6 Ways a Personal Branding Session is Different than a Family Session

When I meet with clients to go over the details of their upcoming shoot, they may have already had some experience in front of the camera because they’ve done a family session or had their wedding portraits taken. So they’ll sometimes think they know what to expect. But a branding session is much more involved for both the subject and the photographer and I’m breaking down the six ways a personal branding session is different than a family session.

Outdoors vs. Indoors

Family sessions are commonly set outdoors in a pretty setting, maybe a local park, at the beach or in your family's backyard. Branding sessions are mostly done indoors, in a controlled environment to capture working shots. While for some of my clients it does make sense to shoot outdoors, most are service providers that work on a computer, in an office so it makes sense to capture some of that indoors, in a space that allows for those types of shots. 

Think about it this way: if you’re an interior designer it wouldn’t make sense to have your entire branding session in a park. You’d want to either be in an office or an attractive home to give people some kind of idea of what you do. 

Location, Location, Location

Taking the location of your branding session a step further, when I’m shooting a brand I don’t just look for a pretty place or backdrop. As a photographer who specializes in personal branding sessions, I also take into account the brand colors and the service they provide. In a branding shoot, the location should match the aesthetic and purpose of the brand. 

Props

Usually with a family session, you just have to bring yourself to the shoot. With a branding session in order to tell the story of your business you will likely need props. This can be as simple as your laptop, a notebook, pens, a mug, etc. But you’ll also want to bring industry-specific props like workout gear if you are a fitness instructor, food and cooking utensils if you are a chef, and makeup if you are a makeup artist. I go over prop opportunities when I meet with my clients to make sure we have everything they will need on hand for our shoot. 

Outfits 

With a family session, the biggest decision when it comes to wardrobe is whether to go casual or more formal and perhaps how to coordinate your outfit with your partner’s or kiddos outfits. With a branding session, you let your brand and the service you offer dictate your choice of clothes. If you’re a personal stylist like my client Nicole Otchy (right), you’ll probably want a mix of casual and formal outfits in chic and trendy styles. If you’re a medical professional you should bring your lab coat as well as some professional outfits to your shoot. If you want to show off the personal side of your personal brand, you can bring off-duty looks too. It all depends on what will align well and resonate with your ideal client.

Shoot Planning

When it comes to a branding shoot, the planning process goes way more in-depth, like a LOT more. After my clients have officially booked, I’ll schedule a Zoom call with them to go over all of the details that I’ve listed above, and we’ll chat about the shoot plan. With a family session, planning is typically identifying a location, a meeting point, the time, and giving them a link to my resources for outfit planning. No need for a Zoom call after that.  

Shooting 

There is even a difference in the direction of shots that you’ll get with a family session versus a branding session. With my branding photography clients, I grab lots of horizontal shots as they work better for website use and are (in my opinion) easier to crop for social media. I will also get plenty of vertical images as those are more commonplace for headshot images. 

There you have it, the 6 main differences between a personal branding photoshoot and a family photoshoot. If you are ready to start planning your planning session, be sure to grab my shoot planning guide so you’re fully prepared for your next branding session!