Lifestyle photography is more familiar to you than you might realize. Many of the photos you take in your day to day would be considered lifestyle photography. But what does it mean to apply this kind of imagery to your brand?

By definition, lifestyle photography is a genre of photography that aims to capture portraits of people in real-life situations that celebrates the “art of the everyday”. Oftentimes these pictures are candid and in an organic setting, because they are meant to appear natural and tell a story about the life of the person being photographed. 

Along with building an initial relationship with your audience, lifestyle photography also communicates your brand’s story and values. This will not only amplify the relationship, but it sets the foundation of your purpose as a business. Tell your story through visuals as consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand they can relate to on an emotional level. 

According to Havas Group, 77% of customers will buy from brands that share the same values as themselves. So be transparent and confident in who your brand intends to be. Authenticity goes a very long way. 

At the end of the day, the best way to use lifestyle photography for your brand is to make it as human-centric as possible. Your customers want to see what life would be like if they integrated your product into their own experience. Show off what this looks like! 

Share photos of people using your product in their routine. Your brand, regardless of what you’re selling, needs a human element to thrive.

So now what? You want to shoot some lifestyle photography for your brand, but you don’t know where to start? Here are a few tips to get the ball rolling:

1. Start with a mood board. This gathering of ideas will help you establish the style in which you want your photos to look. Look at what your favorite brands have done and check out your competitors. What can you do to set yourself apart from the rest? What images inspire you to do that?

2. Make a plan for where your lifestyle photography is going to be used and distributed. Will they go out in an email blast? Maybe they will add to your instagram feed. Lifestyle photography can be used for all different kinds of applications, but it helps to know how you’ll use them ahead of time.

3. Research your locations for the shoot. Take a drive and visit spots to get a lay of the land. Location is super important to communicating who your brand is. You wouldn’t want a skincare brand shooting lifestyle photos on a baseball field (unless you’re going for that kind of thing). Your lifestyle photos should look natural and candid. 

4. Plan a shot list. Yes you know you want to take lifestyle photos, but what will actually be useful for the platforms you’ll put them on? Take some time to make yourself a list of images you’d like to capture. It’s okay to experiment too, but having a plan will keep your shoot on schedule.

5. Book a model (or borrow a friend) for your shoot. People are everything here! You need to find yourself some friendly faces that you’d want to represent your brand and products. After all, you can't have a human-centric brand without some humans. 

6. Gather and organize the props you want to use. Setting the scene for a lifestyle shoot is essential to creating the authentic and relatable imagery that consumers are looking for. 

7. Finally, prep your camera gear so you can get started. You can get away with using the camera on your phone for many things, but if you have access to some more advanced equipment such as a DSLR camera and lighting setup, then your image quality will improve dramatically. 

Does this all sound a little overwhelming? We’re always here to help with the heavy lifting and are only an email away!