Mastering Brand Photography

Imagine unlocking the secrets to captivating visuals that tell your brand's story and resonate with your audience. That's exactly what we're here to help you achieve in our latest Social Sessions podcast. Your hosts, Terrah and Audrey, are geared up to guide you through the essentials of brand photography, ensuring your images not only look great but work hard to answer your customers' most pressing questions. From crafting a detailed shot list to choosing the perfect backdrop that screams 'this is us,' get ready to elevate your brand's visual narrative to dazzling new heights.

Book a photoshoot with us: https://www.tj-creative.com/contact

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Have you ever wondered what goes into your favorite brand's digital marketing strategy? I'm Tara, the founder of TJ Creative.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Agency and I'm Audrey, the creative marketing director of TJ Creative Agency. Whether you're an influencer, a business owner, a content creator or just an overall creative person, we'll teach you how to create the perfect social media strategy and build your brand online. Welcome back to Social Sessions, everybody. We are talking all about photography today, specifically brand photography and just why it's important, how you can achieve the best photography for your brand, everything like that. But you guys know the drill.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Before we get into the episode, before we get into what we're going to be talking about, we have a little bit of an update, and I'm sure some of you have been waiting for us to talk about this because it's been kind of swirling the drain for a little bit. But we're talking about the TikTok ban, or potential TikTok ban. So earlier this week I think literally yesterday or two days ago Joe Biden signed a proposed TikTok sell-off bill, which essentially means that TikTok has 270 days to be sold to a US-based owner or it's going to be banned in the US. Now I do know that TikTok has said that they are going to fight this in the courts, so I've been doing some research on this. Basically, what that means is they think they have a good case, that the law is on their side, that they said we've invested billions of dollars to keep the US data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation, so they're going to try and fight this. I don't know. My thing with this is like I don't know how long that'll take. Like will it take longer than 270 days? Not sure, I'm sure it will, but that's, that's their situation.

Speaker 2: 1:56

And then there's also like what companies could buy it? Now I saw a few TikToks about this that I feel like people are not taking into consideration. A lot of the companies that could buy this won't and can't because it turns into a monopoly situation where they legally can't. So people are like what about Meta? And they're like no way Meta is going to buy it. The FTC is already mad that they have WhatsApp and Instagram, and it turns into a very unfair advantage for digital marketing companies and people that are trying to run ads and market on these platforms. So then it goes into this article that I've been reading, goes into like okay, so who were some of the top candidates? Because if we remember back in 2020, there was the whole situation of maybe it being banned and at that time, the top candidates to buy it were Oracle, microsoft, walmart and Triller. Triller seems a little bit shocking to me and Microsoft kind of feels like it's out of their and then it goes into this.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Yeah, microsoft feels like it would be going into the same um monopoly situation. And as I like scroll in this article, it does say microsoft just gave a massive investment to open ai, so might not be in the market. Same with triller. They said triller feels like it would be in an unlikely position to actually make a bid, which kind of just leaves Walmart and Oracle. Oracle, I think, was like one of the big people in the conversation back then. I could still see Oracle buying it.

Speaker 1: 3:37

There is something on Instagram from Wealth that says the TikTok Chinese parent company, bytedance, would prefer to shut down the app in the US rather than sell it if it exhausts all legal options to fight the legislation banning the platform. So they don't want to sell it at all. The whole thing. They would rather shut it down because the algorithm is so valuable to them.

Speaker 2: 4:01

That's what I said they've also just like invested so much they would have to make they would have to make it like an insane amount of money off of it because they've put so much into it already. So, anyways, I don't really know what's gonna happen. We'll see. We've got 270 days. I feel like it's stupid personally. Um, but you know, whatever, I was like thinking about it the other day and I was like we're gonna be forced to live in a world with just reels. Dude, I never scroll through reels for just enjoyment, because there's no enjoyment on reels. Like they're not funny. They're not funny. No, I never scroll on reels, I only scroll on reels on. Like I never do it on my personal page, I only scroll on reels on company pages when I'm trying to make content for other companies. I just feel like they're not funny.

Speaker 2: 4:55

They're still super curated, they're still super like produced, which I think is fine for businesses. I actually just had this conversation yesterday. I think we're leaning back into like heavily produced content for businesses. I think it's like an ebb and a flow and like, as you guys have heard us talk about on this podcast over the last like year or two, we've talked about like authentic content, organic content, and I kind of think we're moving out of that, honestly, to a lot more production value and just like higher quality stuff. That is besides the point. But that's mostly what you get on instagram and like. I don't mind that from businesses per se.

Speaker 2: 5:35

I don't want to see that from content creators personally I feel like I'm going to be forced to go to twitter, like I don't even like Twitter, but I feel like that's my next best option if TikTok shuts down yeah, the attention.

Speaker 1: 5:49

I heard Gary Vee said the attention will have to go somewhere, so it's just a matter of where it's gonna go yeah, I could see it being a big moment for shorts.

Speaker 2: 5:59

I almost think, like, what do I know about app development? But I almost feel like that needs to be an entirely different app to like maintain, um, attention yeah, I did too.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Well, that's what they're saying. The algorithm like they don't want to give that up. What about the snapchat? I feel like that. Do you think they could make a comeback with something like that video wise?

Speaker 2: 6:21

I feel like they already have not, not like in the way that tiktok is. I feel like they've definitely had a comeback. I'm not on snapchat I haven't been on snapchat in years but I feel like they already have made a comeback. Like so many influencer wise, I feel like they've made a huge comeback and it's a little bit more entertaining lately, also because they're paying big bucks to influencers.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:47

So I feel like they've already had a pretty big resurgence in the last year or two.

Speaker 2: 6:59

It's not my cup of tea personally, but I don't think it'll be like a replacement for TikTok, necessarily. It's pretty crazy, but we'll see. But then I think about it and it's like when vine shut down, what happened? Like no, I feel like nothing came about. You know, we just were forced to like go back to instagram or like go to twitter. I don't know, I'm sure all of my energy went to twitter back then. Yeah, twitter's, twitter's probably the funniest. I've said this before. I think every trend, everything comes from Twitter. I think it is usually at the forefront of any trend or any jokes or any whatever. They move the quickest. I think on Twitter, versus any other platform, they move the quickest, they're the wittiest, they're the funniest and they're the most uncensored. I think they really set the bar for everything else, like trickles down from there. But it's just, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 7:52

It's also so toxic yeah, I wonder if that I mean maybe twitter will be it. He's having his own. I don't know. They're trying to shut him down, so who knows? I don't see it being like, shut down.

Speaker 2: 8:09

I just think people don't like elon, which, like, is what it is. I don't really have a personal opinion on him. He's just. He doesn't feel like a real person to me we don't have to get into this, but he, just him. Like all of those people him and mark zuckerberg, I'm like it's giving robot. It's giving, it's giving you're. You're so far removed definitely different.

Speaker 1: 8:35

For sure have to be, mine has to be a little off yeah, your brain has to be different.

Speaker 2: 8:40

You're making so much money you do not relate to anybody like. You're just out there in your own world, I guess. Anyways, that's kind of our update on the tiktok ban situation. I guess only time will tell. It is like an annoying law that people are like so I mean, this is like such a gen z take, but it is like an annoying law that it's like there's so many other things. Why are you like so pressed about this versus any other issue?

Speaker 1: 9:09

Well, there's also going to be another president by the time this happens, and who knows what their their view on it is. And then it changes everything, and it's also yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2: 9:19

There's a whole. There's a whole election. Yeah, I don't know Whatever, there's a whole election. Yeah, I don't know whatever we'll see.

Speaker 1: 9:26

we got 270 days to see what happens so that's, that's the tiktok update.

Speaker 2: 9:33

Now we'll get into actual content, that we are talking about, the actual topic of the episode, which, as I said, we're talking about brand photography. Now I'm I do think this is like shocking to me, but I do think there are people who still overlook this and don't have good brand photography, and I really just need to explain to you guys why it's so important, because it's really your first impression. It is a visual representation of your brand and especially, not to knock like this entire generation, but like we are such a visual society. I know myself, like if I read something, I'm not going to retain that information, I'm not going to know anything until I can, like, see it. You know, and I think a lot of people are like that, we're so visual that it's only makes sense that the visuals that are attached to your business should be high quality, right, they should be professional photos. It also helps to build that trust, right, like people are probably going to spend money with you easier. They're going to trust that they're going to get a high quality product or service back based off the photos. If you have high quality photos, because I need you to be so honest with yourself If you like.

Speaker 2: 11:00

Click on a website. Let's say you wanted, like, a shampoo. Okay. You click on a website where you see their social media and it looks like a child took these photos. It's pixelated, it's like off of a digital camera from 2007. Be for real. Are you going to buy it? Like no, you're not going to buy it. No, you're not going to buy it because you're going to be like I don't even trust that this is a real product. Like this feels like a scam or this feels like something some kid made in their bathtub. Like, you're not going to think it's a real product. So it's very much your first impression.

Speaker 2: 11:35

And also, I think another thing that we really need to remember is that most of the time, with so much being digital, when people first hear about your brand, your product, your service, there's probably not going to be anything tangible in front of them, right? They're probably going to hear about you either word of mouth they're not in less like whoever is sharing it with them, like has the product with them, or they're going to hear about it online. They're going to hear about it like on TV, whatever. Whatever it is there's, it's very rare that there's going to be a tangible product or service that they're going to be able to like see and touch and like get a feel for in person, right? So the next best thing is going to be your photo and video. Right, that's going to be the next best thing for them to really understand what it is you are selling and what it is they can expect. Right? Because no one also no one's going to buy a product without knowing what your product looks like, how much they're going to get. They need all of this stuff answered, and the visuals answer a lot of those questions. So you have to have good visuals.

Speaker 2: 12:44

So now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about how to set up your brand photo shoot. How are you going to actually get good content? Now, I just have like a pretty basic outline here, but Tara, feel free to like chime in with anything, because Tara does a lot of our photography with our brands. But I think the first thing you need to do is to determine what you're going to be using this content for, right? Is it going to be for your socials?

Speaker 2: 13:16

Is it going to be for, like, a commercial? Is it going to be for a website? Is it going to be to hang up in your office. Like these photos are going to be hung up in your office. That determines the way you're going to shoot and kind of the vibe. And also, like this is something that I kind of feel like people don't think about enough with brand photography. Is it going to be used like with text, right? Like I remember us shooting our first cover for this podcast and I remember saying we need a lot of negative space above us, like if you can shoot in vertical so that there's a lot of space, because I know we're going to have to put the title above it. So things like that, like knowing where this content is going to go, really affects how you're going to shoot the content, right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:03

I think that's really important to note and something that I have had to figure out again through trial and error, which is to shoot a lot of the things that you're doing in vertical and horizontal so that they can be used across different channels, because sometimes I catch myself shooting in vertical so often because our main platforms are on social. However, it's like vertical, it can be used on websites, and those I mean. Horizontal is used for websites right, like the wide image again, like lots of white space for text or words, and so kind of knowing beforehand and going into that is really important to remember to get the the two angles.

Speaker 2: 14:48

I think the same with like horizontal If you want to do like really zoomed in shots, for example, like I was editing a video that was going to be in vertical but I was stacking. You know how it's been really trendy lately to do the like three videos that are like in one. It's hard to do that. When they're all shot in vertical, it's hard to zoom in because there you don't have a lot of wiggle room if you want to crop it a certain way. So I think sometimes horizontal can be really helpful if you're trying to crop photos, which I don't think most people would think about, if you're trying to crop things to be square, or you're trying to crop things to be nine by 16, but the reverse I guess that would be 16 by nine. It's harder to do that with vertical because the width is already so much smaller. Right, there's a lot of height. But a lot of times when you're trying to zoom in and you're trying to get like more detailed shots, you need the width, not the height.

Speaker 1: 15:43

So yeah, I do think videography too is different than photography. You can flip the camera, it's super easy, right like shoot that and shoot that. It's like really quick. But videography shooting, uh, horizontal and and vertical can sometimes I mean it means a whole extra shot. But also, if you are, I suggest shooting video horizontal, with with a lot of white space. That way you can make those cuts and those zoom ins and make it into a vertical pretty easy yeah, I think it's easier.

Speaker 2: 16:16

Even when we record these episodes, I record this in horizontal and then I edit it because it's easier. I do agree, like it's easier to edit something from horizontal to vertical if it's on a good quality camera. If you have a really shitty camera, it's going to be harder because you're going to have to zoom a lot. But video wise, I think it's easier to cut things from horizontal to video. But I just think, knowing what you're going to use it for and if you can try and get both, yeah, okay. Next, I think, after you've kind of determined, like what this shoot is for, setting the mood, what kind of shots do you want? Do you want it to be and I just mean like from a vague, like vibe perspective, honestly, do you want it to have like a clean and really professional look to it? And that might be, like we've said before, we work with a lot of like plastic surgeons and and doctors and things like that. Where clean and professional is the vibe right, you would want your doctors to have a clean environment and look professional and look buttoned up and things like that most of the time right Versus, like us, our personal creative agency shoot might be a little bit more fun, might be a little bit more because we want to express that creativity.

Speaker 2: 17:31

We want to express that we like have these different ideas and things like that, and so it kind of depends on your business. It also depends if this is like a launch of a new product, who are you trying to sell this to? What is the vibe that you're trying to give off with this new product? So just kind of determining that, and honestly, a lot of that, for us at least, will come from Pinterest, will come from seeing other people's ideas and really starting a mood board right Starting. So that's kind of where I was going to go.

Speaker 1: 18:03

That was like the number two thing, if not the number first number one thing that I recommend for anyone when we're preparing for a shoot is to start a Pinterest board Uh board as the photographer. It also gives you a really good insight into what their vision is, because you can have your vision, but you also want to incorporate your clients ideas and and thoughts and and what they see the shoot looking like. So I always have clients start with a Pinterest board and then share it with us and then together we can kind of add stuff and that way when we are in shoot, during shoot, we refer to that board all, all throughout the shoot, for poses, for angles, for all that. So I think that is probably the number one thing I would suggest starting with just to get your even creative ideas flowing. Um, it really can like help you determine what you're trying to achieve.

Speaker 2: 18:56

I will also say, like, when you're making this board, when you're doing this, don't be so like hard on yourself. Like, don't be so judgmental right off the bat. Just pin anything, anything that you like that inspires you, and then you can kind of go back in and get rid of some of the ones that maybe aren't going to work for this shoot, but you can always save it for another shoot, for a different vibe, someone else who knows having a photo shoot, whatever. But don't just like, like, try not to just be like oh, this is the first idea I have, so this is what I'm going to stick to. Like let yourself scroll, let yourself look through things and kind of determine from there. Just like, let yourself be inspired by anything.

Speaker 2: 19:37

Really, I think this is also the time where you're going to start to like gather your props, gather like any sort of outfits you want. If this is like an outfit type of change, shoot right, Like, where are you going to get? We've gotten we've worked with newly a lot on our shoots so that you have like multiple different options. But because that plays such a big part into the vibe and the overall feel of the shoot is going to be the props and the outfits and, honestly, maybe even the makeup, if they're going to be like up close and things like that.

Speaker 1: 20:09

But this is when you're going to start to gather all of that as well yeah, and some of the words that I think that you can use, like when you're searching, because sometimes I think people just don't know what to search for. But, like, I use the word aesthetic a lot if I'm searching for like skincare aesthetic or parent aesthetic or like those words, and I also search a lot like editorial or like Vogue editorial or basketball editorial or these types of things where you can get inspired by some of these higher end shoots. That's kind of some of the tricks and tips that we use here.

Speaker 2: 20:46

Yeah. So once you kind of have that overall idea of, like, what you're going for, you've set the mood. Now it's a little bit. You lean into the logistics a little bit more. You start with the shot list and this is a lot of times, like Tara said, you can pull straight from that Pinterest board and like say, okay, I want a shot that looks exactly like this, I want a shot that looks like this one, whatever, like literally use the reference points that you just found on Pinterest. But I think listing out and this can be however you want, like sometimes I think people hear shot list and they're like oh my God, I don't know how to make that. It could literally be a word document of I want a shot like this copy paste the photo that you like. I want a shot like this copy paste, whatever. But I think it's really important to have this because you're a, it's going to be make your time management so much better once you get there, and that way you don't leave the shoot being like oh my God, I forgot I needed, like, a header shot for the website and we don't have anything like that, you know, and then you're trying to make do and it doesn't always match your vision because you're just pulling scraps.

Speaker 2: 21:50

I will say we learned this firsthand. The first team photo shoot we did was kind of like that. We knew like we needed a website header. We knew we needed like photos of each person, but we didn't really have like a set plan and it showed, even in the ways that we used the photography, like the photos afterwards. Right, it showed. And then the next time we did it, we had a list. We said we needed headshots, we needed photos of each person doing like this specific pose, we needed shoot shots for like the podcast, we needed social shots, but also we needed a lot of website stuff. So we had everything laid out.

Speaker 2: 22:30

And that's not to say you can't deviate from that at all. It's more so just to know that once you get into the studio, once you get to whatever location it is you're shooting, you get those done immediately. And then, whatever time you have left over, like get creative, get experimental, do whatever you want, but you at least know that you have the things that you came there for done. Yeah, I think so too. It just makes you feel, I think, a lot more confident too, because I will say, like most people know photo shoots are an investment right, and, as I stated at the beginning of this podcast, it's an investment worth making. It is important, but they're usually not cheap, especially if you're hiring the photographer. You're getting the space you're. Whatever it is that you're doing, you want it. You want to get your money's worth right. So I think it makes people feel more confident that they're getting what they needed out of the shoot when it's planned out like that Kind of ending things out on like the pro tips.

Speaker 2: 23:27

I will say, lighting is really going to make or break your photos. So wherever you choose to do your entire shoot, make sure there's good lighting. Either have that be like natural lighting really big windows and the sun is facing the right direction or make sure they have good lighting right, whether that's ring lights or that's I don't even know what they're called the soft boxes Soft boxes. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:57

It's the most important thing ever. Um, I prefer you know we we don't have a studio specifically for us, but we do use a lot of studios, and so, um, natural light studios are always like my favorite. However, there's also some of you know other studios that provide all the lighting options, like audrey said soft boxes and lights and ring lights.

Speaker 2: 24:19

I was going to say I think natural lighting works for us a lot because we shoot people a lot, because we have a lot of service providers that we're shooting. Um, but I do think soft boxes in like artificial quote unquote lighting, might actually be better for product because you can manipulate it so much yeah, you can, okay and like, product photography is a whole different game, right.

Speaker 1: 24:46

But, um, yeah, and if you're shooting in a low, in a in office, like that's, I think, where the most uh efforts happen, I mean um, because most offices have the ugliest lighting the ugliest lighting right, um, and because they're not thinking about that and you're, uh, when they buy the spot or whatever.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Yeah, it will change the game I will also say, like, make sure rounding it out with these pro tips make sure the location that you choose this sounds like obvious but make sure it matches the vibe of your brand and your brand personality, your business personality.

Speaker 2: 25:28

Because if you like, sometimes you can find a place and you're like, oh, this is sick, like this is such a cool place. But if it is like super, it maybe it's a super colorful place, all of the props, all of the chairs are like different colors and whatever, it might look great. But if your brand colors are black and white and then all of a sudden you have all of it like it's not going to match, you know what I mean. So there's a ton of studios out there that are gorgeous but they might not be right for you. So just make sure, even if it's not a studio location, not be right for you. So just make sure, even if it's not a studio location, whatever, make sure it matches your brand personality. Make sure it matches the kind of messaging that you're trying to give off. Um, just be like particular with your studio or location that you're shooting in.

Speaker 1: 26:11

And the way that we find a lot of our locations is through peer space. Um, most cities have like a peer space. It's like an Airbnb, basically for studios and search your area and usually find some good stuff. That way.

Speaker 2: 26:27

Yeah, it's really really quite helpful. Um, my last kind of pro tip is to, if you can afford it, book a photographer, because it takes even. Again, I'll use our own shoot as an example, the first one we did. Tara shot it, and that's not to say they didn't look great, but it also meant Tara wasn't in a lot of the shots, right, it also meant your focus is just, you can't focus. Yeah, I think it takes a lot of the pressure off even though, like we know what we're doing right, like we can do the photography all day. It takes a lot of the pressure off by hiring a photographer and knowing that someone is handling it yeah, I think it's that being said, we do other people's photography all day.

Speaker 2: 27:13

If you want to book a photo shoot with Tara, you can do that. Do you have any other tips or anything?

Speaker 1: 27:20

No, but we'll shout out social, our social sessions, that's what we call them, but they're um brand photo shoots, basically um personal brands. Uh, we do half days, full days, and that content can be used for your social, so that's also something we offer.

Speaker 2: 27:39

Whatever you, whatever you need it for, All right. Well, that's kind of our rundown on brand photography why you need it, how to get the most out of a brand photo shoot. Would love it if you rate and reviewed the podcast, you guys. We really appreciate it. I hope you guys have enjoyed the guests that we have had on recently. I know we've really enjoyed them and until then, we'll talk to you guys next week talk next week.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Bye.