A photographer at your night is one of the best marketing investments you can make, but only if you go in knowing what you need them to come back with. Left to chance, you end up with fifty near-black crowd shots and nothing you'd actually post. The fix is a quick brief — a shared idea of the shots that have to exist by the end of the night.

Think about what each image is for. You want crowd energy — a full floor, hands up, the room at its peak — because that's what proves the night and pulls people to the next one. You want the DJ or act in action, lit and mid-flow, for their socials and yours. You want the venue looking alive, a few detail shots (decks, lighting, the bar, signage) that set the scene, and candid moments that feel real rather than posed. Then a handful of cleaner, composed frames you can drop straight onto a flyer or recap post without fighting the lighting.

Brief the practical stuff too. Tell them the key moments and timings — headliner on, any special guest, the room's busiest hour — so they're in position when it matters, not reloading. Agree how and when you get the images back, because a recap that lands two days later while the buzz is still live does far more than a gallery that shows up next month. Capture it properly on the night and one event gives you content for the recap, the next flyer, the artists' pages and weeks of posts.

Check out @journeywithTim and his advice carousel. We’ve worked with him before on the Back2Back DJ Battle nights