FOR ARTISTS & CREATIVES
What Should a Photography Website Include? A Page-by-Page Guide
A page-by-page checklist for UK photographers: home page, galleries, about, pricing, testimonials, booking, blog and legal pages.
Concrete Reels ideas for UK photographers, with a simple structure, length limits and music cautions.
The best Reels ideas for photographers show the work, the process and the person. Try a behind-the-scenes clip, a before-and-after edit, a location tour, a client’s reaction (with permission) or a quick tip. Lead with your strongest image or action in the first second. Keep it short, and end on one next step like an enquiry link.
Reels can feel like a whole other job. You’re used to getting one perfect frame, and suddenly you’re expected to turn out moving video that’s been edited and captioned too. Relax. Your best Reels won’t need a film crew. What they need is a clear idea and a strong opening, plus a few seconds of footage grabbed while you get on with the work you already do.
Below you’ll find ideas you can use straight away, a simple structure, the length limits worth knowing and a few warnings about music. It’s written for UK photographers in every genre, whether you shoot weddings or headshots, families or commercial work, portraits or events.
Don’t fancy talking to a camera? You can still make good Reels. These ideas lean on your images and your process, so nobody has to perform.
Behind-the-scenes clips are the obvious place to start. A few seconds of you directing a pose or adjusting a light, or setting up before a ceremony, tells a viewer a lot about how you work.
A quick tip works well too. “What to wear for a family session” or “Three ways to relax in front of a camera” answers questions clients really ask. You could also film a day in the life, from packing the bag to the first frame, so people see what the job involves.
Try a meet-the-photographer clip as well: a friendly 20-second introduction covering who you shoot for and where you work, ending with how to get in touch. And client reactions can be powerful, since a clip of someone seeing their images for the first time says more than any caption, but only post one with their clear permission.
For more on blending portfolio and personality with proof, our wider guide to social media for photographers shows where Reels fit into a regular plan. If you’d like help with moving image beyond Instagram, take a look at videography for photographers.
A Reel doesn’t have to be clever. It has to be clear. One simple three-part structure covers almost every idea above.
Each format has its own natural hook. A before-and-after Reel grabs attention by showing the “before” first, a tip Reel opens on the question it answers, and a reveal Reel leads with the best frame of the whole set.
Instagram says it avoids recommending certain kinds of video. Its ranking explainer names low-resolution or watermarked videos, muted or bordered videos, and videos that are mostly text. It also says Reels already posted on Instagram are made less visible. So for photographers, the job is to export at good quality, keep other apps’ watermarks off your clips and make your Reels specifically for Instagram.
Instagram’s Reels page says you can create multi-clip videos up to 3 minutes. Its help section says you can record and edit clips adding up to 20 minutes, although Reels over 3 minutes won’t be recommended to new audiences. The creators blog adds that before January 2025, only Reels up to 90 seconds were eligible for recommendation, and that creators in the United States could then publish Reels of up to 3 minutes in the Reels editor.
Features and limits can differ by account and by country, and they change over time, so check the length options in your own Reels editor. Longer isn’t automatically better. Our advice for most photographers is to aim for 10 to 30 seconds on a portfolio or reveal Reel, and up to a minute for a tip or process video. That’s our own rule of thumb. Instagram doesn’t require it.
No, and for a business this one counts. Instagram’s Reels page says licensed audio has to be credited to the artist and track, and that tracks may be muted if music rights agreements change. The music library you can reach may depend on your account type and your country, so see what shows up in your own audio picker.
For business content, music cleared for commercial use is the safer bet. Meta describes its Sound Collection as a library of royalty-free music and sound effects, with over 14,000 tracks you can use in videos on Facebook and Instagram. For anything outside it, Meta advises getting permission from whoever holds the rights.
Remember too that if you reuse a Reel somewhere else, such as in a paid advert or on your website, you may need different rights from the ones that covered an organic post. When in doubt, pick cleared music or record your own original audio, like a voiceover.
Before posting clips of clients, especially children, cover it in your booking terms or ask them directly. Putting someone’s face and voice in a Reel is a very public use of their image, and a polite message beforehand saves you an awkward takedown request later on.
Start with one or two a week, a pace you can keep up, and reuse footage you’re already capturing on shoots. One wedding or session can give you several different Reels from the same day’s footage, and a single edit can too. You might get a reveal and a tip out of it, plus a behind-the-scenes clip or a venue preview. For the bigger picture on finding clients, read our overview of marketing for photographers.
Got the footage but not the time? Our team can plan and edit your Reels, then publish them, as part of social media management for photographers. That includes a content strategy and captions, with publishing on Instagram and Facebook. We agree a clear brief, scope and fee with you before any work begins.
No. Before-and-after edits and gallery reveals work without you in shot, and so do venue previews and album unboxings. If you’d like to speak, a short, friendly clip about one useful tip often beats a polished video, because it shows clients what you’re like to work with.
Instagram allows far longer Reels than most photographers need. Aim for 10 to 30 seconds on portfolio and reveal Reels, and up to a minute for tips or process videos. Cut anything that doesn’t earn its place, and check your editor for the current limits.
Yes. Short on-screen text helps people follow along with the sound off. Keep it brief and big enough to read on a phone. Don’t fill the whole frame with words, though, because Instagram says it avoids recommending Reels that are mostly text.
Be careful. Which music you can use depends on your account type and country, and tracks can be muted if the rights change. Meta’s Sound Collection has royalty-free music for videos on Facebook and Instagram. If you want a particular song, get permission from the rights holder.
Often yes, but check the music first, because rights for organic posts may not stretch to other uses. Bear in mind as well that Instagram says it makes Reels less visible if they’ve already been posted on Instagram, so don’t just re-upload the same Reel there.
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