What does it look like to get branding photos done? This is an important distinction because it’s actually pretty different from a personal photo session. I’ll talk about the reasons why that is in this post as well as walk you through the whole process from start to finish.
General Things to Consider
In no particular order:
The main difference between branding/commercial photography and other types of photography is something called usage. A wedding photographer takes photos of a person’s amazing life event but their clients are only using the final photos for personal use. Branding photography is used by a business to help them advertise and reach more customers so those photos have a different value than photos that will be taken and displayed in someone’s home. The whole process is different for branding photography and many of the ways in which I choose to do things for my clients are based on the fact that the photos are used to help you grow a business.
Something I do, that not all brand photographers do, is I offer subscription photography services. My clients can contract a certain number of photo sessions in advance (usually a year). Doing this locks in the price in case my rates increase and I also provide a discount for subscribers. The reason I love doing this is that it really allows me to have a relationship with you. A single photo session is great but we can go so much farther once I know your business and you. It makes planning more productive because we will know exactly what you need the next time. And it makes my clients more comfortable to have a go-to photographer.
For a photography timeline, I recommend having about a month between booking photos and actually taking them. The reason is there are some preparation items that can take a while to fall into place. This time cushion will give you time to set the necessary preparations like buying clothes for outfits or booking a studio. The things you will need to prepare will vary but we’ll both breathe a little easier with some time to plan.
The Planning Stage
Once you have decided you need branding photos, it’s time to talk. I love talking with you in person about your vision for photos as it’s really the best way for us to get on the same page. Reach out to me on my CONTACT PAGE on my website and we will schedule a consultation. Most times I will plan a video call for us, but I have met for coffee at times. (I love physically meeting in person but that time commitment is not always realistic.) We will talk about your brand, what you will use the photos for, make a list of different photos to take, what to bring and what to wear. Knowing what will happen at the photos session will hopefully ease any worries about you photoshoot. I will help talk you through what props to bring and help you decide what to wear. After the meeting, I’ll send you a summary of our meeting through email. The summary will include the shot list of all the photos we’ll be getting and a packing list so you remember the props to bring the day of your session.
The Photo Session
On the day of your session, I will arrive early at our location so I can do any setup needed. There is no need for you to be early but please do be on time. I may have multiple sessions to shoot that day so it’s important for us to have all the time we planned for in order to complete your shot list. This day is all about celebrating you! By this point we will have planned out how the day goes so your focus can just be on being yourself and having fun. To see more about the day of experience, you can check out my post about a mini branding session. Pre-pandemic I did a short session with a local event planner at a very cute boutique hotel here in downtown Portland. That blog is actually my most popular so far, it’s definitely worth checking out! You can read that post HERE.
Turnaround
It will take 1-2 weeks for me to edit and send you your photos. I’ll choose the best photos of you based on our pre-planned shot list and then make some edits. My editing process includes things like color correction, taking out distracting objects, and giving them a professional finish. I don’t do any unnatural retouching because you are enough the way you are! With that being said I will do things like remove pimples that aren’t really a part of you. Generally when editing I like to keep the colors rich and natural, and make editing decisions that will empashize your beautiful self even with other elements being included in the different shots we’ve taken. You can see my work on my GALLERIES page and on my INSTA.
I believe that the key to customer service is good communication. Because of this, if anything changes during our process or in the case of human error that affects your project, I am dedicated to being open with you about that. The process outlined in this post is the standard I work with and if anything is special or different for your process I am committed to having transparency with you about that but for the most part, I’m saying that you can be confident that this is what your branding session will look like. I would love to hear any thoughts you have about my process. Have you had a branding session before? Did it go something like this? Feel free to comment on my blog or reach out to me on social media.