How to make sure your photography is on-brand
I met Elodie Giuge, of Elodie Giuge Photography, at the first meet up of what was known as the “Girl Tribe Gang” networking group back when they existed. We hit it off straight away. We had a similar experience with regards to our business journey to date and we just clicked. Since that day we have been involved in a handful of projects together. I knew that at some point I would love for her to share her expertise, her knowledge, on my blog and so we made it happen!
Today I'm sharing an article written by my buddy Elodie who is here to share her tips on how to make sure your photography is on-brand.
It's a fantastic topic and one that every business owner needs to keep in mind!
Over to you Elo!…
Images are a powerful addition to your brand toolkit. They convey the emotion that you want your customers to feel when they interact with you; they tell stories and get messages across quicker than text, and when created consistently and beautifully they create brand trust and recognition.
As a brand photographer, my job is to create photographs that convey my clients’ brand vision. Today, I’m here to share some tips to help you do the same and make sure your imagery reinforces your brand and your messages.
1 | ARTICULATE YOUR BRAND VISION
Just like your logo/brand colours/fonts you use / tone of voice, your images need to be intentional and fully in line with:
Your company’s purpose
Your brand values
Your brand personality
Your clients and the problems you help them solve
What separates you from your competition
It doesn’t matter how technically great or aesthetically pleasing a photo is, if it doesn’t reinforce YOUR messages to YOUR people, then it’s worthless to your business.
So before you even start creating or curating any images, you need to define and articulate the 5 bullet points above. These foundations will guide the type, style, and look & feel of images that will represent your brand.
2 | STICK TO 3-5 SUBJECT MATTERS
When you think of National Geographic, what type of images come to mind? Wildlife, landscapes, and people across cultures are the 3 types of images they are mostly associated with - all perfectly in line with their mission to “illuminate and protect the wonder of our world”. (Do a google image search if you want to check!)
So, based on your brand foundations, list 3-5 subject matters that will best convey your mission and support your messages. (Examples: Everyday candid scenes; Nature; Still life; Products; Travel; Landscapes; etc...)
Once you’ve decided what these 3-5 categories are, make sure to stick to them!
3 | DEFINE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE GUIDELINES
Style guidelines don’t have to be complex, they should describe key characteristics of your images:
Mood & Emotions
Lighting
Locations & People
Below are some examples and pointers. Make sure to refer to your brand vision when making these decisions - don’t base your style on what you like but always on what lifts your messages and resonates with your audience. If you find it difficult to articulate them from scratch, create a moodboard of images that you think fit with your own brand. Then look for what these images have in common. And most importantly once you’ve articulated your style guidelines USE THEM - as filters when curating stock images, or as a checklist when planning your own photoshoots.
1 | Mood & Emotions
Ask yourself: What do you want your images to evoke? What stories should they tell? What should they make the viewer feel?
Here’s an example: P&O Cruises describe their brand photography as “Stolen frames from a film. The vision of our brand is to inspire people to discover the joy in the good life. [...] Imagine in our shots that we have paused a film so that we’re grabbing a moment in a bigger story. We want the viewer to put themselves into the experience. We are seeking to create visual invitations to dive in with our shots.”
Extract from P&O Cruises Brand Guidelines
2. Lighting
Lighting not only sets the mood of an image, but it also helps keep your imagery consistent. Soft natural light creates an inviting and relatable feel. Harsh artificial light gives your images a fashion edge. Low key lighting creates drama.
Examples of different lighting
Ask yourself: what type of lighting best suits the feelings you’re trying to convey?
3. Location & People
Ask yourself:
What environments fit your brand values and your audience’s lifestyle? (Examples: Home; Outdoors; Luxury hotels; Office; Cafe; Sports grounds; Street; Poolside; Etc...)
What demographics would your audience associate with? Also, consider whether you should pick real people or models? Should they be alone or interacting? How natural should their dress, hair and make-up be? How expressive should they be? Etc...
4 | KEEP YOUR COLOURS CONSISTENT
Making sure the colours of your images are consistent and in line with your brand colours makes a huge difference not only to your overall brand aesthetics, but also to how recognisable your images become.
A great example is Tiffany & Co, who have mastered the use of their iconic “Tiffany Blue” throughout their imagery:
Example of Tiffany & Co and their iconic “Tiffany Blue”. Image Source: instagram.com/tiffanyandco
Here are a few tips to help you achieve colour consistency in your imagery:
Make sure that your tones are consistent across your imagery (i.e don’t mix warm images with cold images; don’t mix bold images with pastel images, etc...)
Try and minimise the number of colours in your images where possible
Look out for ways to incorporate your accent colours into your images. You can do this through carefully picking:
your location (walls, doors, furniture...)
your wardrobe items (clothing, accessories, jewellery...)
your props (stationery, decor, flowers, plants...)
Images of Elodie Giuges Photography clients
CONCLUSION
Staying on-brand with your imagery is all about intention and consistency. If you want your images to create an emotional connection with your audience and keep you on top of mind, you need to make sure that:
your images tell stories that matter to your business, in a way that your audience can relate to
your aesthetics (mood, lighting and colours) are consistent across your images
I hope these tips help you, if you need any help with your branding photography do not hesitate to get in touch. www.photographybyeg.com
Elodie Giuge is a portrait and brand photographer. Through her photography, she helps businesses and solopreneurs tell their story visually and feel confident & equipped to show up. She focuses on capturing the essence of the businesses and people she photographs, and translating their goals into images that are soulful and that make people take action.
