Niagara Portrait Photographer | The Importance of Branding Photography

Why is it so important to have professional images taken for your brand? That’s a great question, and I’d love to be the one to tell you…

Here’s the plain & simple answer: People shop with their eyes.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling the absolute best product in the world. It doesn’t matter if you have an elite marketing team running your social media accounts. It doesn’t matter if you have the friendliest customer service representative.

If the photos you are sharing about your products/services are low quality, then people will assume the products/services themselves are low quality. Read that again. Then again.

People want their eyes to be happy when shopping online. This means don’t share photos with crazy, busy backgrounds. Don’t use too many props or textures that are a million colours. And whatever you do, please, please do not share photos that look like they were taken in a cave with a candle as the only light source. 

*insert the tears of a light & airy photographer* 😭😂

Instead, keep things super simple. Choose one background colour (something neutral; white, beige, grey, etc.) and use a big enough light source that will result in fully lit images. For example, a large living room window.

These tips are great if you’re just taking photos of products. But people also like to see other people using the products so they can picture themselves using them.

In which case, it’s so important to hire a professional photographer & do a Branding Session with them.

Branding Sessions can be used for literally any brand. Yes, any.

With my Branding Sessions, I like to incorporate a whole bunch of different aspects. I take lots of portraits; some regular headshots, and some fun, personality-filled ones. I take lots of ‘environmental candids’. Meaning, a glimpse into the work that you actually do. If you’re a candle maker, let’s photograph you making a candle. If you’re a painter, let’s photograph you painting. The last thing I focus on during my Branding Sessions are all the details. Using those same two examples from above, I would get close up shots of the flame/wick/wax or paints/paintbrush/hands. 

Every photo I take during your Branding Session has the power to be turned into something useful for your business. A close up shot of your product? Use it on your website to try to sell it. An ‘environmental candid’ of you doing what you do? Use it as a background on an Instagram story to share relevant information. A portrait/headshot? Use it as an ‘about me’ post.

The reason Branding Sessions exist is to elevate your brand presence and amp up your social media. To provide that level of aesthetically pleasing content to your future customers.

Scroll through to view an example of a past Branding Session I did with the lovely Chevelle, who is the owner & tattoo artist of Tiny Impressions Studio.

Emily VanderBeek is a Niagara, Ontario; Champlain, Ontario; and Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec Photographer who specializes in timeless & candid family, portrait, motherhood, and branding photography.

Love these photos? Click here to start planning your own photo session today. Booking into March 2024 for Champlain & surrounding areas and booking into May 2024 for Niagara & surrounding areas.

Let’s create memories together!