Answering your questions about Brand Photography

I have a quote a few blog posts covering various topics for small businesses, brands and freelancers here. But the questions in this article below either haven’t been answered before or come up a lot.

While I personally don’t tell you what exactly you should wear for your photo session, there are a few tips and guides to keep in mind:

• Wear something you feel great in. It’s important that your clothes will work for you and make you feel comfortable.
• Wear colours you love, that work with your brand and your personality.
• If you love black clothes, be aware that those can look a bit flat in photos. Could you combine them with some accessories to bring some depth to your outfit?
• Bring multiple outfits (depending on the length of your session) to mix up your styles.
• Your clothes shouldn’t be too tight or too loose – both can look unflattering and can make you feel conscious of what you’re wearing.

Your photos should look like you – your clothes are an extension of your personality but be also aware that your business personality might be a little different from that in your spare time. If it is, feel free to address both through different outfits and accessories.

I personally shoot on location, wherever that is. That could be your home, your favourite coffee shop, your workshop or your office.

The location for your portrait session heavily depends on you and your business. I can make suggestions on where the session should take place but ideally, you’ll take the lead by telling me what you want.

The goal is to create authentic images that represent you and your brand or business. The location you choose can play a big role so have a think what would make the most sense for who you are and what you want people to see of you.

There’s not too much to say about this. The answer is YES!
More on that topic can be found here.

But… Obviously, that wouldn’t apply to the whole of your session. A photo session that shows you and your business can have an aspect of lifestyle and personal images that your family or your pet can play a role in. A big chunk of the time we spend creating your images should be focused on what you do for a living and how you help others and create value for your own clients.

Personal Brand Photos are created specifically for you and your business so you can be more visible and share what it is that you can offer to your own clients or customers. So unless you and your photographer have made any specific arrangements, the photos from your session can be used anywhere you promote your business:

• plaster them all over your website
• share them on your social media feeds
• use the portraits as your social profile avatars (same photo for all profiles)
• use photos to break up content on your blogposts
• use the headshots for guest posts, speaking gigs and podcast interviews
• create paid ads with your photos

This is what the UK government website states:

“Generally speaking, in the UK copyright in images lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years from the end of the calendar year of their death although the length of the copyright period will depend on when the image was created.”

That means your photographer will retain copyright to any image taken of you unless you buy it off them (this can get very costly though and usually it’s not needed).

However, that does NOT mean that your photographer can use your images to promote their services without your consent. You should be asked to sign a model release form that asks you whether you agree that these images can be used for promotional purposes. And if you state that you don’t wish these images to be used by your photographer, the copyright will still stay with them but they can’t do anything with the photos.

Some photographers give you the option to choose which kind of online and offline usage you agree to. That would be Social Media channels, websites, brochures, competitions, print products etc. Oftentimes, it’s a blanket agreement though. if you wish to choose different options, speak to your photographer about it to make sure you are happy with what you agree to in your model release!

Thanks to GDPR, you will always be allowed to change your mind regarding your model release. All you’ll have to do is get in touch with your photographer to change your previous agreement or disagreement to photo usage.

Aside from usage rights, photographers like to be credited and often credit their clients too (if they are happy with that). Cross-tagging between a photographer and a client usually benefits both parties.

This could be a long answer so I’ll just share a previous blog post that dives more into the different sessions I personally offer to my Personal Branding clients.

When you start researching brand photos, think about what you need them for, where you want to use them, what you need images of to show your clients what you do and what your budget is. A combination of the answers to those questions should give you a good indication as to what kind of session you need.

And if that doesn’t help, speak to the photographer you’d like to work with and let them walk you through their offers to figure out what’s the best fit for you.

This really depends on who you’re asking. There are photographers that offer photo sessions where you’d get a single photo. However, this might sound like the cheapest option and often it isn’t. Photographers who sell single photos still have to take a lot to get you that one image that you love. The time they invest in your 1 photo will have to be paid for so keep that in mind.

The smallest amount of photos you could get from me is 2 photos. I offer this only with my Mini Sessions which happen once or twice a year in Brighton and Hove.

Other than that, my sessions either include 5 images (1-hour Branding Session) or all images to provide you with a bank of photos to use for different purposes.