How to Capture Website-Friendly Brand Photos

A Website Designer Perspective

A brand photoshoot is an impactful way to generate custom content and connect with your viewers. From professional headshots to behind-the-scenes photos that showcase your work process… these images are invaluable.

No matter what service you offer, custom brand photography is a must if you want to create a cohesive experience and appeal to high-end clients. I recommend brand photography for all creative entrepreneurs, from artists and florists to venues and creative educators.

I especially recommend it for photographers: it’s important to invest in professional, high quality work with someone who specializes in brand photography. It elevates your own portfolio and demonstrates how much you value quality imagery (just like you expect from your own clients!)

So you know you’ll be sharing the photos on instagram… but what about your website? How can you make sure the photos will work well online?

From a website designer perspective, there are a few things I would recommend for you to keep in mind while shooting for website imagery.

My NUMBER ONE tip for shooting brand photography:

1. Get plenty of horizontal images.

Websites generally use images in a horizontal format. Think about it. Visit any website, and you’ll often see a full-width slider on the homepage… plus several mid-bar parallax images throughout the page as you scroll.

If you’re a photographer, it may feel more natural to take portrait-style photos (since that’s usually the preferred format for wedding blog submissions)… but, for brand photoshoots, remind yourself to step back and snap a horizontal variation as often as possible. Your website designer will appreciate you!

2. Get lots of details shots.

Of course, headshots are hugely important. You want to share your face and your personality throughout your website and on your Instagram account. But I would also encourage you to capture a lot of details shots.

Keep this in mind: for website imagery, MOST of the brand photos will probably be used as background images of some kind. Your website designer will usually use a couple of headshots on the home page and about page… but beyond that, the imagery scattered throughout the website will usually play a supporting role. It will most often be used as background imagery to support the content.

The most important thing on a website is why and how a potential client should work with you.

The focus on your website should be: your portfolio of recent work (so potential clients can understand what you do), and the services you offer (so potential clients can start working with you!)

Website imagery is there to support that. Not to overshadow it.

3. Capture a variety of angles.

Unlike a wedding, your goal is not to preserve a memory—it’s to convey a brand personality. There’s not as much pressure to capture emotion or raw moments as they unfold as there is to provide a useful variety of customized images. Take as much time as you need to style an image, and then capture it at every angle: far away, close up, wide-shot, cropped-in.

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With all of that in mind, here’s a shotlist of images to spark your ideas for a brand photoshoot. From a website designer perspective, I’d be thrilled to have a gallery like this for a website project!

Feel free to bookmark this if you’re considering a brand photoshoot in the future:

To connect with your clients:

– Portraits with eyes to camera (psychologically, eye contact is SO important!)
– Casual “candid” portraits
– Portraits with pets are always a bonus 😉

To convey your services:

– Your workspace
– You working with a client
– Tangible final products
– Screens (you can add digital mockups later)
– Flatlays of your tools or final products

To showcase your process:

– Action shots of you working
– Close-ups of hands working
– Styled shots of your tools (paintbrushes, camera, laptop, etc.)
– Styled shots of your early process (sketches, prep work, etc.)

*Fun tip: take a time-lapse video of you working! Potential clients love to see you work your magic and make something out of nothing.

To fill in the blank: keep negative space in mind to snap a few extra details shots. Think about the parallax images scrolling on a website: they shouldn’t be too distracting. They should provide brand color and composition, without looking too busy.

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Need a photographer? I am so thankful to have worked with each of these talented ladies and would highly recommend them for your own brand photography:

Laylee Emadi Photography
Gray Door Photography
Hannah Haston Photography