One of the most daunting things about a Personal Branding Shoot can be that you don't really know what to expect or how to prepare. While every branding photographer has a slightly different way of working, there are a few general things you can do to help prepare...
Your business basics
One of the first things to do to make sure that you get the most out of your personal branding photoshoot is to think about your business and your brand. How does your business help your customers? How will their life be better with your service/product? What colours and style do you use within your branding? Things like this help to visualise the kinds of images you need for your business and means your photographer can help create images that best resonate with your customers, are cohesive with your brand and style and evoke the right sorts of feelings within your audience.
Gather inspiration
While you want your branding photographs to be unique to you and your business, looking at other shoots for inspiration can help narrow down your ideas. Pinterest is a great place to make a mood board and collect images of the style, locations, colours and props that you like.
Decide what to wear
What you wear can make a huge difference to photographs. Not only can it help your images look cohesive with your brand, but what you wear has a big impact on your confidence, and to get the best results from your shoot you need to look and feel confident and comfortable. Wear something that your customers would expect to see you in when working with you, wear something that feels like you. Aim for colours that complement or match your branding and avoid logoed it's clothing (unless it's your own branding). If you haven’t quite figured out your branding colours yet, then stick to neutrals or colours that you love to wear.
Hair and makeup for a shoot are a bit like your outfit - it should look like you, and be something you’re comfortable with. If you want to elevate your hair and makeup for the shoot, you can always work with a professional MUA they’ll be able to help you with a look that’s ‘you’ just a bit more polished and glamorous, they’ll also have a tonne of knowledge about the products that look best on camera. My fav and go-to makeup artist is Vicky from Glamorama Makeup!
Think about props
Props are a great way emphasise your story and give your images context. You might want to include tools of your trade, your favourite mug, notepads and pens, branded items or business cards; you never know what might come in handy. Props can also be a great way of helping you relax as they give you something to do and something to hold.
Include other people
If you're a service-based business, including other people in your shoot can really help you portray your customer journey. It could be other members of staff or your team that you work with, or you could include a friend/model to act like a customer. It helps to set the expectations to potential customers of what it will be like working with you.
Trust your photographer
If you’ve done your research and chosen the right photographer for you then there shouldn’t be much to worry about. They’ll help you feel relaxed on the shoot and they’ll have loads of advice on all of the above as well as tips for using your images in your marketing.
If you'd like more information about working with me for personal branding photography pop me an email lucyhannahphotography@gmail.com