Corporate Photography - How do I best represent my company?

Today, images determine the external impact of a company in its advertising and general communication. While flyers, business cards and other print media are increasingly fading into the background, online channels such as social media are becoming more and more important for publicizing and marketing products. In order to maintain active social media channels, you should stay constantly active and make regular publications there, for which you need a lot of different photos. Together with the company's website, social media are now often the first point of contact with future customers. Stock photos cannot make a real connection here, because they are recognizable as such and convey the opposite of authenticity. In an increasingly value-driven economy, customers want to get an impression of the people behind a company, get a feel for their ways of working, and identify with them. Good photography is the perfect tool for this!

Well prepared is almost successful

As with so many other forms of photography, good preparation is key when it comes to portraying one's company, its people and the way they work. Because actual time with the photographer is precious, it's best to have a very clear idea of what you want beforehand. To do this, you should think about the ideal customers that you would like to reach and win over to your company with the help of the photos. The question of what you want to stand for with your business should also be clear.

Finally, you should consider what message and emotions the images should convey and on which platforms they are likely to be used and how. For some communication channels, such as Pinterest or Instagram, portrait-format images are more suitable, while landscape-format photos are more likely to be needed for the company's website or flyers. If certain products or services are to be advertised with them, or if special pictures are to be taken for planned blog posts or advertising campaigns, this is also best discussed in advance.

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Once you have a clear idea of what you want from the shoot, be sure to communicate it with the photographer. This can be done verbally or in writing, of course, but imagery is particularly good, for example, finding examples of images for poses, colors, settings, or a particular style that you can imagine for your business. Small details are also helpful to give the photographer a better idea of your own ideas.

There should also be good preparation within your own team. Because some people are photo shy and don't want pictures of them to be published or need a few days to get comfortable with the idea and feel safe. So before a shoot, be sure to discuss everything with employees to prepare them and make sure they are ready for the photo shoot. In order for the photos to be used for the company afterwards, a written declaration of consent must be given by all those who are to be seen in the photos, with an agreement on the commercial right to use the images. From the company's side, a temporally and spatially unlimited use is best. The date for the shooting should be scheduled on a quiet day without important deadlines or deals.

Finding the right visual language and the ideal photographer

In principle, there are two approaches to finding your own visual language. The most independent way to do this is to collect reference images in advance that appeal to you and whose style you would like to use to represent your company. By no means do these only have to be images from the business sector; atmospheric images and color schemes are also suitable for this purpose. In doing so, you can very well deal with which image of the company you want to represent and which target group the pictures should reach. Then you can look for a photographer who fits this style.

However, if you don't have the time for this in your daily work, you can also entrust this work to experienced photographers who are experts in the field of corporate photography. It is important not only that their style matches your own ideas, but above all that you feel comfortable with the person, trust their skills and can relax during the shoot.

Tips & Tricks

➢ Honest & personal:
The most important thing in the pictorial representation of one's own company is that the photos appear genuine and unposed. To do this, you should be relaxed and show the company as it really is. Not everything has to be perfectly clean and tidy, customers appreciate authenticity. The focus should be on showing the work processes that make up the company.

➢ The right location:
The best place for a company shoot is where its main activity takes place or a place that stands for it. This can be, for example, the workshop, the studio, the office or another place that is particularly linked to its own activity. Here, photos should be taken of the big picture, but also detailed shots of things that illustrate the daily work well.

➢ The perfect outfit:
Since you want to show yourself from your best side at a photo shoot for the company, it is quite normal that you give a lot of thought to the appropriate clothing. It is best to wear something that you feel comfortable in and that you actually wear often in everyday life. This is the only way to avoid feeling dressed up and to give a glimpse of your real everyday working life. Photographers recommend opting for plain, unpatterned clothing and refraining from writing on sweaters or T-shirts, which usually draw attention to themselves and thus distract from the protagonists, the people behind the company.

➢ Picking up on the color scheme cleverly:
When it comes to a company's image and its recognizability as a brand, the specific color scheme is particularly important. It is often found in the logo and ideally it is picked up in all publications. In order to create and maintain a very unique visual language, this color scheme should also be picked up in published photos. This can be achieved, for example, with books or planners in the corresponding color tones, but also with a cell phone cover, a scarf, a coffee cup or a tablecloth in the picture. It is important that the color scheme is placed discreetly, but runs as a common thread through all the images and connects them.

➢ Many birds with one stone:

If it is well planned, a photo shoot can produce many beautiful images that will serve for communication in the coming months and years. Thinking ahead for different image needs really pays off here.

Sources
https://marciafriese.de/portfolio/10-tipps-fuer-authentische-unternehmensfotos-basel-freiburg/
https://www.postando.de/business-fotos-die-besten-tipps/