Grow Your Personal Brand and Business: Toronto Portrait Photography Packages
Whether you’re running a service-based business, selling products or applying to your dream job, all professionals end up utilizing portrait photography at some point throughout their careers. Why? Because people connect with other people, so it only makes sense to humanize your personal brand and / or business through portrait photography.
Now, in today’s modern world, most people can snap portraits with their iPhones. Newer iPhones even have portrait mode settings! For people who are just starting out on their professional or business journeys, iPhone portraits can definitely help give you a boost over the competition. But, as you start build out your brand, there may come a time when you decide you need to invest in portrait photography to give your brand more of a professional look. This investment, however, can range significantly depending on the skill level and experience of the photographer you choose, where you intend to use the photos, and how many final photos you receive. And commercial photographers can charge for their services in multiple different ways (hourly, day rate, packages, etc.), adding to the confusion.
To keep things simple, I offer my clients Toronto portrait photography packages. These packages outline the exact cost of my portrait photography services, how much time the photography session will last, where the photos can be used, and how many final photos you’ll receive. That way, my clients know exactly what they’re getting right up front.
Interested in having some professional portraits taken? Here are the three main types of portraits that I provide through my Toronto portrait photography packages:
Professional Headshots
Whether you’re building your LinkedIn following, fine-tuning your resume, or being placed in the “team” section of the company website, every professional will have a professional headshot taken at some point throughout their careers.
If you’re just getting started in your career or if you don’t have the budget for professional photography, snapping a headshot photo with your iPhone is totally cool. Just avoid taking a selfie headshot (i.e. by holding your phone out in front of you so that your outstretched arm is in the frame). Instead, ask a friend or colleague to snap a headshot for you. This will allow you to pose naturally, creating a more professional look.
Now, to really stand out online and build your personal brand, investing in a professional headshot can make you look, well, a lot more professional. During a professional headshot photography session, the photographer will determine a background that makes sense for your personal brand, adjust the lighting to ensure it’s flattering, and snap a series of high quality photos so that you have different options to choose from. They’ll also professionally edit your selected headshot photo, ensuring you look your best when you hand in that resume or reach out to a potential client on LinkedIn.
Sure, a professional headshot requires a small investment. But it’s also something that you’ll likely continue to use for years as your career continues to progress.
If you’re interested in having Toronto professional headshots taken, you can check out my packages here.
Branding Photography
If professional headshots help you make a good first impression, branding photos help you convey your story and what your brand is all about.
With branding photos, you’ll still want to have you and / or your team in the shots, but you’ll also want to focus on the environment / background of your images a bit more as well, ensuring the scene accurately represents your brand. To achieve this, branding images take a step back from professional headshots, focusing less on an individual person, and more on your overall personal brand and / or company. For instance, if you own a yoga studio, your professional headshot would, of course, be of you, but your branding shots would showcase you and your team within the yoga studio space, helping provide your potential customers with an understanding of what they can expect at the studio and who they’d be interacting with.
Branding photography packages typically include at least a handful of professionally edited photos. This is because, unlike a professional headshot, you typically need at least a few shots to effectively convey yourself, your team and what your brand is all about. Branding photography package pricing varies depending on the number of deliverables and time required on set.
If you’re interested in having some branding photos taken of you and your team, you can check out my photography packages here.
Lifestyle Product Photography
Now, if your business sells products, you may be focused on acquiring high quality images showcasing your products against a simple, white background. In today’s online shopping world, these images are definitely a necessity for product-based brands. However, showcasing your products being used by other humans in a real world setting is equally as important. Why? Because it helps potential customers imagine themselves using your products in the same way. This is where lifestyle product photography comes in.
With lifestyle product photography, you not only showcase other people using your products in real world settings, but also help create a brand story that resonates with your target customers. For instance, if you sell board shorts and your target market is surfers, posting simple product shots of your shorts with a plain background won’t draw in the surfer crowd. But, if you pair your product shots with some photos of people wearing your shorts on the beach and catching waves in them, the surfing crowd will start to take notice, and identify your brand as one of the go-to brands for surf board shorts.
Lifestyle product photography pricing, and commercial photography pricing in general, can be a bit complex. Sure, most commercial photographers charge a day rate, by the hour, or offer packages. But, depending on how you’re planning on using the photos for your business, photographers may charge additional licensing fees on top of that. You can find a full break down of how commercial photography pricing works here.
I offer lifestyle product photography packages. However, if a project is complex or one of my packages doesn’t work for the project, I also use a day rate and provide custom quotes. If you’re interested in having some lifestyle product photos taken to help tell your brand’s story and connect your products with your customers, check out my packages here or reach out for a custom quote.
Toronto Portrait Photography Packages
Most professionals first encounter portrait photography when they need a professional headshot for their resume, LinkedIn profile or company website. As they start to develop their personal brand or even grow a business, the need to effectively convey their story through their imagery grows. Branding photography can help drive their story by capturing portraits of them and their teams in the environments that they work in. Similarly, if a professional is also trying to sell products, lifestyle product photography can not only humanize their products, but also connect them with a particular environment or activity, allowing like-minded, potential customers to connect with them, too.
If you or your business are looking for Toronto portrait photography packages, check out my services page for more information.