Are you thinking about having a brand photo shoot for your business, but you don’t know where to start in finding a location for it? Don't worry! As a specialist small and micro-business brand photographer in Surrey, I have put together my 8 Top Tips to help you find a brand photo shoot location that's perfect for you!
If you are a service provider such as business, mindset or life coach, who works from home, you might be wondering where on earth you can have your brand shoot? If location is one of your stumbling blacks, don’t worry, as a specialist on location brand photographer, and one who has worked with many different types of coaches to help bring their business to life, read on for my 8 Top Tips on how to find your perfect brand shoot location.
Hi, I'm Claire with the Camera and I love working with small, micro and niche solopreneurs and small business owners to create brilliant brand shoots! Together we can create a vibrant, on-brand gallery of photos BURSTING with personality, to use across your website, social media and marketing channels to attract, connect and engage with future clients. You can find out more about me here Claire with the Camera.
8 Top Tips for what makes a great brand shoot location:
1. style and atmosphere that fits with your brand
One of the first things to look for when choosing a location for your brand photo shoot, is something that complements the values, colours and style of your brand, and the feeling or atmosphere you want to create through your brand photos.
For example, is your brand:
1. Modern and fresh like Jo from Mastering our Mind, who selected a friends house which had the perfect mix of her brand colours and a clean, uncluttered space.
2. Bright and creative like Laura, Brand Designer from The Inky Giraffe, who used her fun and bright home studio for her shoot.
3. Traditional and professional like Sonya from The Philanthropy Consultant, who used The Park Hotel Teddington for her shoot to give a warm and approachable atmosphere.
4. Warm and natural like Bev Happy Heart Coaching, who had an outdoor brand shoot at Lightwater Country Park.
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Find out my Top 5 locations for a brand shoot in Surrey
​2. diversity of backdrops in a small space​
The next consideration for your location, is the range of backgrounds available that will allow us to create a varied gallery of photos, that truly showcases your business. And you can often get more than you think from a small space, simply by walking a few steps! I want you to end up with a bucket load of photos packed with engaging, storytelling images to use across all your different platforms and marketing channels every single day to inspire your ideal client. That’s what I loved about Emma’s shoot at The Marches in Woking. We were able to create headshots and personality filled profile photos, brilliant detail shots and show the different sides of Emma’s business, including her corporate work, her mindfulness work with children in schools and her life coaching simply by changing outfits, using the props from her business and different parts of one room! And with the outside space, it meant Emma ended up with a wonderful variety of photos from her Essential Brand Shoot to showcase her business. ​ Related: 12 places you can use your brand photos to maximise your investment​
3. space to create website hero shots
Whilst people often think they just need an updated headshot, there is just so much more you need brand photos for, including attention grabbing hero shots for your website. These are large photos that can welcome visitors to your site, just as you would welcome them in real life.
I love creating these in nice, bright, open spaces where we can have plenty of negative (empty) space to one side of the photo. This allows for text on your website to go over the photo and still be legible.
A great example of these negative space, website hero shots photos are these I took at Rebecca’s shoot, which we did at her friends flat in Richmond. Just outside the flat were two different textured walls perfect for the negative space shots below.
4. light and bright
Light is the photographer’s best friend and locations that have natural light pouring in, definitely get a tick in the box for a brand photo shoot! Whilst it doesn’t rule out darker spaces, such as event spaces or conference rooms, natural light means there’s no need for lighting set ups or flash, which take more time to set up and has more limitations.
Just putting the normal lights on in a room can create what’s called a colour caste on people, which often isn’t flattering, so are best avoided.
For outside brand shoots, you actually want to avoid direct, harsh unfiltered sunlight. We want soft diffused light through clouds or shade, so finding somewhere that has both shaded and unshaded options works best, not just a big open field.
5. interesting features
I love outdoor brand photoshoots as they allow us to create space around you and encourage freedom and enjoyment. I always try and encourage people to include part of their brand shoot outdoors in a relevant space.
But I don’t mean a big open park lined with a few hedges or trees, as these don’t create very interesting photos! With an outdoor location for your brand photo shoot, you want to look for somewhere with steps, a bridge or something of interest to lean on, some trees or plants, things that can create depth in the photo and allow you to be comfortably part of the environment, not just standing in the middle of a field!
The principle of interest or lines also applies to your indoor brand shoot location, but with these it might be a table, a sofa, armchair… or once again steps! It’s funny how when we are having our photo taken, we are suddenly very conscious of our hands, so have someone to rest them or lean them on makes you feel so much more comfortable and relaxed.
Here’s some examples of how steps or something to lean on creates an engaging, interesting and flattering brand photo.
6. uncluttered and flexible
We want you and the details and stories of your business to be the star of the show, so having an uncluttered space and ideally one where we can maneuver furniture, plants and any other props and accessories into place, is definitely a winner!
Creating the right photo takes time, thought and planning. If you want to create a bright, vibrant look to your brand photos, you need to find a location that offers that – not a run down hall or cluttered front room!
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Anxiety Coach Dawn, had the perfect place in her light, bright and clear open plan lounge, where we took the below photo.
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7. Quiet
How do you feel about having a brand shoot or even just having your photo taken? A bit nervous? That’s understandable, after all, it’s not something we usually do.
I use my Brilliant Brand Builder to help you feel ready and much more comfortable by the time we get to shoot day, but having a fairly quiet venue can also help with this.
You want to feel calm and relaxed, without the hustle and bustle of others, so my tip would be don’t pick the café that you love in the middle of the lunchtime rush, to do your brand photo shoot!
Choose places when they are quiet such as pubs or hotels mid-morning after checkout, but before the lunch crowd arrives.
Rachael's brand photos were taken in a cafe in the morning, before the lunchtime rush.
8. Easy to reach, park and navigate
This might not be something that immediately springs to mind, but when you are carrying a box of props and accessories, as well as your outfit changes plus all the equipment, having a location where you can easily park and get to where you want to take the photos relatively quickly, makes like so much easier! After all, you don’t want to arrive all hot and bothered after a 20-minute trek from the car park!
That’s one of the things I love about Lightwater Country Park near Woking in Surrey. It has a wonderful variety of interesting natural backdrops, all within a couple of minutes’ walk from the free parking.
Here are some photos of Bev's from Happy Heart Coaching's brand photo shoot at Lightwater Country Park.
So there you have it, 8 Top Tips for what to look for when choosing your branding photo shoot location.
I hope this has given you some inspiration for how to choose a location for your brilliant business brand shoot!
I would love to hear from you and help you find your perfect location, just book a no-pressure Enquiry Call to find out more.
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Claire x