If you read any of my previous blogs, then you would agree that I am a broken record. Yep… another blog about photography. I’ll change it up next time, I promise.

So, let’s get up to speed, you’ve made the decision to hire a photographer and get bespoke photography for your website and marketing material. If you don’t know why that is a great decision, where have you been? Get caught up and give this article a good nosey.

What you need to be doing

You’ve found your photographer, you’ve got your date, so what should you do next? You could just wait until the day of the shoot and let the photographer do their thing, but you could be getting so much more out of it with just a few simple tasks.

1. Communicate

Talk to your photographer

It is important to hire a photographer that understands your target audience. Your photographs must appeal to your audience and match the branding of your company.

What you can do to ensure that your photographs are relevant to your brand is share content and inspiration with your photographer. Any good photographer will have done their research on your company, brand, and audience to ensure they are a good fit. To make sure you are both on the same page you can:

• Send your photographer your brand book
• Discuss the vision you have
• Create a Pinterest board full of photographs that you like

• Email a couple of photographs over if you don’t use Pinterest.

This is a great way to ensure that you and the photographer share the same vision.

Talk to your staff

It is extremely important to inform your staff what will be happening. You should share the date, inform them where the photographs are being used, and why it is happening.

This will give your staff the chance to get haircuts, iron their clothes, straighten their hair, put make-up on and ensure that those in the photographs are well-presented and professionally represent your brand. Even if some staff members aren’t planning to be in the photographs, they will likely be in the background, or the photographer may need an extra couple of people to fill a room.

2. Manage expectations

Be clear about what you expect from your photographer. How long do you expect them to be on location? How many final images do you need? When do you need the final images? How many staff members need headshots?

These simple answers will help to keep expectations in line and reduce any confusion over the project.

Have a look at your photographer’s portfolio before you hire them. Do they have experience in group photographs and staging in professional environments? Does their editing style fall in line with your branding, or can they edit to match your branding style?

Ask your photographer to share some work from a similar photoshoot they have done. By seeing their work, you can acknowledge the quality they produce and maintain your expectations for the photographs you will be receiving.

If you will be in and out of meetings, then make sure your photographer is aware of your availability and discuss how long is needed for your headshots. Doing so will ensure that your photographer’s plan is suited to work around you, allowing you to stay organised throughout your day.

3. Prepare

Before your photographer arrives, there are a few things you should arrange.

First, you should organise your office. Make sure everything is away, and any mess is taken care of (or at least hidden). Your environment will be photographed and should look photogenic.

Now that your office is organised, schedule a clean. Dust, stains, and dirt will all be noticeable on your photographs and will not look professional.

Alongside this, your clothing will also be a representation of you and your company. It is important to appear, professional and formal (if this is what you want to portray in your business). This means ironed shirts and smart clothing.

You can save your photographer a job by not wearing any branded clothing, so they don’t need to photoshop any logos out of your clothes. You can also go the extra mile and take a lint roller to work with you, this will keep any hair, fluff, or dust off your clothes.

If you really want to impress you can send photographs of your office/location to your photographer so that they can plan accordingly. A photographer will usually begin their shoot by getting familiar with the office and finding the best locations. Sending quick snaps of the office will give the photographer that extra bit of information to plan in-depth and save time on the day.

Don’t be shy to bring props in. Bring in some extra plants, flowers, desk ornaments, a change of clothes, your branded collateral, or anything you want in the photographs. All photographers will agree with me that props being brought to a photoshoot will bring life and variety to any photograph and give it that little extra bit of detail.

With each prop used you can get those additional few photographs added to your final batch of images to use. If you also find photographs awkward then props can be a great way to feel more comfortable. Having something to hold in your hands or pretending to be doing something can relieve you of any stiffness or awkwardness you may feel and see in the photograph.

4. Bonus tips

• Position those employees more likely to leave at the end of team images and position senior staff members in the middle. It’s easier to Photoshop them out if they leave!

• Get as many shots done as you can. It’s likely the photographer will be there for just the day so if there are things you want or ideas you have then make sure to ask and share them with your photographer.

To find out how we can help you stand out through photography, email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300.