Natural Lioght Diy Easy Portrait Slf Personal Branding

I see you. The business owner sitting in your office in the midst of this insane time, realizing that you still need to market your services, but you're coming up short in the photo department. You're desperate to connect with your audience in a way that feels organic, but you've exhausted your supply of stock photos and with all the restrictions in place, you have no way to connect with your favorite brand photographer for new content.

I've got you covered!

Under the best of circumstances, I know that hiring a skilled branding photographer isn't in everyone's budget in the first couple of years of business ownership. But especially when you factor in the present circumstances, these are the times when people start getting REALLY creative on how they meet their business's needs! The phrase "DIY" isn't one you'll often hear coming out of my mouth, but now, more than ever, folks are desperate for content they can create themselves, and that costs little to nothing to create. So let's get to it!

A few notes on technique, before we dive in-

First things first- find yourself some clean, NATURAL LIGHT. Outdoors, by a big window, on a porch, wherever. We're looking for natural light from the sky, and we're going to turn off all other light sources. If you're inside by a big window, turn off the lamp on the side table across the room. Trust me on this one! Light takes on different colors ("temperature" if you want to get technical), and if you have blue light coming from the window and yellow light from a tungsten bulb across the room, it will taint your shadows with icky yellow tones. We want consistent, clean light.

Secondly, if you're shooting next to a window, you'll notice you have pretty deep shadows on whatever item/person you're shooting. This is easily helped with a reflector!It doesn't need to be an official one like photographers use, you can simply grab any solid white surface- a pillow, a white foam-core board, even a plain white sheet of paper works when shooting small items. If you have someone else at home, you could ask them to hold up a white bedsheet!

Thirdly, while I would obviously advocate for using a "real" camera, if you don't have access to one, an iPhone + Portrait Mode can do the trick nicely. Pair those photos with the Light & Airy or Veil Presets for iPhone and you've got yourself some great content for social media! Just make sure you're shooting in ample light.

Last thing- if you're shooting these alone, three of these will require a camera with either a self-timer or a remote trigger. If you don't have a tripod, don't sweat- use a stool, a stack of large books, whatever you've got!

Photo #1: A flat-lay of your tools, or a few on-brand items.

I take these all the time when I have a few shots left on a roll of film after a wedding! These are super easy to do with items from around your office- any desk accessories, tools you use on a regular basis, fresh flowers from your dining room table, even items from your purse. Do you have any printed collateral or branded stationery that you send out to clients? What about cute tchotchkes around your home, or something fun you bought on your travels? What about sample albums, test prints, or mock-ups? How about that latest magazine your work was featured in?

Use a clean, solid background- if you've got a styling surface, that's perfect. But a white poster board also does the trick- it's what I used for the background of these next three photos!

Pro tip- leaving negative space in the middle allows you to use photos like the one below on website headers, slide decks, and anywhere else you need to overlay text!