Recipe for a Branding Session | What to Expect

To make sure you get the most out of my time with you and know exactly what to expect from your branding session, we’ll start coordinating two to four weeks in advance.

Recipe Yields

What you’ll receive

• A gallery of consistent, professional images designed for your specific business and marketing needs.
• On-brand variety with three to four outfit selections and up to three predetermined locations.
• Headshots or team photo, styled detail photos, and behind the scenes photos of your workplace
• [Note: this does not include product photography or food photography. To do food photography well, the process is very time-intensive and can take away from your branding session. The preparation for each is very different. For this reason, these session types are separate.]

Prep Time

4-6 Hours invested in preparing for your branding session

• 1 Hour: completing branding form
• 30 Minutes: review Amanda Richardson Photography Branding, including what to wear!
• 1.5 Hours: Shoot list planning call with Amanda
• 2 Hours: Selecting outfits or shopping for new pieces 
• 1-2 Hours: Hair and makeup (optional)
• Travel time as needed

Cook Time

For a branding session, you can expect six hours of my time. This includes travel between your selected locations. For this reason, we’ll try to keep them within 15 minutes of each other. However, this time does not have to be consecutive. We may take breaks between portions of the session.

Before we begin…

We’ll scout your locations and talk about the best time of day to visit each. I require two nights’ stay so that I can scout the locations in advance and be fully prepared for the shoot at each location. We may, for example, want to shoot your casual look first at a coffee shop early in the morning for the best light and then take a break and wait until the end of the day to do your power look so that we are always using that incredible golden hour light for the best time of day.

Steps

1. The Professional Look
   Wear a professional outfit like you might wear to a meeting with a client or vendor (not your chef’s coat). To give you some variety, we can take photos both inside and outside at this location. This is likely an administrative look, so your office setting is appropriate, but it can be a rented space or more optimal location for photos. I’ll try to scout locations with the best natural light possible.
   
2. The Casual Look
   For this set, we’ll accomplish a lifestyle, laid back feel. This location should be outside, but we can capture a lot of different options here. Some of my clients have gone shopping at a farmers market, or visited their favorite coffee shop for this portion of the branding session.
   
3. Behind-The-Scenes
   For this scene, wear your chef coat, business casual attire, or whatever you would wear to work in. Probably not your PJs though! This is when we roll in your food. You can choose two easy dishes that will be finished and ready to plate. If a cocktail and a dish or bakery item are more applicable, we can substitute. We will be “finishing” these dishes in some behind the scenes photos.

 

Difference between Branding Session and Product or Food Photography

During your branding session, I will be taking some photos of you finishing two dishes to show you working in your environment. These will be great behind the scenes photos for your website, social media, and other portfolio. However, staging and photographing these dishes to feature the dishes themselves is an entirely different preparation and session process. After a branding session, you will not receive photos of your dishes by themselves. If you need a food styled session of just your dishes, we will have to book some additional time together to accomplish that for you*. 

Plating and Finishing

• Good Light
  Overhead lights can detract from other good natural light sources. We’ll likely turn all those off and rely on window light and flash.
• Props
  When we have your shoot list meeting, we will also discuss what your props should be and it will be included in your shoot list.
• Brand Colors
  Along with props, we will talk about your brand color and how we can highlight your brand colors without making them distracting or overpowering

Let cool before serving

Post processing, or editing, can take up to a couple weeks depending on my client and travel schedule. I promise I am so excited to get these images back to you! I deliver galleries as soon as humanly possible. These images are my product. As excited as I am to share them with the world, I will also take the time to make sure they’re perfect before I give them back.

Questions?

Still have questions about what to expect from a branding session? My inbox is always open! Go ahead, reach out.

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*Due to the additional time and editing process styled food photography demands, if you request food photography during your session, we will need to extend our session. You will be billed for product photography per dish, due prior to receiving your images.