Your brand shoot needs more than a new profile photo

You know that feeling when you finally have beautiful new brand photographs… and then realize none of them fit the space at the top of your website?

Or every photograph is a close portrait, but you also need something that explains what your business actually does?

This is why I like to talk about use before we talk about the shoot. A strong brand session can be beautiful and practical. It should give your business images with a purpose, not another folder you are unsure how to use.

Bring the places where the images will live

Send your website, the pages you are updating and any upcoming launch materials. If you have a designer, ask what shapes and sizes they need. A wide banner, a vertical service image and a square profile portrait are different compositions.

We can plan for breathing room around the subject when text needs to sit beside an image. We can also make portraits with a stronger, closer presence when the photograph needs to carry a page on its own.

Give the session four jobs

I like to look at the people, the work, the process and the feeling of a business. You may need all four, or one may deserve most of our attention.

People means portraits that introduce who is behind the work. The work could be your product, your space or the experience you offer. Process shows how things happen. Feeling is the atmosphere that helps someone recognize whether your world is one they want to step into.

Linda Stinger’s gemstone collection calls for close attention to the objects themselves. The Santa Cruz Parkour images need movement and physical expression. Both are brand storytelling. They simply need different visual decisions.

Gather the real things you use

Bring the tools, materials, packaging or objects that belong to your work. If you are a maker, that may be your hands and the piece in progress. If you offer a service, we might plan a demonstration or a portrait in the space where you work.

Please do not feel you need to buy an entirely new personality for the shoot. A few intentional choices tend to work harder than a table full of unrelated props.

Plan people and permissions

If someone else will appear in your brand images, arrange that in advance. Make sure they understand how the photographs will be used and discuss any releases we need. A real client session should not quietly become a public advertising shoot without that conversation.

The same goes for locations. Confirm access, permission and any restrictions before we build a concept around a space.

Know what you are asking the images to do next

Are you trying to explain your offering more clearly? Introduce a new product? Make your website feel like the business you have grown into? Choose a priority.

A shot list becomes much more useful when every image connects to that priority. We can still leave room for discovery, but we will have a reason behind the work.

If you are planning a brand session in Santa Cruz or the Bay Area, send me the business, the project and where the images need to live. That is a much better beginning than ‘I guess I need content.’