Does your photo album pass the dance test?

Not sure if your image portfolio is comprehensive and compelling?

See if it passes the dance test.

For many experts who come to me for help, they’re stuck with an image portfolio that has the same types of photos over and over…and over again. 

There’s not much visual variety from shot to shot. 

They’re doing the same thing, in the same space, wearing the same stuff. 

When looking to create distinction from other experts in your space, your images play a large role in cementing the perception of your authority. 

And if you share the same stuff constantly, you eventually become noise to potential clients and partners. 

No bueno, folks. 

That’s why it’s important that your photo album passes the dance test. 

What’s that? 

First, open up your image portfolio folder. 

Next, make sure your browser is set so you can review your photos in the largest setting possible. 

Then, quickly advance each image without pausing more than 1 second on each photo before you move onto the next one. 

As you go through this process, what did you notice? 

Were you basically repeating through photos that looked and felt exactly alike? Or, did they look and feel different as you advanced through the album?

When looking at your portfolio in this way, you want to feel as if the still images are frames from a video, where you’re moving and shaking around the frame, from the left to the right, from far away to close up, with varying expressions on your face while engaged in different activities in the process. 

When your photos dance in this way, that means your design team has ample amounts of images to create a wide variety of visual assets to be used throughout your online presence. 

While there is no exact science that leads to achieving a photo album that dances, there is a way to ensure visual variety before you set foot in front of a photographer’s camera. 

First, pick a location to shoot that has multiple places for you to sit, stand, lean, think and work with clients.

While just showing up and making it work is one way to approach a portrait session, it leaves way too much up to chance and that could hamper the creative process, as a result. 

When strategizing with your photographer, be sure to scout locations that have enough spaces and places within the building for you to settle into so that the overall session doesn’t feel like it was shot all in the same place. 

Next, instruct your photographer to explore these unique spaces and places from a 360 degree view.

Sure, there’s a need for straight on photos where you’re squared up to the camera. But, that’s not enough to create the requisite variety from shot to shot. 

That’s why it’s important for the photographer to survey the space from all angles, including over your shoulder, from the ground up and high above down to where you’re situated. 

Capturing images from a variety of vantage points will ensure that your portfolio will dance in a way that gives your design team a ton of assets from which to choose when creating your marketing materials. 

Then, instruct your photographer to capture the same scenarios in wide, medium and close-up shots.

While creating assets from a 360 degree view of you in a space is a great start, it’s only the beginning. 

Another important layer to the creative process involves your photographer zooming in and out while you’re in the space to produce an array of unique compositions, from head-to-toe shots to close-ups of your face…

…YES, the camera DOES need to be that close, folks, so get over it!

The interplay between wide, medium and close-up images of the same activity are a huge piece to creating visual variety. 

While the outfit you’re wearing, location in which you’re placed, and the activity in which you're engaged in front of the camera is the same, each photo has it’s own personality and dynamic based on the changes made to the overall composition.

And when you factor in one more variable to create a portfolio of images that dance…

Creating images with different facial expressions…

You now have added yet another layer of differentiation from shot to shot. 

Laugh. Think. Reflect. Be hopeful and aspirational. Be vulnerable. 

And everything in between. 

After all, your life and business isn’t all sunshine and roses, right? You share a variety of stories with those you serve that fall far and wide across the emotional spectrum, right? 

Reflect that reality in your image content to not only offer genuine aspects of your personality to your audience, but also to create an opportunity to visually punctuate the sentiment of every story you want to tell with images that parallel the emotion conveyed in each piece of copy, whether on your site, in your bio or throughout your online content. 

Keep these insights in mind the next time you step in front of the camera so that you end up with a portfolio of photos that moves and shakes from shot to shot. 

While this approach creates a substantial amount of additional thought and work, the juice, ultimately, is worth the squeeze :)

For more visual storytelling strategies and insights for experts, I’ll talk your eyes off through my blog. Sign up to receive them directly in your inbox, and if you have any questions, set up a time to chat with me and then I’ll talk your ears off, too :)