Feeling Overwhelmed About A Brand Session? Start Here
Most people are afraid of the planning part of brand photography more so than the photos themselves. There is so much leading up to them. What to wear. Where to go. How to not look stiff and weird in front of a camera. Whether the whole experience will even feel worth it.
If any of that sounds familiar, keep reading.
Start with a brain dump, not a checklist
Most photographers hand you a generic prep guide and call it a day. The problem? Generic prep produces generic photos.
Your brand is not a formula to be followed. Before I plan anything for a session, I send clients a questionnaire — and I tell them to talk-to-text their way through it like they’re telling a very nosy friend about their business. No editing. No polishing. Just the real stuff: how they work, who they’re trying to reach, what makes their brand feel distinctly them, and what they’re nervous about.
That brain dump becomes the raw material for the entire session strategy. It’s also how I figure out what you actually need — not just what looks good on paper.
If you’re preparing for any brand session (with me or anyone else), start here. Write down — or say out loud — what stories you want to tell within your photos. And how do those stories translate into feelings about your brand? Those answer will tell you more than any style quiz.
Three outfits per hour.
Variety is the whole game with brand photography. One look means one version of you. It should never look like you had a brand session on one day. Your photos should look like they happened over time.
A good rule of thumb: plan three outfits per hour of session time. Start with your more polished, professional looks and move toward casual as the session goes on. Swap accessories. Change your hair. These small shifts create a gallery filled with variety that will be useable over time.
As for what to wear? You probably don’t need a new blazer. Wear what you’d wear to meet with a client you want to impress. Not what you think you should wear for photos. There’s a difference.
One practical note: iron everything. Check for lint. Skip any pilling fabrics. Tidy up your nails. I know this sounds obvious, but detail work shows up in photos in ways you don’t always notice in the mirror.
Your stuff brings context to your story.
Props aren’t cheesy — bad props are cheesy. The right objects in your photos are visual shorthand for what you do and how you do it.
Bring the tools you actually use: the laptop, the sketchbook, the coffee mug you drink from every single morning. Bring samples of your work if it’s something physical. Bring your client welcome materials, your planner, the three pens you rotate through because you’re like that. Bring flowers in your brand colors, if that’s your vibe.
The goal is a visual world that looks like you live and work there — not a stock photo set that happens to have your face in it.
On that note, most people use a laptop for work. While this can be a photo you’d like for your gallery, let’s not make it a star photo. That’s overdone and incredibly boring. You’re not a boring person. I know that already.
Light is non-negotiable. Everything else is negotiable.
Whether you’re shooting in your own space or somewhere rented, the single most important location question is: where is the natural light?
Big windows, open rooms, spaces that feel bright without trying too hard — these are your friends. I always bring supplemental lighting, so we’re never fully at the mercy of the weather. But if you’re scouting spaces on your own, walk through at the time of day we’d be shooting and see what the light is actually doing.
Beyond light: does the space have more than one area that feels on-brand for you? Variety matters here too. A single corner gives you a single backdrop. Multiple spaces give you a visual library.
Sometimes that location can be a tough one. Once I know more about you, this is something that I can and do help with too.
Here’s the part most prep guides leave out
All of this — the outfits, the props, the location — it’s useful. But it’s not what actually makes people walk away from a session feeling like the photos really got them.
What makes that happen is a strategy session before we ever pick up a camera.
After you fill out my questionnaire, I take all of that information and build a session plan — individualized styling tips, a curated what-to-bring list, and a shot list based on who you are and what your brand actually needs. Then we get on a call and talk through it together. That’s where things click into place — your ideas, your words, your personality shaping the plan.
Clients tell me this call lowers their anxiety by about tenfold. Not because I’m handing them more information. Because they stop guessing. They stop trying to figure out what a “good brand photo” looks like and start thinking about what their story looks like. That shift makes everything else easier.
This is why I limit the number of sessions I take on. The prep work I do before your session is as strategic as the session itself. That’s not something that scales when you’re one of forty clients this month.
Ready to start planning?
If you’re feeling the pull toward “I want someone to help me think this through,” I’m here for you.
My welcome guide walks through exactly how my process works from the moment you book through the day of your session. And if you’re ready to talk, I’d love to hear what you’re building.