What Is Personal Branding Photography, and Do You Need It?
If you have a business, personal branding photography is for you. it’s as Simple as that.
And it’s not only about a headshot, or nice photo of your workspace either. It's about telling the story of who you are, what you do and what you sell, whether that's a product or a service
Done well, personal branding photography really engages your audience. It tells a story about the other layers of who you are. And that doesn't mean sharing incredibly personal details about your life. It just means letting a bit more of you come through.
This is exactly what I focus on with my Brand Story Package, a full personal branding photography and video experience built around telling your story properly.
Personal branding photography isn't just a headshot, it's the everyday moments that show who you are and what you do. Bea Bobbin from Hello Space - Home organiser based in Canberra.
Table of Contents
It's the "you" part, not just the photos
Take my role as a personal brand photographer and videographer. Even in my own niche of women in business, there are probably hundreds of brand photographers offering the same surface-level service. So what makes me stand out from someone else? It's me. Sure, it's also the style of photography people connect with, but mostly it's the person behind it.
Like, take me for example. In almost all my visuals you'll see me smiling with teeth, often laughing, because that's genuinely how I am in real life. I'm usually wearing something in an earthy tone, not much makeup on, I like to keep things simple. More often than not there's greenery in the shot, an indoor plant, or I'm outside, or there's wood somewhere, mostly natural materials. Lots of light too, the photos or videos are quite bright - because I am a light lover (naturally with what I do!).
All these little things tell my potential clients so much about me, without me having to say a word. And what I'm actually doing in the shots matters too, cooking in the kitchen, in the garden, out in nature, these give people more clues as to what I'm like and what my values are.
But for you, maybe you're quieter, don't smile with your teeth, you love dark moody interiors and your business is more corporate, so you'd have way less light and greenery in the frame and that's exactly the point. You don't do "me" and what I like. We do you. We shape the shoot around your style, your personality, your product or service, your interests, all of it.
Whatever it is you do, whether you're a consultant, a hairdresser, a landscape designer, an artist, there are so many people doing what you do. What makes you stand out is what I’m seeking out when capturing a personal brand shoot
This is me, film camera in hand, surrounded by the plants and natural light I love. It’s these little details that tell you who you’re working with.
Left - Me cutting strawberries with my boy, and right - in the garden with my mum under the fig tree. These are the moments that make up who I am outside of work too.
You need both professional shots and your own phone photos
I'm a big advocate for taking your own photos on your phone too. It's not either/or, both are needed. Most of us can only afford a proper shoot once a year, maybe every few years, and that's when you need those high-level, professional images that represent who you are and have you looking your best. But in the gaps between shoots, you need to be capturing your own content too. It doesn't have to be as high-end, but having those skills matters. It's a layered approach. This is the exact balance I aim for in my Brand Story Package.
Where you'd actually use personal branding photos
There are so many layers to this. Think:
Business profiles on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube
Speaking engagements or events you're hosting, online or in person
Workshops or online courses
Business cards or flyers
PR, magazine or newspaper features
Email newsletters, yours or someone else's
Social media across Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Substack
And most importantly, your website. That's where the high-level, beautiful storytelling shots really come to shine. Sometimes the photos you take of yourself are great for socials but aren't quite right for the website. Your website is the hero of where this all lands, and everything else follows on from there.
Having a mix of photography and video across your socials, website and marketing gives people more ways to get a feel for you and your business, and that mix just works harder for you than photos alone.
Sahra from Le Sac using her branding photos on her website. The next shot shows how the same imagery carried through to her socials and email newsletter too.
The same photo series from Sahra's Le Sac shoot in the garden, carried through to her email newsletter and her Instagram feed. One shoot, working across every touchpoint.
Do you really need professional photos?
Most small business owners can't afford to book a personal branding photographer every few months, as much as that would be a dream. But I'd say don't let your photos get much older than three years. Especially as women, we change our hair, how we look, our style, pretty regularly. It's nice looking back at old photos, but it matters that when someone meets you, you look like the person they've seen online. Otherwise it's a bit strange turning up somewhere and the person looks a decade older than their photo.
Ask yourself:
Does your online presence actually match the quality of what you deliver?
Have you still got a cropped wedding or friends shot doing double duty as your business pic? (I’ve seen this so many times.)
Are you avoiding putting yourself out there online because you feel so cringe about your photos?
Are your website photos starting to look a bit dated.. are they more like 5-8 years old?
Are you burning hours trying to create content on your phone and still not happy with it? (I also know this feeling well!)
That last one is the big one for me. So many women I know have properly perfected their craft, their offering, but their visuals and branding don't match the calibre of where they're actually at. I think that holds a lot of people back, from raising their prices, from feeling like they're genuinely valuable. There are so many women out there who are brilliant at what they do but just haven't invested in their business branding photography, their logo, their website. That creates a mismatch between what they think they can charge and what they actually can.
Adela, Resin Artist, mid-pour during her residency at Hillcrest Motel Merimbula, and the detail that came from it. Personal branding photography that captures process as much as the person.
Who is this actually for?
Personal branding photography isn't reserved for people turning over hundreds of thousands or big companies. It's for any business owner who wants a photo of what they really look like, on a really good day. Professional, yes, but also warm, engaging, real, honest and authentic. We're not all sitting around in corporate suits.
If that sounds like you, have a look at how I approach this through my personal branding photography and video packages.
Can it help you attract clients?
When someone's work is at a certain level, it's hard for a customer to understand just how good they are unless their personal branding and their assets, website, logo, brand story, are represented well. Having that in place helps people trust you and understand you're worth the price. It helps them picture what it'd be like working with you, and feel like you're on the same wavelength.
Professional photos help you:
Save you hours of trying to piece together your own content
Give you consistency across your socials and website, instead of everything looking a bit patchy
Help you stand out from the other people doing what you do
Make your website feel warmer and more engaging to land on
Build trust with the people looking at your business, before they've even spoken to you
Give you more confidence putting yourself and your business out there
Create a genuinely professional online presence, one that actually matches where you're at
Of course, professional photos and videos alone won't magically increase your sales overnight. But combined with a great website, strong messaging and a clear experience, they make a real difference. When it all lines up, you feel more confident sharing who you are and what you do, more confident in your pricing and positioning. And from the client's side, it builds trust and consistency across your social media and website. If a potential client lands on two similar websites and one feels polished, professional and personal, which one are they going to inquire with?
What makes great branding photography
It's never just a headshot. It's who you are, what you do, how you work, what it's like to work with you, what makes your business different.
That might include working-with-clients shots, behind-the-scenes moments, lifestyle images, your workspace, product or service detail shots, and portraits that show your personality.
I'd take it a step further too. Choose one or two things you're into in your personal life and weave them in. Say you're a psychologist and you love sailing. Include a shot or two of that. It makes for a much more interesting story than just seeing you at your desk or with a client. It tells people more about who you actually are.
You don't need to share really personal details, just choose a few things that genuinely align with who you are in the world. We're dimensional people, and that's what sets you apart from someone else. There's a clear line you can draw around boundaries between who you are at work and who you are at home, but you can still let a bit of that through. Think about what inspires your work too. Do you do extra training? Read certain books? Where do you go for space or new ideas? Who do you love working alongside? All of that can shape a shoot that's got a lot more layers to it and bonus when there’s more of a story to tell it doesn’t feel like the whole image is only about you!
Lily Johanna sketching on location on the Sapphire Coast, this is where the idea starts.
And here's where it ends up, back in the studio, turning that same coastal inspiration into paint.
Is it worth it?
One branding session can give you months of content for your business. With my Brand Story Package, you get 100 photographs and 30 short video clips, easily six months' worth of content, possibly a full year if you pepper it in with your own material and previous shoots. It takes the stress out of constantly needing another photo or video to tell your story. If you've got a rough idea of where you want your business to go over the next six months, having content that aligns with that is so useful. When you're talking about different topics on your blog, in a YouTube interview, an Instagram story or post, you've got the images to back up what you're saying.
A glimpse into a full Brand Story Package shoot with the team from Reins to Resilience, from working with the horses through to the everyday moments in between. [See the full shoot here.]
Final thoughts
Your clients aren't just buying a product or service, they're buying into you, your personality, and your business. Personal branding photography helps bridge the gap between meeting someone online and meeting them in person.
It's an investment, and I get that it can feel like a lot of money. But compare it to running a bricks-and-mortar store. Having your online presence look as professionally beautiful, authentic and true to you as possible means that's the first impression you make, and you don't get another go at that. You wouldn't walk into a shop that looked like a mess, with nothing changed since the eighties and everything half falling off the racks. That's the same first impression people get of you online, whether that's LinkedIn, Instagram or your website. There needs to be a level of "this person knows what they're talking about," and in an online world, that comes through your visual presence.
If you've been waiting until your business is bigger, busier or more successful to invest in proper photos, here's your reminder that your business deserves to be seen right now. And honestly, after 20-plus years doing this, I'll say it straight: that "someday" often just doesn't come. In another six months you might've put on a kilo rather than lost one. If we keep waiting for the day we look perfect, our business suffers and our clients never get to meet the full potential of what we actually have to offer the world.
If you're ready to stop waiting, have a look at my Brand Story Package and let's talk about telling your story properly.
Thanks for reading!
Honey x
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No, and that's the biggest misconception. A headshot answers "what do you look like?" Personal branding photography goes further and answers "who are you, what do you do, and can I trust you?" It's not one photo, it's a whole collection that tells your story.
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Yes, and honestly this is exactly when it matters most. It's not reserved for six-figure businesses or big companies. It's for any business owner who wants to show up professionally and consistently online, whether you're just starting out or you've been at it for years.
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You can, and you should be doing both. It's not either/or. In between proper shoots, your own phone content keeps things fresh and real. But every business needs that high-level professional imagery too, the kind that really represents you and has you looking your best, because most of us can only afford a proper shoot once a year or so.
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I'd say don't let them get much older than three years. We change our hair, our style, how we look, pretty regularly, especially as women. If someone's followed you online and then meets you in person and you look a decade older than your photos, that's a strange first impression to give.
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Photos alone won't magically increase your sales overnight, I won't pretend they do. But combined with a strong website, clear messaging and a good client experience, they make a real difference. They help you feel more confident in your pricing and your positioning, and they help your audience trust you before they've even spoken to you. You can see exactly what's included in my Brand Story Package.
