Before you Hire a Brand Photographer
Here are 5 things you should know (or have in hand) before you set out to hire a professional brand photographer:
You should know WHO you are marketing to.
This is often referred to as your “ideal client profile.”
You should know WHY you are selling your product or service.
This one isn’t quite so intuitive and maybe doesn’t matter on the surface level so much, but as your brand photographer, I think it is super important to know this overarching detail behind your brand. It’s the motivation and the reason you do what you do. Though I can’t photograph this per se, it does help me understand your brand and the vibe and feeling your shoot needs to convey.
You should have a brand style guide.
Usually this is something your graphic designer gives to you. It has your logo, fonts, and branding colors in it and it is helpful for me to understand your brand and make sure the visuals I create line up with the graphics and colors already a part of your brand.
You should know WHAT you will use the images for.
If you’re shooting for your website, you will want to have the wireframes from your web designer so that we can shoot specifically for those spaces and in the correct dimension. If you are shooting for Instagram, then I’ll shoot in square. Or if it’s for some other purpose. I especially need to know this so I know which orientation to shoot the images in (portrait or landscape) and what dimensions the images should be (square, rectangular, banner size).
You should have a rough idea of what images you need or the beginnings of a shot list.
I can help you flesh this out more as we go, but it is helpful to me to know right away so that I can make sure that I feel comfortable with the work that needs to be captured. This also helps me understand the scope of the work you need completed (which influences my proposal/quote to you, scheduling, and location).
Featured brand images were shot for Middle of Six:
