Branding sessions are a chance to tell your story through photos. These sessions are usually longer than a headshot shoot and they include more poses, outfit changes, backgrounds and props. During our consultation call, we'll talk about how your business serves your clients and about how you will use your photos. We'll also talk about ways to work your brand colors into the photo session. Here are a few of my favorites ways to bring brand colors to your photos.

My client, Stacy Handler of Bloom Arts Strategy was a perfect example of someone thinking visually from the start of planning her photo session. She had ideas for her wardrobe, knew she wanted to shoot in front of a mural, and had created a mood board on Pinterest. You can tell she works in the arts, right?!

Wardrobe- Wardrobe is obvious way to include your brand colors, and it's a great place to start. After our consultation call, I usually request some photos of the outfits you have picked out for your session. These can be laying on your bed or selfie shots in a mirror. This will help me give advice about wardrobe, but also plan out the session.

Stacy pulled several outfits that included her brand colors. She brought extras to the session, which is great. It's always fantastic to have a few additional outfits in case we want to make a last minute switch.

Props- Props are a fantastic way to add a pop of your brand colors. Notebooks, coffee mugs or laptop covers are all inexpensive ideas for pulling your colors into a session. For the photo below, Stacy's pink notebook is a nod to her brand colors.

Backgrounds- There are several ways to add colorful backgrounds into your photo session. In the studio, we can use a roll of paper that matches (or closely matches a brand color) or we can use gels over a background light. We can also scout locations that have one of your brand colors, and that's exactly what we did for Stacy's photo session.

Most of her shoot was in my studio at the West End, but we also looked for a nearby location with mural art that would work as a background. It was a chilly 40 degrees when we did Stacy's photos, so we were only outdoors for the last 20 minutes of her session, but we still got some great photos!

Planning is very important for a branding session. It's great to brainstorm ideas for wardrobe, props and backgrounds early in the process so that we can create a great set of images for your website, social media and other marketing purposes.

Thanks to Rebecca Kuzma who did hair and makeup for Stacy's session. Mural- world nation a tribute to Sparkyz by Dr Dax.