How to Prepare for Your Brand Photography Session | Denver Branding Photographer, Underexposed®
As a Branding Photographer, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful a great brand photography session can benefit your business to increase your visibility, awareness, and revenue as an effective marketing asset to your business. Whether you’re a corporation, a small business, an entrepreneur, or a professional, brand photography can help you create powerful visual content that helps your unique brand and products/services stand out, while connecting and resonating with your potential clients. But once you book a brand photography session, how do you actually prepare for it so you can get the most out of it? This blog post will guide you through my best steps to help you, not only prepare, but feel and look the best to be in front of the camera.
What is Brand Photography?
Brand photography is a specialized type of photography that helps corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals create visual content reflecting their brand’s unique identity and story to help attract their ideal customers to work with them.
What is Personal Brand Photography?
Personal Brand Photography is a specific type of photography that focuses on helping entrepreneurs and professionals showcase their unique expertise.
To learn more about Personal Brand Photography, check out my other blog post: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Brand Photography.
How to Find a Brand Photographer Near Me
One great way to find a great brand photographer “near me” is to ask your network of local business owners for referrals of who they worked with for their brand photography. Who do you know who has a headshot on their business card, their website, or social media channels? Whose photos had a style that you really liked? Shoot them a quick email to ask who they worked with for their brand photography.
For the best tips about finding the best brand photographer to fit you and your style, check out my other blog post: The Ultimate Branding Photography Guide: How to Find a Branding Photographer Near Me.
Top Brand Photography Mistakes to Avoid
When booking your brand photography session, there are some red flags that I want you to understand so you can avoid them and get the most out of your shoot. Unfortunately, I have talked with various people in the past who could only use about 2-3 photos from their brand photography session, and were very disappointed. Many photographers say they do brand photography, but they don’t actually understand HOW to effectively shoot brand photography. Which is exactly why I wrote this blog post: Avoid These Top 5 Mistakes in Branding Photography. If you’re a small business owner, solo entrepreneur, or influencer with a personal brand, don’t book a branding photoshoot shoot until you read this article.
Tips for a Successful Brand Photography Session
Once your brand photography session is booked, now it’s time to start preparing! There are a lot of details that should be considered and discussed with your photographer when it comes to your brand photography session to make sure that every element of the shoot aligns with your brand, has a specific purpose or goal for your photos, and how you will actually be using your images.
To help you best consider all of the details for designing your brand photography session, and give you a list to go over with your brand photographer so you're on the same page, check out my other blog post: Tips for a Successful Branding Photoshoot.
Create Your Brand Photography Shot List
As you are consulting with your photographer, you’ll want to create a detailed shot list of all of the different types of images you’ll need to capture to effectively promote your brand and offers, as well as supplement your content.
To help you do this, download my Free Branding Photography Checklist here to help you understand the types of photos you need to effectively market your business, why they matter, and how they help increase your revenue!
How to Prepare for Your Brand Photography Session
Now, your brand photography session is booked, you’ve discussed your brand in-depth with your photographer, you have your shot list all ready to go, and now you’re one week away from your session – how can you best prepare for your brand photography session so you get the most out of it? Let’s dive in!
The Week Before Your Brand Photography Session
Prep Your Wardrobe
At this time, you’ve probably selected attire, accessories, jewelry, and shoes that align with and complement your brand. The best thing you can do the week before your brand photography session is to make sure that everything you need is cleaned, pressed or steamed, and packed into a garment bag so it’s ready for your shoot. This gives you time for a last-minute run to the dry cleaners or to make time to steam your blouse. This will also help you feel confident during your photoshoot knowing that your wardrobe is pristine.
Remember that it’s always a good idea to pack an extra outfit, accessory, or jacket or blazer just in case. Extra things like scarves, shawls, blazers, jackets, watches, etc. can help to dress-up or dress-down an outfit to give you a different look without having to change the entire outfit. Packing extra also gives you options just in case – maybe you accidentally spill your coffee on the way to your shoot, sit in wet grass, or find a small hole in a shirt you didn’t know was there – you’ll be happy you packed extra.
Tanning
In general, I personally don’t recommend getting a tan or tanning lotion before your brand photography session. I have seen these go bad (specifically with a wedding client who thought it was a good idea… I had to tone down her orange tint, it wasn’t good). High-quality, professional spray tans can turn out better, but unless you’ve done it before, ideally with the same technician, I don’t recommend trying it out for the first time right before your shoot. There’s only so much editing any photographer can do. Also, try to stay out of direct sunlight and don’t forget your sunscreen to avoid pesky tan lines.
Confirm Your Hair & Makeup Appointment
If you scheduled an appointment to get your hair and/or makeup professionally done before your brand photography session, it’s a great practice to double check your appointment information. Call or email to confirm your appointment, time, and location. Usually when you book your appointment for first thing in the morning it can help it run on-time since you’ll probably be the first appointment, but just to be sure, tell them what you’re getting your hair and makeup done for – you scheduled your appointment to be done for your brand photography session that starts at XX:XX time. This way they are aware that you need to be on-time.
As a tip, it’s a good idea to leave about an hour in-between (plus travel time) when your hair and makeup appointment should finish and when your brand photography session starts, that way it gives you time in case it takes longer, you can eat something and drink water before, and you have ample time to get to your session.
Confirm with Your Brand Photographer
Your photographer should confirm with you leading up to the branding photography session date. Make sure you confirm for yourself the date, time, and location with your photographer so you are ready to go.
The Day Before Your Brand Photography Session
Drink Lots of Water
Drink lots of water the day before your brand photography session. This will help keep you healthy for the photoshoot day, while also helping give you glowing skin and keep bloating down to look and feel the best for your photos. Don't forget to pack a water bottle so you can stay hydrated during your shoot too.
Avoid Alcohol
Drinking alcohol the day/night before can cause you to swell, bloat, dull your skin, and not to mention have you not feel so great for your brand photography session. Try to avoid alcohol and junk food so that you can look and feel your best for your shoot.
Pack Up Your Car
To avoid rushing around in the morning and possibly forgetting something, pack up your car with everything you need for your brand photography session the night before. Pack your clothing and accessories in your garment bag. Load your props into a bag or small suitcase for easy carrying. Plus, toss in a few extra just-in-case emergency items – extra hairspray, lipstick/chapstick, makeup for touch ups, safety pins, etc. Travel sized toiletries can be great. Don’t forget your water bottle and a snack or two too!
Get Good Sleep
Ideally, plan to go to bed a little bit early. You don’t want to wake up tired or look unrested. Aim to get a good night’s sleep and wake up early so you have plenty of time and don’t feel rushed.
The Morning Of Your Brand Photography Session
Be Early
Wake up early to give yourself extra time and not feel rushed or stressed. Then, get to your hair and makeup appointment and your brand photography session early as well. The better you can feel when you do your brand photography session, the better your photos will turn out and the happier you will be with them.
Hair & Makeup
You should receive instructions for how to show up to your appointment. Usually, you should plan to arrive with clean and dry hair and a clean face with no makeup. It’s also a good idea to bring with you inspiration pictures of what you want your hairstyle and makeup to look like.
As a great photography tip, you actually want your makeup to be a bit heavier than you think you need it – especially if you are going for a more natural look. You lose makeup in the camera, so having more makeup on than you think will actually help it show better in your photos – trust me.
Relax & Enjoy
At this point, you’ve discussed everything with your photographer and planned your details and checklist for your brand photography session. Now, relax and have fun during your shoot! Trust your photographer to do what they do best. Use your checklist as a guide to make sure you get everything you need. But most of all, enjoy the process and have fun!
Ready to Book Your Brand Photography Session?
If you’re ready to book a Brand Photography session, let’s chat!
I have had the honor to travel to and had clients fly to work with me from Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Iowa, Florida, Canada, Finland, and more!
Whether you’re near Denver, Colorado, traveling in, or interested in flying me in, I’d love to chat with you!
The best way to do a shoot — make a Mini Business Retreat out of it!
My out-of-state/country clients will take a weekend or few days to fly into Denver, have their photoshoot, and spend an extra day workshopping their business making the trip into a business retreat! (Plus, it’s a write off!)
I have a professional Hair & Makeup Artist and location recommendations to design your Brand Photography Session. In addition, before your session, I send you a questionnaire to design your session and we book a Zoom consultation call to discuss wardrobe and prop options, details for your shoot, and answer any questions you have.
Closing Notes
Preparing for a brand photography session may seem daunting at first, but by using the tips in this post, you will see that it can be an enjoyable experience that will help you create great ROI (return on investment) for your business. The goal of your brand photography is to help your business and brand stand out, connect with your ideal customers, and get them to want to buy from you or hire you. So, be as prepared as possible to help you feel relaxed so that your personality can shine through your photos and connect with potential customers.
Underexposed® is proud to be an LGBTQ Ally and Foster Friendly Business, so all identities, cultures, abilities & genders are welcome and supported.
