ONCE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’D LOVE YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS TO LOOK LIKE, IT’S IMPORTANT TO FIND A PHOTOGRAPHER TO HELP BRING THAT VISION TO LIFE!
Here are 10 tops tips for finding a great photographer:
Start by getting recommendations from people you trust.
Work with a photographer who understands Personal Branding.
Choose a photographer whose work you’ve seen and admire.
Reach out and meet up to see if they’re the right photographer for you.
Choose someone that gets your vision and is excited to help you create it.
Choose someone who gets who YOU are and your message.
Choose someone who listens closely to what you want and don't be afraid to ask questions that let you know they understand exactly what look you’re going for.
Choose someone that tells you what you can expect to receive and how the experience will go.
Choose someone you feel you know, like and trust....even if you're nervous.
They should be able to include hair & make-up in with the quote, or have a recommendation for you.
8 TOP TIPS FOR A SUCCESS BRAND PHOTOSHOOT
1) ENVIRONMENT
Think about the environment and surroundings you’d like to be photographed in to represent your brand (e.g. hotel, shop or at home), and make sure you discuss it with your photographer. What will instantly grab your ideal clients attention? Make sure this also reflects what you do, in some way?
2) VISION
Have a clear vision to share with your photographer to make sure you are both on the same page. Create a Pinterest Board with the images that inspire you in terms of style, colours, surroundings, overall feel and vibe. Make sure when you're speaking to potential photographers that they are excited by your vision and can give you ideas to bring it to life.
3) SMILE RIGHT INTO THE CAMERA
You need lots of shots of you looking right into your clients’ hearts smiling, inviting them to work with you. Make sure you’ve got at least 3-4 shots looking into the camera to help you connect with your audience.
4) MAP THEM OUT.
Make a list of all the pages on your website and how many photos you want and whether they would be better landscape or portrait.
At the very least, you’ll need images for banners on your: sales pages, home page, about page and contact page.
You’ll also need images to use for your blog, newsletters and social media posts.
5) MULTI-PURPOSE
Make sure you’ve got lots of landscape images! Get some landscape shots with light backgrounds, and free space on the left or right of you, for tag-lines and titles etc so that nothing interferes with the text.
6) GET EVERYONE INVOLVED
If you have a web designer, try to speak to them to discuss what kind of photos you’ll need for your specific website. Make sure you then share this information with your photographer. With SquareSpace, for instance, you'll need a lot of horizontal images for the banners on each page.
7) THINK MARKETING
Use the colours that will also look great from a marketing perspective, i.e. use the colours that will match well against Facebook colours of white and blue to use the images for your Facebook Ads.
8) GREAT QUALITY
Let your photographer know where specifically you’ll be using your photos (FB Covers, FB Ads, Website, etc.) so that they can figure out the best px/resolution. This should be a given (them giving you the best quality) but it's not always!
So there you have it. These tips should help you to not only bring your brand to life but love (and want to use!) the images when you get them back.