EP 107: IG B-Roll for Photographers

Alison: [00:00:00] Guys, Alison here. I am here with our guest, Kate, and we are without Melissa today because she is sick. Thoughts with you, Melissa. Get well. She sounded pretty rough, so probably all for the better. Kate here is a marketing specialist with Task Lemonade, sort of like high-touch VAs for photographers specifically. I’m really pumped to hear all the things that she’s going to share with us. I’m already thinking about how I can use some of this and possibly hire you for myself. So Kate, thank you so much for being here. Tell us about yourself.

Kate: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. There is so much to tell, but I don’t want to take up all the time just talking about myself, of course. So I’m happy to just give a little bit of a high-level overview. Hi, I’m Kate. So nice to be here. I left my corporate job, the stuffy nine-to-five, after my son was born about two-ish years ago.
[00:01:00] One of the things that I really enjoyed doing in that career was social media marketing that I did for my location, and I really, really valued the online community building and, of course, how that translated to in-person sales and how those two things connected.
When I decided to leave that behind so I could have more freedom to be with my son, I decided to kind of follow that passion, and I jumped into social media marketing, which then has turned into marketing in general. So helping photographers with everything from email marketing, lead magnets, blog posts, and then, of course, the beast of Instagram is,

Alison: Yes.
Kate: a lot of what we do together. I’m super, super passionate and really enjoy seeing photographers reach new people by building out this marketing ecosystem that really works for them.
Alison: Exactly, and exactly what you just said. You said it so well, a marketing ecosystem, that it’s not just Instagram, [00:02:00] it’s not just social media.
Kate: Yes
Alison: lead magnets and blogging and your website and all the things working together. So
Kate: Yes
Alison: We’re only going to talk about one of those aspects today. That doesn’t mean we forget the rest. I personally have a love/hate, feast/famine relationship with Instagram, I’m not gonna lie.
Kate: As most photographers do, I think. That’s very normal.

Alison: I love being on the app. I have fun making Reels and thinking about things that I can do Reels for. I am comfortable in front of the camera. I’m comfortable talking to the camera. But, like, if you go and look at my grid right now, when the summer was out, my boys were home, I think I may have shared a handful of Reels when I normally try to do a handful in two weeks. The whole time that we were traveling on the East Coast was, like, dead. I think I did one July 4th and then one last week. It’s August, right? Like, that shouldn’t be the plan. [00:03:00] So when it comes to Instagram, what should photographers be doing, not doing? How should we approach the whole program?

Kate: Yeah. I mean, there are so many different approaches that you could make based on what works for your business. But what I have found that works for pretty much everyone across niches, areas, and client bases is having that really healthy B-roll bank and letting that bank of B-roll be that secret sauce to marketing when you’re busy, just like you’re talking about, right?
Because realistically, if you already have the B-roll filmed and can pull that B-roll when you’re ready to make a Reel, it can take you 15 minutes to put together a Reel, and less if you have templates ready to go for you, which is one of the things that I make sure to work on with the photographers that are in my membership.
They have templates ready to go, so it should only take them five minutes to put, like, a B-roll and text Reel together. [00:04:00] That should really be it.
Alison: amazing.
Kate: Whoops, sorry. Because that B-roll is, is the meat of the post, it’s your background footage, right? And then you’re editing the text to include some keywords. Maybe you’re throwing some of your recent photos at the end. It’s not rocket science, right? And then that, that gives you the ability to stay consistent even when, you know, you know your weekends need to be film- or filled with sessions, you know?

Alison: Yeah
Kate: So I think that that is the place to start. That should be the cornerstone. I’m always telling them, you know, I’ll see one of my photographers dressed up really nice because they have a purchasing appointment that day or they’re going to a session. I’m like, “Don’t forget your B-roll. Don’t forget to film some B-roll while you’re there,” you know, even if it’s something really, really quick.
And anything can be B-roll when you’re a photographer because who you are is such an important part of your brand, right? [00:05:00] People are buying so much more than just a photo session. They’re purchasing from you because something about you resonates with them. So, so 100%.
Alison: Yes.
Kate: So really, I—
Alison: You are the secret sauce. The way you run your sessions, the comfort level, how they feel with their most important day, their most important moments, their legacy. You, you, you. You’ve got to show yourself in all aspects of your marketing. Sorry.
Kate: 100%. Everything from branding to everything, everything that you touch, right? It all should have something about you. You don’t just want to sound like a generic whatever.
Alison: Yeah.

Kate: Yeah, you know. And I think about my wedding photographer, who I still talk to years later. I don’t say her business name when people ask me about my wedding photos. I say her name because I hired Kate. Her name was actually also Kate, but I hired Kate as my wedding photographer, and it wasn’t Catherine Elise Media, which is her official name. I hope she doesn’t mind that I mentioned that. I’m sure she won’t. She’s amazing.
But yeah, it was a personal relationship, and it has lasted. She’s taken family photos for us now later. She’s moved across the country, and whenever she’s in town, she lets us know so we can meet up, even if it’s not for a photo shoot, for drinks, because it was a personal relationship.
I always think that that’s important to highlight because, one, your B-roll is essentially your stock footage, right? And your stock footage should have you in it. It should,
Alison: Right
Kate: It should be a piece of you. But also, if we’re gonna talk about the most bang for our buck with this B-roll, isn’t it better if the B-roll that you’re using is also kind of strategic, right?
Like. Yeah, it could be you holding a coffee cup in the morning, and I’m not gonna knock you if that’s what it is. That’s totally fine. But, you know, if you want to take it to the next level, [00:07:00] then maybe your B-roll should also be teaching the viewer something about your process. One of my favorite examples that sort of couples that with personality is packing your camera bag.
If I ask five photographers to pack their camera bag, they’re gonna do it five different ways, and they’re gonna include five different things. Even down to, like, maybe, “Oh, I always make sure that there’s ChapStick in the side pocket,” or something like that, right? Oh, there you go. I would really like to hear about why you keep a paintbrush in there.

Alison: Sand.
Kate: See, see, that—okay, that’s incredible, and I’m keeping that in my back pocket for any of the photographers that I work with.
But yeah, like something like that. You know, it’s a rhythmic activity. It’s not gonna distract from whatever text you do have on the screen, but there’s still something personal.
And you don’t have to put anything in the caption about why you put that paintbrush in your bag, but I’ll bet you someone is gonna ask about it, and then now you’ve got a conversation going in the comments, right? It’s personable, [00:08:00] but it’s still strategic. You’re still teaching them something about what it is that you do. And it’s such a small way to show your personality in every Reel or piece of content that you create.
And, you know, it’s not just Reels anymore. Video carousels are becoming super popular, so you can use this B-roll in anything that you create. It’s not just, “Oh, I have to choose between Reels and not Reels.” There are so many fun things that you can do with carousels too if you’re not a super big Reel person. And there’s also the logistical reason that I think that you need to be a little strategic with your B-roll.
It sounds silly, but it’s true. If you have your camera in your hand, Instagram’s algorithm, which is really just a fancy AI, clocks that camera and goes, “Photographer, photos. Show this to people who are interested in photos or photography.” [00:09:00]
And then the text on your screen that you have added is going to reiterate that message and maybe niche it down a little bit more. Like, not just photography, but family photography, lifestyle photography, newborn photography. You kind of are helping it narrow down, but that camera in your hand just reinforces what it is that you’re doing and who you want that to be shown to.
It’s silly that these little things make such a big difference, but it’s true. That’s where we are, and so it makes a difference.

Alison: Yeah, let’s back up for just a minute. So let’s talk to our listener that hates Instagram video and being on camera. So when we say B-roll, what are we talking about when we say B-roll?
Kate: B-roll is background footage of you doing something, like we said, could be just about anything, that you’re gonna put text around or over.
Alison: Okay
Kate: You know, I always like to say you’re gonna film yourself doing something. It can be anything, [00:10:00] and leave a little bit of empty negative space around you so that you have room for the text that you’re going to add later.
When we talk about B-roll, we’re not talking about a talking-head Reel, where I’m looking at the camera and I’m saying words. That’s not B-roll. That’s something different. That takes a different skill.
This is literally just you doing something, anything. And I like to—one of my favorite B-roll tips is to set a timer, like random timers throughout the day that you’re gonna be out and about doing stuff, and whenever they go off, film what you’re doing for 30 seconds. Boom, B-roll. We don’t need to make it complicated, right? It can literally be that easy. It’s fun, and you get so much variety.

Alison: And so when you’re saying creating this B-roll bank, we’re clearly on our phone, but how are you keeping this organized? That’s what drives me nuts.
Kate: That is such an excellent question. [00:11:00] It might be the neurotic in me, but I like to recommend keeping B-roll in a couple of places. One is my phone, of course, and I will organize my albums on my phone based on B-roll and, you know, B-roll for XYZ. Maybe I have one in there that’s B-roll of me getting ready in the morning, and then I might have B-roll of me doing client work. I try and keep it organized like that.
And then I also have it on my Mac, and on my Mac, I actually have it titled with what is happening in that B-roll.
So if I don’t remember by the thumbnail, the title tells me exactly. It’ll say, like, “Kate and Trish laughing,” you know? And, like, okay, so if I need something of us laughing, and then “Kate and Trish talking” might be the next 10-second clip from that same moment

Alison: That’s what gets me. I only keep it on my phone. I do break it up into those albums, like behind-the-scenes sessions, other work stuff. I probably should create a personal one for, like, getting ready.
Kate: Definitely. [00:12:00] Definitely.
Alison: But then it’s not on my computer. I only leave it on my phone. And going back and finding it or remembering it to put it in the album is a pain point.
Kate: Yeah, no, definitely. And, you know, I’ll also have a pretty good-sized album on Canva of my B-roll as well for the stuff that I wanna do on Canva versus doing in Instagram edits.
I will say that having it on my computer and on my phone, like, is it the most user-friendly? I mean, I like the ability to search and have it titled, but it does mean sometimes finding it on my computer and then turning around and finding it on my phone now that I know the length or whatever.
So sometimes that can be a little clunky. But I think it depends on, one, how much B-roll do you have?
If you’re just starting out, an album on your phone is probably fine because you don’t have a lot that you’re gonna have to dig through.
But think about those things ahead of time. [00:13:00] It’s always good to think about those things ahead of time because you do wanna be thinking long term. You wanna make sure you’re setting your organization up for success so you don’t have to go back and fix 100 different things later down the line.
But yeah, I think at the end of the day, the system that works for you is the one that’s going to work. I’m never going to say it has to be this way or you have to do it this way, because everybody’s different. But for me, that’s what works: having it in three places, making sure that they’re titled something that I can search easily, and then just making sure that I give myself that variety so I have emotions—

Alison: Okay. Yeah, one more question before we get into your favorite B-roll for a photographer specifically.
What are your tools for setting the phone up? How do you like to do that? Because getting in it requires somebody else, something else holding the phone.
And I have a lot of B-roll behind-the-scenes footage of me gearing up for my sessions because I prop it up in the back of my car. [00:14:00] I can hit record. I don’t have an extra tool on me.
I have time lapses of me gearing up with all my junk, putting stuff on my shoulders, cleaning things. I’ve done that ad nauseam, to be honest, recording that.
And I do have so many options and tools, and there’s always a reason one works and one doesn’t.
So where do we start with those tools?

Kate: Yeah, you know, I wish that I had something like the secret in my back pocket I could pull out for you, but truthfully, I use two things that were both purchased on Amazon.
One is a standing tripod ring light that attaches to the magnet on the back of your phone. That magnet holds super strong, so that keeps it really sturdy, which is really nice.
And then I have something that is pretty much exactly the same thing, but it’s desktop height, so I can set it on my desk as opposed to being a full stand.
It’s maybe five inches tall at its height. [00:15:00] It’s not crazy, but it’s enough to hold my phone up, again, with that magnet so that it’s nice and secure. If I’m moving around, I don’t have to worry about bumping it, but it’s gonna stay in one place.
And that’s really all that I use. I know that that is maybe not the most glamorous or exciting answer, but I don’t think it needs to be anything super crazy.
And if you’re thinking about sessions, because that is a big one, right? I think having something set up that you can just, at a session, you know, like a selfie stand, a selfie-stick stand, that you can set in one corner and then just set it and forget it is great.
Something with a remote so you could start and stop remotely that recording without having to physically walk back to your phone, that’s also really helpful. Or bring someone along. I know that that also is kind of like a boring answer, but—

Alison: And it’s not cheap, because I do this. I’ve been doing this for about two years now. [00:16:00]
In the photography world, it is the most ironic thing. It’s a freestanding monopod, which is really just a tripod with a smaller footprint. So it still has three legs, so it sits down, but it’s one stick that sits up.
And I have an expensive—it’s maybe $125 by this point—but it’s a DJI gimbal. And so it works with your phone. It MagSafes to it. You download the app, and here’s why it’s so fabulous for sessions and behind-the-scenes: it tracks you.
You set it up, and it moves with you. You set it up on whoever you want it to follow. You don’t want it to follow you, because then you’re just gonna get a butt shot of you the whole time. Pro tip.
I usually put it on a kid, and I just have it. And I always ask my families, “Hey, is it cool if I get some behind-the-scenes footage?” They always say yes, unless they’re not allowed to share their photos. Then I don’t do this at all.
But then I select the kid, hit record, [00:17:00] walk away, and then I have footage from—it might be 14 minutes long, it might be 30 minutes long. It just depends on how often, how long it takes me to get back and turn it off, or if it just dies or if it falls over, because all that happens.
And so it actually will follow me based on how I set it up. Now, crap happens all the time. Like, I set it up too far and it can’t go any further right, and we’re out of frame for 15 minutes. That happened last week. Or the kid walked out of frame, or the kid’s in front of me, or something like that. That happens all the time. Or somehow the mode got turned off.
But it’s a DJI gimbal, and so it will hold my phone and track me. And I only use those for sessions. I don’t use that for anything else.

Kate: Yeah, you definitely could. That does remind me that I have seen some that attach to your camera as well, which is also an option if you want POV. They’ll attach to your camera. You attach your phone to it. [00:18:00]
Obviously, I am not a photographer, so I haven’t used that myself, but I have seen that those are very popular as well. So maybe I need to find a model that really works.
Alison: I did that for about a year and a half, maybe two years, before I did this DJI thing.
Here’s why I stopped: my phone was so heavy, it shook my hot shoe mount, where it mounts is called the hot shoe. It shook it loose, and I lost it, and it’s a very expensive fix, and now I can no longer use a flash or remote trigger on my very expensive camera.
Kate: Okay. Well, that’s good to know.
Alison: They are very helpful and lovely, but it’s not worth losing your shoe mount. Maybe a GoPro or something super tiny, but my phone shook it loose.
Kate: Yeah. And phone is what I would recommend. So yeah, maybe that’s not the most functional then. Okay. I mean, that’s really good to know. Thank you. Maybe I won’t spend some time figuring that out.
Alison: Well, awesome. Well, let’s talk about—so you have this lovely download that, if you’re on my email list, [00:19:00] in July you already have it in your email.
I’ll give you a link in the show notes to download it. But you have this lovely free guide for photographers on all the B-roll we need to be getting and keeping in this bank, and it’s, like, how many deep? It’s, like, a bunch.
Kate: 18.
Alison: 18?
Kate: I believe 18 is where I started.
Alison: Okay, awesome. So we can’t, we don’t have time to go through all 18 here, but if you wouldn’t mind going through your favorite three to five—
Kate: Totally.
Alison: —and then, of course, whet everybody’s appetite to go grab that.

Kate: Yeah, of course. Well, I did already mention packing your camera bag. That is probably my most favorite. And there’s so many things that you can do with it. You can create a “packing the camera bag” series if you wanted to. That could be its own Reel. So you could knock out a bunch of things while you’re filming that one. So I think that’s a really fun one. [00:20:00]
I think something you do to prepare for the shoot—what do I have that? Number 13, I think I have it called literally “Preparing for the Shoot.”
But this is a good one to show that personality like I talked about. If you have something that you do that is like your pre-shoot ritual, or even like a post-shoot ritual, show that off because it’s such a fun way to show your personality in the background of the Reel, just like we talked about.
Everyone’s is going to be different, and it leaves a lot of room for, again, that community-building in the comments for people to talk about why it is that you do what you do, and I think that that’s a lot of fun.
Let me see. Oh, of course, the classic: showing a 360 view of your favorite location or one of your favorite locations to have a session.
And the reason that this one works so well is you can use it for regular B-roll, which is great, but you can also create a Reel series that is like, “My favorite locations for outdoor sessions,” [00:21:00] and that is full of keywords that Instagram is just going to eat up and love.
You mention the exact spot. You mention the time of day that it’s filmed, so you have the opportunity to sneak in that golden hour keyword. You add your location, post it to your Stories, and use the location tag for some extra visibility. There’s a lot of meat on that bone that you can play around with all from one clip.

Alison: And double tag. Melissa will be proud of me for thinking of this. When you take that video, you can also then use that video to leave a review about that location or to add photos to that location from your business Gmail or whatever business account, if you’ve got one.
Kate: 100%.
Alison: Same video, just—
Kate: Yes. And then now the people who are looking at that location for, “Hey, is this the spot I wanna have my photos?” Oh, look, here’s a photographer that’s right here in this comment that takes such good photos. Maybe I should go to their Instagram.
Like, again, this is what I’m talking about with having an ecosystem. Everything works together, [00:22:00] and you’re not creating content just to post to Instagram and where it dies.
That’s not our goal here. How can you get the most bang for your buck? And that’s a really, really great one. Let me see. I probably have time to do one more, right?
The one I will say is boring, but it is one that my clients and the photographers in my membership use more than probably any other. It’s holding up your camera and taking a photo toward the camera that’s recording.
I know, I understand that maybe is not the most glamorous of these options, but you holding your camera, taking the photo—the act of taking the photo—Instagram just eats it up. I don’t know what else to say.
Because you have that eye contact first before you put the camera up, so you’re getting that face time, which is important on Instagram. But then the camera comes up and, like I said, Instagram just goes, “Hey, that’s a photographer. They’re taking a photo. [00:23:00] That’s a photographer. I need to make sure that this content goes to people who are interested in photography content or have searched for photography content.”
And it just gets you to the right people so fast. And I know that it’s so silly, but it totally works. So that one is, like, if you’re gonna start with one, that’s what you start with.
I think that the photographers in my membership probably have at least 10 different versions of that same sort of B-roll, where they’re making different expressions. It’s maybe slightly different angles. One where they’re walking into the frame and then taking the photo, one where they’re turning their head to the side.
We’ve done so many versions, and it allows us to reuse them constantly. That is such a good cornerstone.

Alison: That begs the question: how often are you redoing this or refreshing it? Is this something we need to be doing every quarter, every month, every year?
Kate: Oh, that is such a good question. I think once you have a good bank of B-roll to pull from—let’s say that you’ve been working on filming for two months, you’re filming once a week, 00:24:00] and you’ve got a pretty healthy bank—I wouldn’t recommend touching it until three months later.
Yeah, I think once a quarter is my ideal.
If you’re in the thick of your busy season when that time comes up, right, like that three months hits, you can squeak another month or two out of it, and it’s not gonna be a big deal.
And I just always recommend you don’t have to touch it, but if you’re gonna film a talking-head Reel or you’re going to have your phone out to record something else for some reason, just add on an extra 20 seconds and get a little bit of B-roll while you’re at it.
Again, the goal is, “How can I make this as easy as possible and not create just work just for the sake of creating work for myself?”

Alison: Yeah. Awesome. Okay, you mentioned this membership. Tell us more, and how can people find you?
Kate: Wonderful. So people, you can always find me at Task Lemonade on Instagram. We’re always available there. [00:25:00] I share a lot of educational content for photographers for marketing.
My business partner, Trish, shares a lot of systems specialist-type information. She’s a Dubsado specialist, so we talk about that. We’ve got a lot of educational content on there. Feel free to check us out.
Our website also has a digital shop for downloads for photographers. We lovingly call it our Lemonade Stand because we’re Task Lemonade.
You can find us at tasklemonade.com.
I’m currently working on turning the strategy that I use for my clients, for how they can seamlessly weave their blog posts and Instagram content together, into a self-paced course. I’m really excited. That’s gonna be going live pretty soon.
And then, of course, yes, there is my membership, as you mentioned. This membership is called Fresh Squeezed Social.
That is really the place for a done-with-you marketing strategy membership. It’s that place for hands-on support without you feeling like you need to have the big-ticket price tag of a strategist for yourself full time [00:26:00], because we do it as a group.
There’s a community of photographers there, and we do it together, which is always really nice.

Alison: That’s awesome. That’s very interesting. I will definitely be looking that up when we get off here.
Well, thank you so much. Like we said, guys, all of these links, their social, her website, and these downloads are all gonna be available in the show notes. The links will be in the show notes.
And so thank you, Kate, so much for sharing all this. This is really interesting. These are things I haven’t even thought of, so hopefully you guys get something out of it.
If you do, reach out to us on the socials and let us know.
Kate: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

Tired of being invisible on Google? Learn the 5 SEO mistakes keeping photographers from getting found (and how to fix them) in Melissa’s free masterclass: 5 SEO Mistakes Killing Your Photography Business Masterclass

Thinking about a pivot or transition in your photography business? Book a free 15 minute discovery call with Alison to talk through your next move.

Ready to streamline your content? Melissa’s got you covered with her 35+ Blog Post Topics freebie—grab them here: https://35topics.com

Looking for your next clients? Grab Alison’s list of 39 FREE ways to get more bookings—no ads required: 39 Ways to Get New Clients – Alison Bell

Links:

• Leave a review in Apple or on Spotify
• 5 SEO Mistakes Killing Your Photography Business Webinar
• Download 39 FREE Ways to Get More Clients
• Get Melissa’s Free Blog Post Topics
• Find Alison on IG @getbookedpodcast
• Find Melissa on IG @‌pictureperfectrankings