You keep hearing from influencers, podcasts, and friends that you need to do brand photos for the small business you just started. You are open to that idea so you hop online to do a little more research. Holy gee golly whillickers! Now you are more confused than ever! There are soooo many brand photographers and they use different terms to describe what you need. You leave your research more confused than ever and honestly, a little frozen after seeing all of the conflicting information. What do you need? Let’s clear the muddy waters a little bit!
This one question makes all the difference! Are you the face of the brand?
Let me explain! If I talk about Apple, you’ll probably think of computers or phones. If I tell you about my trip to Starbucks this morning, you’ll conjure up images of coffee cups and crowded drive-thrus. However, if we are walking through Target together and pass the Hearth and Hand section, you’ll probably think of Chip & Joanna Gaines. Why? Because they are the face of their brand!
Which one is better?
It honestly depends on your goals! If you named your company after yourself or sell a service, you are likely going to benefit from a personal branding shoot where the focus stays on Y-O-U. If you know that you need to increase your know, like, trust factor with your audience in order to sell a product or service, then again, go with personal branding.
However, if you sell products and have no interest in showing your face, you need to head towards product photography! Another situation where product photography is best is if you plan to one day sell your business. In that case, you don’t want a customers image of the company to be tied to your face or it will be really challenging to have the business continue long after you retire.
Some examples of personal brands that I have worked for are: baristas, green house owners, realtors, bloggers, influencers, fitness trainers, doctors, pastry chefs, wood workers, and authors. While pictures of just products can be included in these shoots, they are not the main focus. For example, when doing photos for a barista, most of the photos done were of her creating coffee, spending time with her mom, playing the guitar, etc. However, because she does sell coffee, alcohol, and baked goods, there were a few images of what she sells because that was helpful for her to have. The focus in personal branding is 99% of the time on the owner.
Here are some examples of product photography that you will see: shoes, fitness items, clothing, cups, candles, beauty products, jewelry, blankets, home decor, kitchen accessories. Sometimes, products photography does include people and those types of pictures are called “Lifestyle” photos. They are really helpful to get a customer to connect with a product. When someone sees an image of someone else wearing a dress for sale or using a 30 pound dumbbell, they might be better able to picture themselves doing those things too. That helps to increase sale results. Usually though, the model in those photos is not the business owner and it’s someone either the photographer or owner has hired for the job.
