Choosing a Branding Photographer is a BIG decision.

The photos your brand photographer takes for your business will be used for promotion, communicating with your audience, showing off your products on your website – they’ll go in interview pieces, in the media – they’ll be used for a LOT. And that makes it a really big decision who you work with for those photos. You should do a thorough job looking through their content, and making sure that they’re going to be a good fit.

When you’re picking, you should look at a few things!

But these kinds of big decisions have a lot of moving parts and pieces, and it isn’t always straightforward to know what means a photographer (or any creative!) will be the right match for your business content. The same goes for choosing an interior designer to help with the design of your store space, or an artist to paint you a mural. They need to GET IT – here, “it” being the values behind your business, and what you want your people to FEEL when they see your content, or spend time in your space.

So when you’re looking through a photographer’s portfolio, how do you actually tell whether they “get it” or not? Well, it’s not an exact science, but there are a few specific things you can look at that will give you little signals of whether they’re going to line up to your needs. And today, we’re going to go through those details!

1 – Images that line up with brands’ overall presences.

It might seem like when you’re looking at a photographer’s portfolio, the most important thing to look for is consistency. And I won’t lie to you, consistency is important! But when it comes to branding photography, and looking for a branding photographer specifically, it’s actually less about consistency and more about flexibility. Remember how we need to make sure that photographers “get it” if they’re going to work with your brand? Well one way that you can see that happening in a photographer’s portfolio, is seeing how well their content lines up with the presence for the brand they’re working with. Do they flexibly make little shifts in their style to meet those brands’ needs? Can you see the brand voice of the business they’re shooting for shining through in the final images? That’s what you want for your final images, so when you’re looking at their portfolio, check for those elements.

2 – Styles that line up with YOUR business’ needs!

Beyond the flexibility that a branding photographer shows, what about your own brand voice, and your business’ needs? It might be that a branding photographer’s style is really consistent, and there isn’t much flexibility in their content, BUT, their standard style lines up perfectly with what you need. And that might mean they’re a perfect match for your business, too! There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to reviewing a photographer’s portfolio for these kinds of things, it’s more a situation of “you’ll know it when you see it”. So when you see their portfolio… do you KNOW they’re the right match for you?

3 – Comfortable posing and natural smiles

Some components of a brand package that will help you connect to your audience, are pretty straightforward and simple, though. And one of those, is whether the images feel natural, instead of feeling forced. When you’re looking through the photographer’s portfolio, do the people they’ve photographed look like they’re in their element? Are they smiling natural smiles, and laughing natural laughs? This can not only tip you off to whether the photographer you’re looking at working with is going to be fun on the day of your session, but it also gives you an idea of how connected your audience will feel when they see your photos. The impact of “humanity” can’t be overestimated!!

4 – Attention to the details

When it comes to branding photography packages, the details matter. Now I do have to caveat this, because some things are unavoidable – if a client comes into the studio with super obvious bra-straps showing through their shirt… that’s going to be in the final images, unless you’re looking at working with someone who adds an extra charge for retouching images in post-production. But what about the little things? Is their hair tucked gorgeously? What about hair-bands – are there hair-bands on people’s wrists? Phones in their pockets? Your branding photographer should pay attention to all of those little details on the day of the shoot, and make sure easily removable “extras” like that are taken care of. So, what do you see in their portfolio? Are there things in the images that… just shouldn’t be there?

5 – Reviews from happy customers!

Finally, we have reviews. Now this isn’t specifically an element of a photographer’s photo portfolio, but I’d argue that it’s actually MORE important overall! You definitely need to take a look at the photographers’ reviews from past clients, and see how they stack up against other photographers local to you. Are clients coming away happy? Do they feel like their final images line up with their brand’s needs? What about the day of the shoot – do the photographer’s past clients talk about how much fun it was, how easy it was to work with them, and how they felt the day of the session? Aside from a photographer’s past photos, these reviews are a gold-mine of information for you ahead of hiring someone to capture the photos you’re going to use to promote your brand for years to come.

The photos you use to promote your business should do WORK for you.

At the end of the day, branding photography has a job to do for you. It’s not supposed to just be pretty, it’s supposed to do WORK. It should help to convert new clients, it should help to retain past clients and customers, and it should create a gorgeous representation of who you are and what you do across your online presence! Which means, like I keep saying, who you work with for these images is a big decision, that will impact your business for a long time. Or it SHOULD impact your business, positively, assuming the images do their job.

Ready to work with a Branding Photographer who GETS it?

So if you’re ready to choose working with a branding photographer who gets it, then it might be time for us to talk. So reach out – but before you do, go take a look at my portfolio. Look at my reviews. Put my presence through all the paces I’ve described above, because I promise you… I put my portfolio where my mouth is. Or maybe that metaphor doesn’t work – but you know what I mean! I make it my job to “get it” before I work with branding photography clients, and not to toot my own horn, but I think it shows.

And I would love to be the one you choose to create magical imagery that will represent your business all over the interwebs for the rest of forever!

Bonus: Take a look at just a few results that my AMAZING team of collaborators and me have gotten for our social media management clients!