So you had a branding photo session, it went great, and now you have all these beautiful photos to use for your business… now what?
If you’re not a photographer, knowing what to do with your photos after the session may not come naturally. Especially since these days, most photos are delivered in digital form. Here are my tips for keeping your photos safe and easy for you to use.
Model Grace Aasen
Save Your Photos
The first thing to do is to download your photos to multiple safe places. When you get photos from me you’ll receive all your final images in a gallery that’s emailed to you along with a PIN number that allows you to download them. I recommend downloading them once you get that email because it will make your life easier. Later on, when you’re trying to post to Instagram you won’t want to sort through your emails to find that PIN.
Best places to download your photos to include a flash drive, external hard drive, or cloud storage. Devices often fail so choose at least two ways of saving your photos. This is important because if your photos got lost I might not be able to resend them to you. Photos take a lot of space and my digital storage space is limited just like anyone else. Of course I will do my best to help in a situation like this, and I’ve never run into this before without being able to help, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
2. There are multiple ways you can use your branding photos once they’ve been secured. Here are some things to consider when putting your photos on:
A Website
High-quality photos are wonderful of course, but high-resolution images can actually significantly slow down the loading speed of website pages. Ideally, a webpage should load in three seconds or less to increase the time people are spending on your site. It sounds ridiculous, but people tend to give up looking at a page if it takes any longer than three seconds.
It’s really easy to test how fast your website loads. THIS SITE is a free option to do this. You simply enter any URL and it will tell you how slow or fast it loads and I like this particular one because it’s simple to use and gives detailed results, but searching for “Website speed test” will give many more options as well.
Usually, when photographers give photos to their clients they provide high-resolution photos in JPEG format. The best size for a photo to run smoothly on a website is 2500 pixels wide at the most. You can resize photos in photoshop, but for those of us who are not photographers or graphic designers, there’s also a more simple way.
JPEGmini is a program that automatically makes your photos smaller for the web. It does cost money but you can get a free trial to check it out first. This site is great because it doesn’t crop any part of the photo. It resizes everything to fit in the dimensions that you set.
A less user-friendly but free option is resizeyourimage.com. Unlike JPEGmini, which reworks the pixels so it doesn’t cut off parts of the photo, this method will crop the actual photo. It might not work for every photo that you want to use but at the very least you’ll be able to see what pixels the length and width of your photos are to check if the photo should be resized.
Social Media
Helping provide photos that creatives can post to their social media is one of my main purposes as a branding photographer. I know that keeping up with multiple forms of social media can get overwhelming, so here are some ideas and resources to make posting easier.
Plan it out in advance.
There are multiple apps that will plan your Instagram and Facebook posts for you. You’ll be able to see what all your photos look like together, move posts around to play with the arrangement, and even set them to post automatically for you. Some popular apps that do this are Planoly, Later and Plann. All of these apps have most of the same features so it comes down to which ones are the easiest to use for you. All of these three options also start with a free account option that you can use as long as you want to, although you’re usually limited to one user and 30 uploads a month. For one person, that’s really all you need and if you have bigger needs the paid plans start at $7 a month.
Have a theme
Having a theme on your Instagram feed can help you decide what to post next and keep your feed looking really great. Some examples of themes are three photos at a time of one outfit look, a quote and a photo alternating every post, or alternating black and white and colored photos. I use a theme, I have chosen to do a green and white checkerboard pattern. My work is usually taken either outside in the Oregon forest, or in a studio with white walls. Once I noticed this it was easy to decide on my theme. I like the way it looks, but it also helps me pick what photo to share next because if my latest post was taken in a bright studio, I know that the next one to post should be of someone outdoors. Think about what makes sense to your feed and the look you want to have that matches your style.
Create a banner
Another fun way to use your branding photos is to use them for something creative. One of my favorite tools is called Canva. You can pay for it, but many of the features are free to use and it makes designing anything super easy. I’ve created multiple banner photo collages for Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. I like to surprise my clients with a banner collage, and I also have used it for my own social media accounts. Try Canva HERE.
3. Editing and Filters
I’m ending this post with a topic that can get very controversial. Most photographers are really offended by clients changing the way their photo looks because we work hard to make the photos the best they can be. If we didn’t edit, it would be like ordering a birthday cake and receiving only the baked layers and a tub of frosting. The customer isn’t expected to finish the photos, just like we don’t assemble a cake from a baker ourselves.
This being said, I understand that in the context of business, sometimes photos need to change a bit. I don’t have a problem with smaller practical changes like adding text to a photo I’ve taken, but I would not want a client to face tune their photo or add a filter. The exact details of what is and isn’t ok are in my contracts with clients.
It’s also important to understand a photographer’s work before hiring them. Each one has a different style and every photographer is not for every client. There are things you can do to make sure that you’re on the same page with your photographer before they even take one photo of you. Do your research by viewing their website and social profiles, and make an inspo board on Pinterest to share with them before the shoot. Doing those things will help to ensure that you will love your photos.
You can learn more about photo session prep by reading my blog post “Planning for your Photo Session.”
After you have done all the prep, taken photos, picked the photos you want to keep, and received the final edits, if you don’t like your photos, talk to your photographer. We want you to love them and be able to use them!
I hope these ideas and resources will help you to stay organized and confident about using your photos!
Model Grace Aasen