Planning, planning, and planning.
It all comes down to planning ahead of time to make sure that you get the results that you want and need for your branding photo session. Your blog is part of your branding, so make sure the photos create the image you want.
Creating the content and images for Calgo Garden’s blog makes me feel like a resident artist – most of the time. Some of the times, I’m at a loss for content ideas or dragged down by poor planning. This week I had the awesome idea of pumpkin spice everything which could easily incorporate the company’s brand visuals. But at the end of the shoot, I realized my poor planning had doubled my productivity time.
This week I didn’t invest my time and energy before the shoot. I took the red eye back home, had coffee and more coffee (no, not pumpkin spice) and went to the studio without anything but the subject in mind. I thought it was going to be an easy peasy shoot – the subject was so much more searchable than last month’s Yamadori (foraging for Bonsai in the wild). My foggy brain and lack of planning added to my time spent photographing. Taking the time to prepare properly for a lifestyle, branding or portrait session will result in better photos in less time. And yes, your blog photos are branding.
Tips for Planning a Branding Session
Create a vision board.
Know your target market.
Source your props ahead of time.
Coordinate brand colors into your shoot.
Have your background or backgrounds.
Create a shot list.
Shoot with intention for your blog, Instagram and Facebook. (Know what dimensions you need, for example Facebook is horizontal, Insta is square,(banners tend to be that odd size that is always hard to fit).
These tips are for a product shoot – a lifestyle branding session requires some more work as the goals are a little different but the basics remain the same. See how the Pumpkin Spice Everything blog all came together (despite my lack of sleep).
Make sure to follow Calgo Garden’s blog to see other lifestyle tips! (And more of my content creations). If you have questions about branding the photos for your business and/or blog, call me – 609-462-1519 or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
