A shot list is a planned inventory of the specific images a project needs, written before any shooting or generating begins. Each line names one frame - its subject, its distance, and what it is for. It is the difference between a set that covers a story and a pile of images that all say roughly the same thing.

What should a shot list include for each frame?

Four things: the subject as a concrete noun and action, the distance (wide, medium, close, or detail), the aspect ratio, and where the image will be used. Anything vaguer than a concrete noun and one action will produce a vague image.

Why do my images all look the same even though the prompts were different?

Usually because they are all at the same distance. Varying the subject while keeping every frame at medium distance produces a set that reads as repetitive no matter how different the content is. Coverage is about camera distance and framing, not just subject matter.

Guide

How to build a shot list like an editor

Q: How many images should a set contain?

Ten to fifteen covers most projects. A useful default split is one or two establishing wides, four to six mediums carrying the main subject, three or four close shots, and two or three detail or texture frames. Below about eight the set feels thin; past about twenty-four the extras rarely get used.

Q: Should I plan for text over images?

Yes, and it is the most commonly skipped step. If an image will carry a headline, it needs deliberate negative space - a wall, a sky, a tabletop, or a shadow area where type can sit legibly. Plan at least two frames per set with that room built in.

By Sara Nelson, founder of LATENT STOCK·August 2026

Quick answer: a shot list is the plan that turns twelve images into a set instead of twelve images. Write it before you generate or shoot anything. Each line names one frame: a concrete subject and action, a camera distance (wide, medium, close, detail), an aspect ratio, and where it will be used. Plan coverage across distances rather than just subjects - a set where every frame sits at the same distance reads as repetitive no matter how varied the content is - and reserve at least two frames with empty space for text.

The failure a shot list prevents

Ask anyone to make a dozen images for a project and they will produce a dozen versions of the same idea. Not because they lack imagination, but because without a plan each new frame is invented in reaction to the last one, and reaction produces sameness. You end up with nine medium shots of a subject from slightly different angles and nothing to open or close with.

Editors solved this a century ago. Before anyone touches a camera, they write down what the story needs: something to establish the place, something to carry the subject, something intimate, something textural. The list is boring on purpose. It exists so that judgment happens once, calmly, rather than twelve times under pressure.

Coverage: the four distances

Every usable set moves between distances. This is the part people skip, and it is the part that makes a set feel complete.

Distance	What it does	Typical count in a set of 12
Wide / establishing	Says where we are. Gives the set its sense of place and usually makes the best hero.	1-2
Medium	The workhorse. Subject and context together - the frames you will actually use most.	4-6
Close	Hands, faces, objects at arm's length. Where warmth and specificity live.	3-4
Detail / texture	Surface, material, an abstract fragment. The connective tissue between bigger frames, and the best backgrounds for text.	2-3

If you write a list and notice every line is a medium, that is the diagnosis and the cure in one glance.

Work backwards from where the images will live

A shot list is not a wish list. Start from the destinations and let them dictate the frames. If the images are for a landing page, you already know from the sections that page has: a hero, a few section breaks, a closer. If they are for a launch campaign, you need a hero, a couple of social crops, and a quiet frame for the email.

Write the destination next to each line. Frames with no destination are the ones to cut before you spend anything generating them.

What a line looks like

Vague lines make vague images. The fix is a concrete noun plus exactly one action, then the practical details:

weak: cozy cafe vibes
strong: hands wrapping a loaf in brown paper, close, 2:3, section break

weak: someone working late
strong: empty desk with monitor still glowing, one chair pushed back, wide, 3:2, hero

Notice that the strong lines contain no style words at all. Light, grain, palette, and mood belong in the style spec that governs the whole set - not in individual lines, where they will fight the spec and drift. That separation is the core of the Locked Look method: style frozen, subject varied.

Empty rows of airport terminal seating facing dark windows at night — An establishing wide, planned as line one of its set: "empty rows of terminal seating facing night windows, wide, 2:3, hero." Everything atmospheric about it came from the style spec, not the line.

Leave room for words

The most commonly skipped line in any shot list is the one that says "with space for a headline." If an image is going to carry type, it needs a deliberate area of calm - a blank wall, a stretch of sky, a tabletop, a pool of shadow - and that has to be planned, because it almost never happens by accident.

Plan at least two frames per set with that room built in, and note which side the space is on. A beautiful image with the subject dead center is useless as a hero the moment a headline needs to go somewhere.

Decide ratios up front

Mixing aspect ratios mid-set without a plan is what makes a gallery look ragged. Choose the grid before you start: a common editorial pattern is mostly portrait frames with a landscape every fourth or fifth image, so the set has rhythm when laid out. Write the ratio on each line, then hold to it.

A worked example: a launch set in twelve frames

Empty office at dusk, monitors on, confetti on a desk - wide, 3:2, hero
Wall of the same room, mostly bare, light raking across - wide, 3:2, headline space right
Two people mid-conversation over a laptop, backs partly to camera - medium, 2:3
Someone asleep across chairs, coat as a blanket - medium, 2:3
Desk from above, cups and cables and one notebook - medium, 2:3, section break
A hand pushing a mouse aside to make room - close, 2:3
Face lit only by a screen, eyes down, not smiling - close, 2:3, testimonial section
Coffee going cold beside a keyboard - close, 2:3
Cable tangle under a desk - detail, 2:3
Confetti caught in the gaps between keys - detail, 2:3, background for text
Window reflection of the room at night - detail, 3:2
Dawn through the same window, room empty - wide, 3:2, closer

Twelve lines, four distances, two frames with planned type space, a ratio on every line, and a first and last frame that bookend the story. That list can be handed to a photographer or run through a generator and produce a set either way - which is the test of a good one.

Mistakes worth naming

All mediums. The most common failure and the easiest to catch: count your distances before you start.
Style words in the lines. They belong in the spec. In the lines they cause drift.
No closer. Sets that stop instead of ending. Plan the last frame as deliberately as the first.
Everything centered. Leaves nowhere for type and makes a monotonous grid.
Writing the list after generating. At that point it is not a plan, it is an inventory of what you happened to get.

FAQ

What is a shot list?

A planned inventory of the specific frames a project needs, written before shooting or generating. Each line names one image: subject, distance, ratio, destination.

What should each line include?

A concrete noun with one action, the camera distance, the aspect ratio, and where the image will be used. No style words - those live in the set's style spec.

How many images should a set contain?

Ten to fifteen suits most projects: 1-2 wides, 4-6 mediums, 3-4 closes, 2-3 details. Under eight feels thin; over twenty-four mostly goes unused.

Why do my images all look the same despite different prompts?

Almost always because they sit at the same camera distance. Coverage is about distance and framing, not only subject.

Should I plan for text over images?

Yes - reserve at least two frames with deliberate empty space, and note which side it is on. It rarely happens by accident.

Or skip the planning entirely.

Every set in the library is a shot list already executed - coverage across distances, planned ratios, room for type. Take three downloads free - pull them from one studio - or browse all 41.