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Simple ways to improve your business or personal brand with photography
Good photography can really help promote your brand or business while bad photography creates the wrong impression. We’ve got some tips for getting it right.
Photography is incredibly powerful, it can convey a message, vibe or purpose in a way that words can’t. That means it can be a very useful tool for promoting a business or your personal brand, but you need to get it right to convey the correct messages.
We’d recommend not using stock photography. It has the advantage of being quick and easily accessible, but it lacks that personal touch that connects it with your brand and your clients.
One way to ensure you get high-quality photography is to employ a professional photographer. However, you need to ensure that you give them a proper brief to enable them to deliver exactly what you want. Our tips will help with this.
Unless appropriate for your business try not to use stock imagery. While they can be a time saver and cost-effective they lack personality.
Try using images that establish a thematic tone and that also represent your business authentically.
How to find inspiration for photographing your business
Inspiration can come in many forms but a good place to start is with similar brands and businesses. Take a look at the photography that they use and decide which you like and which would work for you.
It can also be useful to identify some images that don’t work for you. In each case, examine the photographs and aim to decipher what it is about them that makes them work or not for you. This will help you shape a brief for a photographer as well as direct your own photography.
Instagram and Facebook are great sources of inspiration. Again look at similar brands, but also use hashtags to find images that might work for you. You may be able to find a photographer who can provide you with the images that you need.
Establishing a theme and tone for your business' imagery
Rather than picking images individually, request/shoot and select images that work together. This will help make your brand message clearer. And if you’re using them on a website, make sure your colours all work well with the images (or vice-versa).
Even if you want to shoot images for Instagram, having a coherent look will add to your account’s appeal.
Start shooting for your business
If you want to shoot your own photography, write a list of what images you need, where they will be used and how you want to photograph them. For example, you might want some very clean, basic product photography for an orders page of a website, but you may also want a more lifestyle image of the product for the homepage of your website or for use on social media.
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Most of the time taken up by photography is actually for the preparation. You need to select the background for your images that suits your brand and the subject, for example. It’s also important that everything is carefully arranged and spotlessly clean.
Portrait shoots also require some preparation. As tempting as it may be to use a recent shot from a night out, or a selfie, you need something more professional looking to promote you and your brand. Give the clothes you wear some careful thought and pick a location that either complements your brand or is neutral.
If you go for a neutral background, stand well forward from it so that it is thrown out of focus in the image. Ideally, shoot with a fairly long lens (85mm or more is perfect) and use a wide aperture with the focus on your eyes.
Using lights, either studio units or flashguns will elevate your image so it stands out from any ‘snapshot style profile pictures.
- 10 May 2019
