In our last episode, we closed out typography. Remember to choose your font with the same care you’d give your logo, and never, ever touch that font drop-down menu. You know what could happen.
Today, a new chapter. Photography.
This is going to be a chunky episode. I don’t want you to think that I’m planning a speedrun through something as important as your headshots. Not at all. I want to keep all this important information together in one episode.
I’m not a photographer, but as a designer, I’m the person who has to deal with, and often fix, bad photography. Guiding you towards professional photography might seem like an act of self-preservation. Believe me, you have no idea what kind of advantage you are giving yourself by taking this route.
So let’s get started.
We recently designed a website for a professional photographer. Hundreds of high-quality images, all mine to work with. I felt like a kid in a Skittles downpour. Working with nothing but genuinely professional photography is about as rare as a midnight solar eclipse.
And that project stands in stark contrast to most of my other clients. It always surprises me how little companies are willing to invest in photography. Now, I’m not the guy who puts you under the studio lights and makes you look good, but I am the guy who has to perform some dark ritual to make a phone snap taken at an office party look like it belongs on a $1,000,000 website.
There’s an old expression. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. But in design terms, you absolutely can. I’ve done it more times than I care to remember. With the right filters, careful cropping, and a considerable amount of patience, I can make a mediocre photograph look passable, presentable, almost good. Never great. Never the kind of image that stops someone mid-scroll and makes them think, yes, I want to work with these people.
A great designer working with bad photography is an architect asked to build a mansion on a swamp. The craftsmanship can be extraordinary. The foundation is still gonna sink.
So, do you really need professional photography? Yes, you absolutely do. If you want to look like a professional, you need professional photography. Photoshop can’t make you look good if you don’t have a good-looking photo to start with.
Clients often believe that great design can rescue bad photography. It cannot. A beautiful frame around an ugly image is still an ugly image. And just for the record, I’m not calling you ugly. As a practicing bridge troll myself, I’ll never call a client ugly. But if a professional photographer can make me look semi-presentable, imagine what they could do for you.
Every designer knows that moment. The email arrives, the folder full of client images attached. You open it, and there they are. Blurry, dark, badly cropped, shot on a phone from 2014. The CEO photographed from below like a Bond villain. You smile, you say nothing, you open up Photoshop, and you begin the impossible.
But when the photography is extraordinary, the design can be exceptional. Beautiful images give a designer permission to be bold, to strip back, to let the photo speak for itself instead of trying to distract from it.
And professional photography doesn’t mean suit and tie. Your photography, outfit, haircut, and even your poses should reflect your brand voice and align with your customer base. If you sell skateboards, I’m not going to ask you to wear a tweed three-piece. You work in the financial investment circuit; please don’t wear board shorts.
Invest in professional photography. Your client expects nothing less.
Question: Can you use your phone to take photos?
No. For a quick behind-the-scenes social media story, maybe at a push. But for a website, for your sales brochure, your ad campaigns, absolutely not. The camera knows. Your customer knows.
Question: Do professional headshots really make a difference?
Today, more than ever. In a digital-first marketplace, your headshot is often the very first introduction to a prospect. Too many professionals are walking around with headshots taken at a Christmas party in 2019. Or worse, no headshots at all. A gray silhouette where a human being should be.
People buy from people. And before anyone decides whether they trust you enough to buy from you, they look at your face. That judgment happens in milliseconds. On LinkedIn, on your website, on your email signature, anywhere your name appears.
Your headshot is your personal brand logo. Treat it accordingly.
Question: Is the million-dollar headshot a real thing?
I have the privilege of working with Jeff Payne, a genuine marketing genius, a man who changes companies’ fortunes. Jeff has written extensively about the very real million-dollar headshot phenomenon, citing real examples of client fortunes skyrocketing off the back of professional photography.
And it’s not just theory. It’s a portrait so clean, confident, and approachable that it immediately qualifies you to pitch for high-value contracts and attract premium clients without your credibility ever being questioned.
I designed a whole section on this topic for that photographer’s website. The Million Dollar Club, we called it. Not just galleries of pretty portraits, but real stories from real clients about switching to professional headshots and watching it transform their businesses, in some cases generating millions in new sales and contracts.
A lot of people still think of a headshot as vanity. It isn’t. It’s smart strategy, and it’s an investment.
Okay, a few quick technical questions before we wrap this chapter.
Question: What’s wrong with stock photography?
Stock photography reads as generic, and people can feel it. Show a customer a stock photo of models shaking hands in perfect boardrooms, and their authenticity radar goes off immediately. They know that’s not your real team. Stock can bridge a gap early on. In the long term, it’ll cost you trust.
Question: Can you use AI-generated images for your headshots?
Please don’t. Yes, AI can take a crappy phone image and turn it into a so-called pro headshot, but they are no good. One thing people immediately notice about AI headshots is that they are soulless. There’s no real person behind the eyes, and your customer will feel that.
Question: What resolution do I really need for my photographs?
Bigger is always better. Print applications need 300 dpi minimum. Digital only needs 72, maybe 144. Handing your designer a small, low-res image and then asking them to make it work in print is like asking someone to unring a bell. It cannot be done.
Now, let’s wrap this all up.
Photography is the one part of your brand you really cannot fix in post-production. You can tweak color, you can swap a font, you can rewrite a headline. But a bad photograph is a bad photograph. No amount of Photoshop filters or clever cropping turns it into something it isn’t.
Your photographer and your designer should be working from the exact same brief, the same mood board, the same understanding of your brand’s personality, and the same understanding of what your customers actually expect to see. When those two are aligned, the results are extraordinary.
I’ve seen it. I’ve dealt with it. That moment when a folder of images comes back and every single one is exactly right. The composition, the light, the confidence in every frame. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.
Before we wrap, a quick one. There’s some exciting news coming soon about the book this podcast is based on, The Business Owner’s Guide to Branding. So keep an eye out for an update.
Next episode, we start a brand new chapter, and we take a very deep dive into your most valuable brand asset, your website.
That’s it for this episode of BRAND:NEW.
I am not a photographer. As a designer, I am the person who has to deal with, and more often fix, bad photography. Pointing you toward a professional might look like an act of self-preservation on my part. Believe me, you have no idea what kind of advantage you hand yourself by taking that route.
A Kid in a Skittles Downpour
I recently designed a website for a professional photographer. Hundreds of high-quality images, all mine to work with. I felt like a kid in a Skittles downpour. Working with nothing but genuinely professional photography is about as rare as a midnight solar eclipse.
That project stands in stark contrast to most of my other clients. It always surprises me how little companies are willing to invest in photography. I am not the person who puts you under studio lights and makes you look good. I am the person who has to perform some kind of dark ritual, trying to make a phone snap taken at an office party look like it belongs on a million-dollar website.
It always surprises me how little companies are willing to invest in photography.
You Can Put Lipstick on a Pig
There is an old expression. You cannot put lipstick on a pig. In design terms, you absolutely can. I have done it more times than I care to remember. With the right filters, careful cropping, and considerable patience, I can make a mediocre photograph look passable.
Presentable.
Almost good.
Never great.
Never the kind of image that stops someone mid-scroll and makes them think, yes, I want to work with these people.
A great designer working with bad photography is an architect asked to build a mansion on a swamp. The craftsmanship can be extraordinary. The foundation is still going to sink.
A great designer working with bad photography is an architect asked to build a mansion on a swamp.
So Do You Really Need Professional Photography?
Yes. You absolutely do. If you want to look like a professional, you need professional photography. Photoshop cannot make you look good if you do not have a good-looking photo to start with.
Clients often believe that great design can rescue bad photography. It cannot. A beautiful frame around an ugly image is still an ugly image. And just for the record, I am not calling you ugly. As a practicing bridge troll myself, I will never call a client ugly. But if a professional photographer can make me look semi-presentable, imagine what they could do for you.
Every designer knows that moment. The email arrives, the folder full of client images attached. You open it, and there they are. Blurry, dark, badly cropped, shot on a phone from 2014. The CEO photographed from below like a Bond villain. You smile, you say nothing, you open up Photoshop, and you begin the impossible.
You smile, you say nothing, you open up Photoshop, and you begin the impossible.
When the Photography Is Extraordinary
When the photography is extraordinary, the design can be exceptional. Beautiful images give a designer permission to be bold, to strip back, to let the photo speak for itself instead of trying to distract from it.
Professional photography does not mean suit and tie. Your photography, your hair and haircut, even your poses, should reflect your brand voice and align with your customer base. If you sell skateboards, I am not going to ask you to wear a tweed three-piece. If you work in the financial investment circuit, please do not wear board shorts.
Invest in professional photography. Your client expects nothing less.
Invest in professional photography. Your client expects nothing less.
Can You Use Your Phone to Take Photos?
No.
For a quick behind-the-scenes social media story, maybe at a push. But for a website, for your sales brochure, for your ad campaigns, absolutely not. The camera knows. Your customer knows.
The camera knows.
Your customer knows.
Do Professional Headshots Really Make a Difference?
Today, more than ever. In a digital-first marketplace, your headshot is often the very first introduction to a prospect. Too many professionals are walking around with headshots taken at a Christmas party in 2019. Or worse, no headshots at all. A gray silhouette where a human being should be.
People buy from people. And before anyone decides whether they trust you enough to buy from you, they look at your face. That judgment happens in milliseconds. On LinkedIn, on your website, on your email signature, anywhere your name appears.
Your headshot is your personal brand logo. Treat it accordingly.
Your headshot is your personal brand logo. Treat it accordingly.
Is the Million-Dollar Headshot a Real Thing?
I have the privilege of working with Jeff Payne, a genuine marketing genius, a man who changes companies’ fortunes. Jeff has written extensively about the very real million-dollar headshot phenomenon, citing real examples of client fortunes skyrocketing off the back of professional photography.
And it is not just theory. It is a portrait so clean, confident, and approachable that it immediately qualifies you to pitch for high-value contracts and attract premium clients without your credibility ever being questioned.I designed a whole section on this topic for that photographer’s website. The $1,000,000 Club, we called it. Not just galleries of pretty portraits, but real stories from real clients about switching to professional headshots and watching it transform their businesses, in some cases generating millions in new sales and contracts.
A lot of people still think of a headshot as vanity. It is not. It is a smart business strategy and an investment.
A lot of people still think of a headshot as vanity. It is not. It is a smart business strategy and an investment.
What Is Wrong With Stock Photography?
Stock photography reads as generic, and people can feel it. Show a customer a stock photo of models shaking hands in perfect boardrooms, and their authenticity radar goes off immediately. They know that is not your real team. Stock can bridge a gap early on. In the long term, it will cost you trust.
Stock photography can bridge a gap early on. In the long term, it will cost you trust.
Can You Use AI-Generated Images for Your Headshots?
Please do not.
Yes, AI can take a poor phone image and turn it into a so-called pro headshot, but they are no good.
One thing people immediately notice about AI headshots is that they are soulless. There is no real person behind the eyes, and your customer will feel that.
There is no real person behind the eyes, and your customer will feel that.
What resolution do you really need?
Bigger is always better.
Print applications need 300 dpi minimum.
Digital only needs 72 dpi, maybe 144 dpi.
Handing your designer a small, low-resolution image and then asking them to make it work in print is like asking someone to unring a bell. It cannot be done.
Handing your designer a small, low-resolution image and then asking them to make it work in print is like asking someone to unring a bell.
The One Part of Your Brand You Cannot Fix in Post
Photography is the one part of your brand you really cannot fix in post-production. You can tweak color, you can swap a font, you can rewrite a headline. But a bad photograph is a bad photograph. No amount of Photoshop filters or clever cropping turns it into something it is not.
Your photographer and your designer should be working from the exact same brief, the same mood board, the same understanding of your brand’s personality, and what your customers actually expect to see. When those two are aligned, the results are extraordinary.
I have seen it. I have dealt with it. That moment when a folder of images comes back and every single one is exactly right. The composition, the light, the confidence in every frame. That does not happen by accident. It happens by design.
That does not happen by accident. It happens by design.
This article accompanies Episode 19 of BRAND:NEW, the podcast based on The Business Owner’s Guide to Branding by Donovan Fourie.
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