Get low
When it comes to creating a sense of authority in your photos...
...there’s one simple camera trick to achieve this sentiment.
One of the most important aspects to your branded lifestyle portraits is presenting yourself as the authority, the go-to expert in your space.
But how do you actually create a portrait that conveys a sense of authority and presence?
Well, this objective can be achieved in a myriad ways, but one of the easiest - and most visually interesting - approaches to achieve this is to have a series of portraits captured from a low angle.
By “low angle,” I mean that the camera is low to the ground shooting up towards the subject of the photo - in most cases, with the subject looking off-camera.
On a psychological level, when a subject is captured from a low vantage point, they look strong and powerful.
To give you a sense of what I’m talking about, here are a couple photos from a recent branded lifestyle portrait session with my client, Dianne:
For each of these photos, I was either on my knees or laying on the floor shooting up.
While all she’s doing is thinking to herself while looking off into the distance, the image feels more substantial and compelling because of the low angle effect on the photos.
She has tremendous presence in the frame while not doing much at all.
And the viewers attention is drawn directly to the star of the frame, which is her facial expression.
Now, we did capture other photos in these same locations where the camera is at eye-level and a high angle above her head, as well.
Those images, however, create a completely different sentiment and are valuable for other marketing objectives.
But, low angle photos are a staple in every image content portfolio that’s created with my clients.
They add powerful visual assets to your marketing arsenal and visually punctuate the sentiments of stories of success, aspiration, reflection and inspiration - all valuable sentiments for an expert looking to create a relationship with those they serve.
Not only are they great to use as social media images and blog thumbnails, but they also work very well as banner images for your website pages.
Imagine using the open space in these photos to incorporate text, buttons and other visual elements for your website navigation?
Before your next lifestyle portrait session, make sure during your strategy call that you address this with your photographer so you are able to leverage these types of photos across every touchpoint of your online presence.
Make sure they get low for you :)
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