The complete guide to brand photography and brand films in Sussex

Your brand is how other people perceive your business.
Branding is the process of shaping that perception.

Brand photography is the art of depicting a brand, through the medium of photography.

It is creating imagery which 'shows off' a brand to potential customers. Brand photography tells the story of who you are, what you do and why you do it, and in doing so it will attract your ideal clients and make you sales. It encompasses images of you, your team, your products, your workplace and in some instances even your clients. It demonstrates your values, personality and purpose… everything that builds a visual identity of your brand. Just as you’d want to make a good impression in a face-to-face client meeting, brand photography can step in to make that immediate and lasting impression on potential clients online or in print.

A professional brand photography session provides an invaluable set of professional images ready to use on your website, in marketing materials, blog posts and in social media. Some photographers also now include video in their business photography offering, giving you another excellent tool that can be used to establish the visual identity of your brand!

Have you ever noticed that people love hearing about what’s going on behind the scenes of a project, a business or a brand? Showing the faces behind the content, hearing stories about ideas, challenges or personal adventures always gets a ton of engagement – usually more than any article about a new feature, a new service or offer. That’s because people are curious. We love hearing stories about what’s going on beyond what we see.

 This is where small businesses and solopreneurs can really shine. Making your business personable creates a connection with your audience. It’s a way to start genuine conversations that can benefit selling without having to actually sell your product.

And this is where brand photos and films come in. They are an opportunity to show rather than tell and to give a peek behind the scenes of who you are and what your business is about and make you look like the professional you are. They give the opportunity for you to tell the story of what you do, why you do it and how you do it which will then attract your ideal clients and help you sell.

Brand Photography includes portraits and headshots of you and anyone else that’s part of your business as well as anything you do. That can be showing off your products or services or your workplace. These photos (as well as a film) help you make a positive and lasting impression on your audience or potential clients.

A Personal Branding Photography Session is an invaluable asset for your business. The set of images you’ll receive from your photographer can be used across all your online profiles and websites as well as in any online and offline marketing matertials. They can even be used in your premises to give your space a touch or personality.

The name literally ‘headshots” describes what the subject of it is: A headshot is a photo of a person showing their head and shoulders. Headshots are usually what you would use on LinkedIn or other social media profiles. It’s a portrait of a single person. That’s it.

A brand photo shoot is more than just a headshot session. This is where you can show your workspace, how you do the thing you do, your processes, your uniqueness and how you work with your own customers and clients. It’s a peek behind the scenes of your business. 

The clearest distinction between headshots and personal branding photos is the amount of the subject shown in the photo as well as variety of images. So based on what you want to have captured, where and how you’d like to use the images as well as your budget, one or the other will be a better fit.

 It’s very common that when you ask a photographer for “headshots” but actually you’re hoping to get a number of full-length body shots or a number of different settings and location. That’s where a chat and pre-interview for each brand photo session comes into play to make sure yiou get the service that you actually need.

 If you’d like to read more in-depth about the specifics of each session, you can do that in my article Personal Branding vs Headshot Photography – What’s the difference?

A brand film can have many names: Promo video. About me/us video. Behind the scenes video. Just to name a few.

It all means the same and only differs in the key message it carries. But in its essence, it’s job is to introduce a brand or business and/or their products or services. And all that in a way that is appealing to the business’s audience.


The general notion is that:

• Video boosts conversions and sales
• Video builds trust and credibility
• Video shows great ROI
• Google loves videos
• Video engages and encourages social shares

If you’re into stats and facts, Wyzowl has published a beautiful statistics overview for 2023 for you to read.

And if you’re still not convinced whether a brand film is right for you, if you look around in your area and your profession, you might notice that there are actually not a lot of great promo videos out there. So if you have one for your own business, you’ll be one step ahead of your competition.

Small businesses are all about a personal connection to their audience and customers. It’s about the person behind the brand. And the reason behind the business. And it’s about the value your product, service or business can give to your audience. And what better way to showcase all of that than using your voice, your face and your your personality on video?


If you’d like some more info on this topic, have a read of my article “How to make your small business stand out with a brand film”.

Well, yes you can - to some extend.
But to present yourself as a professional brand, you need the visuals to go with that. While a few personal photos, selfies and snapshots can help you be relatable to your own clients, it’s not advised to rely on only those.

If you want to be perceived as a professional that others should invest in, you need to look the part. That is through consistent and coherent imagery wherever people come in contact with you and your brand. Taking these photos yourself is hard even for a professional photographer. So if photography is not your strength, I’d advise you to hire someone to help you with this.

A professional photographer will know how to portray you and your business in a way that represents you, puts you in the best light AND helps you connect with your audience.

Again, you can - but I wouldn’t advise it. Unless you know how to film and edit as well as tell a story in your film that your audience will really engage with.
In times of TikTok and Instagram reels, it’s easy to produce your own video content on the fly but those are made for a very specific platform.

A brand film usually has a very specific goal: to sell something. That can be done in a number of different ways but it always comes down to telling the right story for the desired outcome. And there’s a lot you can do wrong if you want to do it all by yourself.

Imagine spending hours on a film that than tanks because it’s long, boring, the sound isn’t great or you realise you had your dirty laundry piled up behind you the whole time. That’s not the professional impression you want to make.

So unless you really know what you’re doing, I’d suggest hiring someone to at least do some of the brand film for and with you.

While running your own business seems like you’ll have to do everything yourself, the reality is that you can hire help for anything that’s not in your zone of genius. If you work with the right person, the investment will come back tenfold.

I mean, you’re not alone here!
Being in front of a camera is daunting and intimidating to most people. That just gets worse if you throw video and audio in the mix.
And actually there’s no way around it. Sometimes you have to do uncomfortable things. It doesn’t mean you’ll be wincing your way through a photo of filming session if you approach it with the right mindset and have the right photographer on your side to support you!

If you keep in mind WHY you do this, it might help you dealing with it. Having your photos taken professionally is a chance for you to show the world who you are as a business owner. 

It’s easy enough to tell you to be confident when showing up to your audience - it’s a different story when you have the pictures that are full of personality and radiate confidence because you feel good about yourself, to go with your messages.

It’s my speciality to calm nervous and camera shy people down and create images that they love. Not because they look perfect but because they recognise themselves in them AND feel beautiful and confident in them. It’s so important to find someone you can trust with this because it can be a very personal and vulnerable experience.

When it comes to video, same things as above apply. You might just have to be a bit braver even. However I’ve never worked with anybody who watched their final brand film shouting “I hate this, this is terrible and I can’t use it”. Quite the opposite actually!

What kind of photos you need, depends on your business and your requirements.

Are you a product or service-based business? Do you make things by hand, have in-person contact with your clients or customers or is all your work done from your computer?
And also, where would you like to use those images and what will they be for?


All of this needs to be discussed and established before you got have your photo session. 

But as a quick overview, these are the most typical photos you would want to get for your business to have a nice bank of images to use for different situations:

• a small variety of headshots
• some casual/lifestyle portraits (less business, more personal)
• you at work
• details of your tools you use
  
• your products if applicable
• your workplace/office/shop
• you interacting with your clients or customers
• your team if applicable
• a few personal photos that relate to you outside of business
• wide shots that can be used as a hero image on your website
  

I actually compiled a list of the 7 most useful photos your business might need for a more in-depth look into what those images could look like

The best brand photos are those where it’s clear what the business does for their customers while having lots of personality. The last thing you want is an image that could be from a stock photo library!
These photos should capture the essence of the brand as well as the people behind it. We want to demonstrate your values and create a bank of images that compliment each other and work like a puzzle to create a bigger picture.

Your photos should be unique to you, creative and stand out from your competitors.

Having fun during your photo session also contributes to how good the photos will look in the end. That’s why it’s important to find the right photographer for you - someone who can make you feel at ease, calm and good about yourself. It will absolutely be visible - maybe not to others but to you - if you felt uncomfortable during your photo session.

A great brand photo is one that represents you and your business, one you LOVE and can’t stop using online because you’re so proud of it.

The goal of any video you want to produce for your business should be visibility and engagement for your business or brand which then should lead to more sales.

A good video can be very subjective. Everybody has a different style in topics, approaches and visuals they enjoy so there’s not really a template to follow to create a video that will be “good” in everyone’s eyes. However, judging whether a video is successful, is a lot easier to do.


A successful video is one that entertains your audience and gets you the result you’re hoping for. Which means you need to know what you want the outcome to be. For example:

• Visit your website for more information
• Book a call
• Buy your product
• Share the video
• Sign up to your mailing list etc.

Here's an example of a Brand Film for a British Artisan Beauty Brand Pennies & Feathers.

Finding the right photographer can involve quite a bit of research. Photography is a competitive profession and it’s easy enough to hire the person that’s closest to you or that has been recommended by a friend.
While personal recommendations are great, I really urge you to do your own research. Not everyone gets on with the same person and putting yourself in a vulnerable and intimidating situation like in front of a camera requires a lot of trust!

Take your time with the research. Message photographers you like the look of, follow them on social media or subscribe to emails of those you find online. Look for reviews and testimonials and follow their work to see how consistent they are with what they produce.

Brand photography can get expensive so before you invest, make sure the decision feels right.

What you’re looking for in a photographer:

• Someone who asks questions to learn more about your business to create images that represent you
• Someone who “feel right”, someone with a similar outlook, views, values. It might sound overkill to look for someone who’s that aligned with you but remember you’ll be spending a few hours with this person and want to make sure you’ll feel comfortable in their company. If you don’t chances are it will show in your photos.
• Someone who is willing to share a full gallery with you of previous clients so you can see how consistent their work is

Once you’ve invested in a full branding session to cover many aspects of your business and personality, you should be set for quite a while (at least a year).
But if you changed your business or your appearance drastically, you should probably look into getting some new photos that will represent what you offer and what you look like.

Once you’ve got a good bank of photos you can use and recycle over time, it might be worth booking a headshot session evebr 12-18 months for updated portraits that you can use across your social channels or for PR purposes.

There’s also the option to hire someone to take seasonal photos for you that can be used at specific times of the year. Whether that’s due to products and services that are only available at certain times of the year or to create headshots that fit a specific time of the year which you can then keep using for a few years interchangeably.

Brand Photography and Brand Films are an investment. That’s basically another way of saying “it can get expensive”. However there’s no rule as to how little or much you should or will be spending, it completely depends on your requirements and what your photographer charges.

There are a few indicators that will impact the price:

• Your location
• Where your session will take place (i.e. are you planning to use a rented space or your home)
• The experience of the photographer and their quality of work
• What you’ll receive (i.e. a handful pf photos, a full gallery, photo and a film, just a film etc)
• Your own budget (are you able to spend a little or a lot - based on that you’ll choose your photographer and the service)
• How much time will the photographer invest in your session (long extensive is the planning of your shoot, how long is the session, will there be any support after you’ve received your images etc)

But to not leave you with any numbers, Brand Photography can cost as little as £250 and upwards of £2000. It absolutely depends on what you need and who you’ll end up working with.

Most photographers offer a variety of packages or session types to accommodate different budgets. To find out more about what your favourite photographer charges, I’d recommend getting in touch to have a chat where they can walk you through your options. Not always are all prices disclosed on a photographer’s website so before you assume anything, ask them.

Since i’m not a lawyer, I won’t give any legal advice here but just keep in mind that there all photographs are subject to copyright law. So whoever has the ‘right’ to a photograph, owns the copyright which means they are allowed to decide what the image can be used for and who is allowed to use it.
Photos that a photographer took for you, are still owned by the photographer.

You can buy the copyright of those images but that would cost an insane amount of money. Instead, most photographers, give their clients a usage license - either a personal or commercial one. That license dictates what you can do with these image.

If you’re unsure how your photographers handles that, definitely ask them. I personally give my small business clients a commercial license that allows them use these the images to promote their business but they can’t sell them on to anybody else. They also aren’t allowed to edit thse photos - that includes Instagram filters (the images are already edited and don’t need another filter) but for the most part excludes cropping.

But just because your photographers own the copyright to your photos, doens’t give them the right to use them for their own marketing purposes if you didn’t agree to that. In my client questionnaire, I let you decide whether you are ok with me using your images on my channels.
However, if you plan to use them online yourself to promote your business, it wouldn’t make sense to not give your photographer the same opportunity. Sharing the work a photographer created for you is how they gain new business and can be found by other people like you.

When you hire a photographer, they’ll most likely ask you to sign their terms and conditions or a contract. This is there to protect both parties and usually includes things like payment terms, delivery processes, cancellation policy and other responsibilities. Some contracts also include the terms of image usage licences and model releases.

So if a photographer doesn’t ask you to sign anything, ask for a written agreement! It’s there to protect you as well as your photographer.

The planning stage is where it all comes together. The questions you’ve asked yourself so far will play a big part in planning what your session should include and what you want to get out of it.

During this stage, we’ll look at your goals and the purpose of your session. Do you need new headshots because you haven’t had photos taken in 10 years, are you working from a new space you’d like to show off or would you like to introduce a new service?

In this stage, your photographer will go over a variety of topics and questions with you such as:

• What does your business stand for?
• What makes you different from your competition
• What is your personal style?
• What questions does your audience need answering?
• Do you need anybody to join you for your session to be your client or do you have products that need to be photographed?
• What locations you’d like to use and how long it takes to travel to them.
• What are your brand colours and how do they need to be incorporated into your session?
• How and where are you planning on using your images?
• What’s your main marketing channel?

Having all of this information (and more) helps your photographer to create a plan or make suggestions to get you the images that you’ll need.

The way this planning will be done is different for every photographer. Some will schedule a call or video call to go through everything, others may handle that via email or in person over coffee or lunch.

Some photographers will then give you a session plan that lists out all your locations, timings and outfits. So if this is something you’d like, find someone who does offer this kind of process or ask your photographer if they can do that for you.
Personally, I don’t plan my session quite as meticulously. I provide a loose plan with the order of locations but make sure that wherever we go, there’s an option to change into a different outfit if needed.

There’s a lot that goes into planning a brand film - much more than preparing for a personal branding photo shoot.

The reason is that video production takes more time and needs a lot more preparation. Everything that is being filmed needs to have a reason and needs to work with the story that’s being told. That’s why before creating a brand film, I send out 2 separate questionnaires to my clients.

It’s important to understand not just what you and your brand are about but most importantly what the message of your film is supposed to be. It’s impossible to cover your whole business with a single film so the main objective and key messages need to be super clear. It takes time to establish that.

If we have a clear vision of what this film needs to do for you, the filming itself as well as the editing process will be much easier and quicker. It will also result in a piece of content that will have the desired impact which is the most important thing. You don’t want to spend upwards of £1000 for something that doesn’t help you the way you need.

If you want your photos to represent you and your business, it’s important that the location you choose for your images plays into that as well.

A full branding session usually takes upwards of 2 hours. Depending on your photographer, it can last up to a whole day even. My most-booked branding session is about 2 hours long which is enough to create some variety in what we can shoot and give you a database of images that will last you at least a year, if not longer.

Typical go-to places for a brand photoshoot are your office, workspace or workshop if you have one. Alternatively, a co-working space or coffee shop works too - but if you can choose where to go, I’d always recommend a place with good light and lots of space. Your favourite coffee shop might not always be the one that looks best on photos so be aware of that.

If most of your session is supposed to happen outside, it might be worth having a backup plan - either an alternative location or a different date if indoors would not fit your brief at all. We are after all in the UK with a very unpredictable climate!

What you should wear is probably the most asked question for ever photographer. And actaully there’s no single right answer to this.

What you wear is entirly personal. It comes down to your own style and what suits you. But also who your audience is and how yous erve them. A jewelry designer can get away with photos in dungarees while someone running a small agency probably has a different image to represent to smart casual or businessy outfits would suit them better.

It’s importnat that your clothes fit well - not too tight, not too baggy. They should feel like you and support yoru personality rather than distract.

I’d avoid big brand logos (unless it’s your own - but even then, go easy on them) and big, busy patterns as they can distract from who you are. 

Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing your outfits:

• Black can look flattering but can also look a bit flat sometimes
• Bright block colours are ideal for colourful accents
• If clothes need to be ironed, make sure you do - creases can’t always be photoshopped
• Bring accessories like scarfs, jackets, cardigans or a few different pairs of shoes to mix up outfits

Want to learn more about how to dress and waht to wear? Here's a much more detailed article for you.

I get it, we’re in the UK… Not quite the place where the weather is very predictable. That’s ok though.
If we’ve planned your session indoors, you’ll be fine anyway. Just make sure you bring an umbrella if it looks like rain to avoid getting soaked on the way.

If we had planned your session outdoors only and we hadn’t sorted a backup plan, we’d have to decide on the day whether we should go ahead or not. A bit of drizzle might be fine. Heavy rain pours will not. It won’t be fun for either of us and I really don’t want you to only have photos of you completely drenched. So weather-related postponements can happen and I’ll make sure we reschedule to a time that works for both of us and the weather gods!

Whether this relates to a Brand Film or Personal Branding Photography, you need to be clear what your message and your goal is before you start shooting.

For video, what is it that you want people to walk away with? Which action should they take? How do you want them to feel after seeing your video? What are the key points that need to be covered to reach your ideal client and make them say “This is what I need. How can I get this?”

For photos, this is a little more subtle but the images need to be a visual representation of what you do for your clients. Looking at your photos, your ideal client should easily recognise what you do and whether they want to find out more about that.

Make sure that you and your photographer have very clearly arranged a meeting point and time. Depending on your schedule, there might be time to start off with a coffee and a chat to calm your nerves if needed or discuss a game plan if some things have been left in the air.

Your photographer should be able to help you feel calm, relaxed and confident and adjust to you to get the best images for your business.

Since you will have spent quite a bit of time preparing for this day, the session itself should run pretty smoothly with both parties knowing what’s going to happen and how to move through the day.

Make sure that you keep talking to your photographer to let them know if you feel uncomfortable, don’t like any suggestions, need more guidance or want to change anything like location or outfits. While you might have a plan, there’s always an option to change things up so communicate what you want and need!

The best images happen when you feel at ease and comfortable. You’ll be able to see if you felt good during the shoot. So try and enjoy the day and this experience. It’s a big step to invest the time, energy and money into these photos.

Every photographer handles this part of the process differently but in every case, teh photos from your session will be hand-edited to look their best for you.

I personally try to deliver images no later than 3 weeks after your session. In quieter seasons than can even be as quick as 1 week waiting time for you. Generally, you’ll be looking at a few days to a few weeks, depending on how your photographer.

If you’ve booked a video shoot alongside brand photos, this can take quite a bit longer than receiving your videos. Video editing requires much more work and it’ll usually be more of a collaboration to edit your film to make sure you receive a brand film that really resonates and does the work it’s supposed to do, depending on what your goal and objective was.

Depending on how much I need from you to finish your film - photos, video clips, graphics and brand style guides - this process can take several weeks or longer. Make sure you speak to your photographer about your timeline for this project to avoid conflict or miscommunications.

Your photos will always be delivered via a personal online gallery that only you will get access to. This gallery doubles as my cloud backup for client files which means it’s a safe storage space and unless I close my business, I will probably keep your gallery archived forever.

However, I would strongly advise that you download all your images (or all images that are part of your package) to your own personal hard drive and back them up on at least one other online or offline space. That could be your Dropbox, Google drive or any other cloud backup you prefer to use.

If for some reason you lose access to your photos after having downloaded them, please do reach out to me - I can unarchive your gallery if it’s archived or make sure I provide you with a link to get your images back. But please note that in any instance, it’s in your best interest to keep your photos safe!

Once you get your new photos delivered from your photographer, have fun sharing them anywhere and everywhere. So often I can’t see my client’s images online for months after they had their session. It's usually a combination of not having enough time to update their website and socials and the fear of showing up and being visible. So I sympathise.

But if you don’t know where to start, here are a few pointers for you:

Use your images for maximum impact:

• use the same headshot for all your social channels - make sure your audience can recognise you across channels
• Add a nice headshot on your website’s “About me” page
  
• Behind-the-scenes photos should be placed all over your website: describe your process and services, products
• Get creative with Canva or Adobe Express and use your photos for graphics as cutouts or alongside a quote/some info

Got a brand film done? Here’s how you use this content for maximum impact:

• Put your Brand Film on YouTube - use SEO and keywords, along with a good thumbnail
• Embed the YouTube video on website
• Share it on Socials
• Use short clips of your edited video to use in reels (if you have the license to do that). Or ask your photographer for social-ready re-edits

The reason why I encourage you blast your content and yoru face online is that as a small business, you have the advantage of building a personal relationship with your clients, customers and audience by being visible as a person. It can be scary but know that those people who want to work with you, won’t judge you for showing up. They’ll actually love it!

There’s a beautiful mix of communities and businesses here in Sussex, supporting each other in lots of different ways. Let me share some local businesses that might be of interest to you.

One of my favourite female business network is called Found & Flourish. I wouldn’t be where I am without them. The founder Lara lives here in my town and over the past years, we’ve become friends as well as each other’s cheerleaders. If you haven’t got a network yet, do have a look at Lara’s amazing community.
Btw, members are not just from Sussex but nationwide as well as some living in Europe.

Another fantastic community I joined this year is called Being Freelance run by Steve Folland who also has a podcast under the same name. Members are from all over the UK and cover all sort of businesses.

And if you’re a parent running your own business, I can whole-heartedly recommend Doing it for the Kids. DIFTK is run by Graphic Designer Frankie Tortora and there’s a very entertaining podcast run by Franki and Steve (from Being Freelance) that isn’t just helpful to parents actually.

Of course, for a more personal connection, local groups are super helpful. Here in Sussex, I can recommend Women in Business Worthing and the Worthing & Adur Chambers of Commerce - both are a great resource to connect with other business owners.

While Worthing is a lot smaller than Brighton where co-working has been around for a few years with places like Platf9rm, Projects and PlusX, Worthing has some options as well. I wrote a blogpost about co-working in Worthing last year. Sadly the smaller spaces have now closed but there is still Rooms, Freedom Works and of course the library.

Most cafe’s today offer free wifi and are a great option to work from for a few hours to get out of the house. My favourite one to work from in Worthing is the Laughing Dog.

In Brighton&Hove, the choice is much bigger and I’d in the past frequent places like Nowhere Man, Salvage Cafe, Gail’s or any of the cute places in central Brighton.

Even smaller towns and villages in Sussex have places these days where you can have coffee or lunch while working for a few hours. If you’re unsure whether your local coffee shop would be ok with that, either just ask them or check their Instagram - often you’ll be able to see them share related content that could give you in indication of whether they can accommodate people working from their premises.

Some of my current faves in Worthing are Laughing Dog, Malt, Blend and Tamp&Grind (Lancing)

While business cards might not be as important as they used to be, as a business there’s always something that needs to be printed. Vouchers, brochures, leaflets, magazines… Sometimes it’s just nice to stand out with a piece of information that you can hand someone rather than just send them to your Instagram. Obviously, as a photographer, I’m a big fan of printed marketing material.

Over the past few years, I tried a variety of printers. Here are a few I can absolutely recommend:

Stampa. Based in Brighton so excellent if I need anything printed quickly that I can go and pick up. Great quality and excellent customer service.

Mixam. This is an online supplier so everything I print with them has to be shipped. However, production time is really fast, the quality of any of their products is spot on and it’s fantastic value for money. I used them to print small flyers, business cards, client magazines and vouchers.

Print.work. Another one that offers a lot of the standard products but also a few things that I hadn’t found elsewhere before. I used them for my wall calendars in the past.


Print.Inc is a new supplier I only found this year. I needed a roller banner and I needed it to be affordable. Print.Inc got recommended to me and they’re really great at looking after their customers plus offered a really good deal on a product I needed for a business fair. Would 100% recommend. They offer loads of printed items including fun merch.

As a photographer, there’s only so much I can do to support you in your business. Photos can only contribute to your success if other areas are taken care of too. So here’s a list of fantastic service providers that work with a variety of small businesses.

Find your match below!