Are you struggling with content but can't afford to pay a photographer every other week?
Here are a few tips on how to take your own Personal Branding photos at home.
If you are taking your photos indoors, find a nice big window to set up next to in the room that you want to shoot in. As long as the sun doesn’t hit the light directly, then any window is good.
If you are wanting a plain background, you could hang up a white sheet or curtain. I purchased a portable backdrop stand on ebay for $40.
Try and have the window to your side, or slightly in front to the side. Remember to keep your face towards the light.
If you want to use various spaces in the home, style it as best as you can. If you have branding colours, you can try to incorporate them into your shots, either in a piece of clothing or you could add some colour in the background details.
When we shoot in our homes, we can often overlook little details in the backgrounds that you may not want people to see. Keep this in mind!
You will need a tripod (or something portable to set your camera on) for taking your own photos. Having something portable allows you to have better control over how you set your camera up.
I do recommend using an actual camera over a phone camera if you have one, however any photo is better than no photo at all.
Most cameras and all phones have self-timer capabilities in the camera settings.
My camera in particular, not only has a self timer, but you can also choose how many photos you want to take, and time between photos. For example, if I set a 10 second timer to allow me to get into position for the photo, I then have the settings to take 5 photos, at 2 second intervals. So after each click of the shutter, I can shift position slightly, and get 5 different looking poses to choose from.
You do have to keep in mind that your focus is set to one point, so moving too far from the focus point will cause you to be out of focus.
I know iphones do have a similar version of timer shooting, without the interval between shots, however I am not sure about other phones and cameras.
Don’t forget you can add props, such as hats, bags, cups of tea, books; whatever look you are trying to achieve for your brand. You could add a jacket between shots, switch shirts, or other small changes to create a different look for extra content.
The biggest tip I can give you for this, is to practice, practice, practice. Taking your own photos isn’t easy, and it can also feel confronting being in front of the camera. The more you do it, the more you can feel comfortable in front of the camera, and the better quality your photos will become.
Showing your face in your business builds trust and comfort with your customers and clients, which will benefit your business. Also images of you on your social media will more often than not, create the most engagement.
So it is definitely something worth putting effort into!