How to prepare for a photo shoot for your website.
Get some inspiration.
Getting a sense of the look, feel, and style of photos you’re going to use to for your website will help you, and your photographer, develop a concept for the sort of images you want to put out into the world wide web. To get started, look at what your competitors are doing. This will help you identify what you like and don't like, as well as what works and what doesn't. You can also take a look at alternative websites to get some ideas that are outside of the industry norm. Once you are done with your research, you can start figuring out your themes by answering these questions:
- What are your colours?
- What kind of mood are you trying to create? Lively, playful, elegant, classic, approachable, formal etc.
- How do you want people to feel when they see the photos?
- What kind of style do you want to project? Sleek, edgy, realistic, bold, delicate etc.
It generally helps to have some website/photo examples to keep a clear idea of what you are looking for. Under each question and answer, insert a few pictures that you feel capture what you like. After you have a general idea about your theme, you can begin planning exactly what type of photos are required.
Planning
It always helps to have a good idea of the types of photos you need for the website. Each type of photo will serve a particular purpose according to your overall theme. For example:
- Header Image: This image usually sets the stage for the initial impression of your brand.
- Team Members: These images will give the visitor an idea of company culture.
- Physical Space: Images of your work space will also add to the overall impression of company culture.
- Action Shots: Here, you can show your visitors how the work gets done.
Once you have planned the types of images need, you are in a position to answer the following questions, which will also assist with planning:
- Will we be shooting in a studio, on location, or both?
- Do we need props?
- Do we need models?
- How many people will be involved in the shoot?
What to ask your photographer
It is important to find the right photographer that can help you clarify your themes and needs into a workable concept, and deliver on that concept. These are some questions you can consider asking when looking for your pro:
- Do you have a photo studio?
- Are you able to shoot on location?
- Do you have editing skills and software, and is editing included in the price? Don’t expect all your images to come out perfectly, retouches are commonly used to get the photo just right.
- Do you own the photo rights? Often this is not the case as creative products are the property of the creator by default. Should you like to own the rights, many photographers have a 'buy out' option in which you pay for the rights to the photos.
Enjoy yourself.
It must be said that this is also a fun process that gives you another opportunity to explore your company brand by delving into questions about positioning and messaging. There is more to be gained from the process apart from a theme and well-planned photo shoot schedule. You learn more about yourself, your services and your company. You also get an opportunity to get involved in the creative process behind your visual branding, which can often be stimulating and rewarding in itself.
I hope this is helpful to all those revamping or launching a website.
If you would like a partner in this process, feel free to get in touch to find out more about how we do that voodoo that we do.
Written by Bronwyn Wood - Psychologist and Brand analyst for RnD photography.
RnD photo studio is based in Oerlikon, Zürich. We specialise in branded photography. Bronwyn provides a brand assessment that forms the basis for visual concepts so that we can take photographs that support your brand vision. Whether it is for a leadership portrait, commercial real estate photography, employee and team portraits, or business photography for your website or company launch, we get to know you and your brand first and then we take great photos. Our process: we Connect with you, we Conceptualise how we will tell your #BrandStory, and we Create your images.