5 Photography Tips You Should Use In Your Brand Photos

Before we dive into this quick read, please keep in mind 2 things:

This is a set of tips and tricks for photography, from which I hope you will absorb the main idea and apply it to your next photoshoot;

If you are looking for brand photography tips, watch my IG Live with the fantastic Allison Darling and catch the podcast episode about it here.

I have always been in love with photography and had my first, film, camera when I was just eight years old. I also studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. With all these years and study with a camera in my hands, I can assure you two things:

The best photos for your brand will come from practicing and developing your own style; secondly, there are always tricks we can use to help us achieve that look we’re going for, DIY style.

Quick side note: Nothing beats working with a professional brand photographer. There is only so much we can do through self-portraits or with the help of a photography hobbyist friend.

My 5 Photography Tips You Should Use In Your Brand Photos:

1. Use Golden Hours

Try shooting when the sun is offering its most soft light: during the Golden Hours -usually around the sunrise and the sunset hours.

You can check your sunrise and sunset hours here.

Some of my best photos are taken during the Golden Hours, especially for personal branding, where a person is the main focus of the image (looks just perfect!).

2. Shoot From Different Angles

Sometimes that great shot won’t be taken unless you shoot from the top, bottom, left, right, and all possible angles.

The trick is to try to show the photo from an angle we usually don’t see through human eyes. For example, we usually see flowers from above, so shooting them from a lower angle would probably make it look more interesting.

3. Work With Contrast

Color or light contrast can add life to your photos. A great example of color contrast is when red lipstick pops out beautifully on close-up portraits.

An example of light contrast would be a white flower with a very dark background or vice versa. Using the power of contrast on your brand photography can truly help you, as the focus of the photo becomes the contrast (and minor mistakes may pass by unnoticed).

4. Isolate Your Subject

Have you noticed that sometimes photos look great when there isn't a cluttered background or tons of other things fighting for attention?

Give it a shot. Try isolating your subject and make a nice and clean setup for it. Like in many areas of visual identity, sometimes less is more. More impact and, most of the time, more quality.

5. Perfect Photos Don’t Just Happen

Chances are that you will not get your breathtaking photo within 2 clicks.

When I’m shooting self-portraits, I usually change clothes 3 to 5 times and take at least 30 photos with each outfit. From all that, I edit and use about five photos in my marketing material, if I am lucky. This is true for most of my self-portrait sessions. This gives me another chance to reinforce the importance of working with a professional brand photographer -every time I do, I have the hardest time choosing less than 20 photos.

When we are in a studio, shooting models, we easily go through 2 or 3 hours of work to get that one perfect, magazine-ready shot. Minimum!

Move things around, move yourself to different positions in the room, try different outfits, hairstyles, facial expressions, background colors, props, etc.

I worked with a fashion photographer in Manhattan several years ago, that said: “Perfect photos don’t ‘just happen’, they are made.” Oh, boy, was he right!

Another quick side note: My favorite camera for years has been the Canon 60D paired with the 50mm lenses(affiliate links). I have others and also love the Canon Mark series. But we do not need a fancy camera or lenses to make magic happen. I have seen shitty photos created with the nicest cameras, or by photographers that studied in the nicest schools. Just keep shooting and find the style that complements your brand.

You can see my photos on my Unsplash page or my Etsy shop.