode turns each look into a big tap target with a progress bar, so the whole set knows you are on look 14 of 22 and whether lunch is safe. Start from our photo shoot call sheet template if you want a blank one first.
The week after: selects, retouch, invoice
Photo productions get their own Post view. Cull with the keyboard: arrows to move, S to star, X to reject, P to pick.
Send the client a gallery link. They select within an allowance you set, comment, send their selects back, approve retouches and download finals, one image at a time or as a zip. The retouch board moves each image through selected, in retouch, review, and approved or delivered, counts rounds (so you notice round three of a two-round deal) and has a before and after slider.
The client portal holds the rest in one link: the quote, changes, invoices and files, with every sign-off recorded by name and time. The approved quote becomes the invoice, with milestones for deposit and balance.
Before and with CreativeBase
| What you need to do | Before | With CreativeBase |
|---|---|---|
| Quote usage apart from the creative fee | A line you forget to add | Its own grant on the quote |
| Plan a 30-look day | A spreadsheet and mental maths | Run of show built from the looks |
| Tell talent when to arrive | Guessed from the first look | Call times worked out per model |
| Get selects from the client | "Can you number them?" | Gallery link with a pick allowance |
| Track retouch rounds | Email thread | Retouch board with rounds counted |
| Retouch the images | Capture One, Photoshop | No, keep your editing software |
The rest of the platform
A photo studio is a business, and the rest of CreativeBase works the same for photo as for video:
- Opportunities with stages, win probability and a forecast.
- Boards, a freeform canvas for mood and references, with live cursors when the client's creative team joins in.
- Messages per production, with replies, @mentions and PDFs.
- Tasks and calendar across every production, synced with Google Calendar.
- Finance: owed, overdue, profit by production, crew bills with W-9 status, 1099 flags and an accountant link.
- Reports: a client status report, a team cost report and a wrap report.
- Portfolio, a public page whose enquiries land on your pipeline.
- Grizzo, an AI that reads your productions and budgets, proposes changes you approve, and drafts the follow-ups you send.
What it does not do
- Client payments or e-signature. Clients approve with a recorded click and pay you outside the app.
- Gallery password or watermark. Treat the gallery link as private.
- Editing or retouching. CreativeBase tracks the work; your editing software does it.
- Model releases or casting. Keep your release app and agency contacts.
- Sales tax or VAT lines on quotes and invoices.
- A phone app. You plan on a computer; crew and clients open their links on any phone.
Pricing and how to start
Accounts start with a short call where pricing is set. If you want to try it after that, your first production is free, with no end date. Crew, clients and anyone you invite into a production use it free. Book a demo.
For the full checklist from brief to delivery, read how to produce a photo shoot. Running several photographers or producers? See CreativeBase for production companies.
Questions people ask
Is there production management software built for photo shoots?
Yes. CreativeBase treats photo shoots as their own kind of production: a looks list, a call sheet built from the looks, an APA-style photo budget with creative fee and usage, quotes with a separate usage grant, a client selects gallery and a retouch board.
How do I quote usage and licensing separately from the creative fee?
The photo budget template carries the creative fee and usage as their own lines, and the client quote can show a separate usage and licensing grant. On a pitch page you can offer up to three price options, each with its own usage.
Can clients pick their selects online?
Yes. You send a gallery link, and the client selects within an optional allowance, comments, sends their selects, approves retouches and downloads finals per image or as a zip, with no account. The gallery has no password or watermark.
Can CreativeBase build the shoot day from a looks list?
Yes. It builds the run of show from the looks list with a hair and makeup lead time, a lunch block, time per look and talent call times, which then sit on the call sheet you send to crew.
Can one production cover both photo and video?
Yes. A photo and video production has both crews, a budget with a Stills section, and Post split into Video and Photos.
What does CreativeBase not do for photographers?
It does not take client payments, capture e-signatures, edit or retouch images, or handle model releases and casting. Gallery links have no password or watermark.
More who it's for
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