TOVANI DESIGN & PHOTOGRAPHY

Brand & Stock Photography for Businesses, Brands, and Bloggers

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How to Prepare for Your Personal Branding Photoshoot

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Whether you’re a freelancer, an influencer, or a small business owner, creating an authentic personal brand is crucial to your success and growth. Your personal brand is what sets you apart from all the rest and what keeps people coming back to you again and again. There’s so much that goes into creating a gorgeous personal brand, but your personal brand photos should be at the forefront of your mind. Here are a few ways you can get the most out of your personal brand photoshoot:

  1. Write down your story
    Create a strong personal connection with your audience by telling them a story. Take a moment to write down who you are, why you do what you do, and what you have to offer potential clients. Building your personal brand isn’t about putting on a new personality — it’s about sharing the things that make you uniquely you in a calculated, beautiful way.

  2. Come up with a vision
    What describes your personal brand? What do you want your personal brand to look like? Is it bright, fun, young, quirky, and refreshing? Artistic, moody, minimalist, cool, and enigmatic? Professional, sophisticated, intelligent, trustworthy, and revolutionary? Think about those things first before moving forward.

  3. Consult with your photographer
    Let your photographer in on your vision for your photoshoot and for your brand itself. Make sure your photographer understands your story, your values, your image, and your personality. That way, your photographer will be able to prepare as well — choosing location, light, and shooting style accordingly.

  4. Look your best
    Consider hiring a professional hair/makeup artist for your personal brand photoshoot. A pro will be able to help you really shine in front of the camera and accentuate your best features, all while making sure you come across the way you want to. When it comes to wardrobe, choose an outfit that will make you feel confident and assist in telling the story of who you are.

Once you’ve done the work to know the story you’re trying to tell and the vision you’re striving to create, your personal brand photoshoot will fit right into place. If you feel prepared, confident, capable, and beautiful, all of those qualities will shine through in your photos and help refine your brand.

Chocolate Fish Coffee – Land Park/Curtis Park Toast & Wine Event

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photos of people enjoying coffee in a coffee shop and eating avacado toast

The Blog Bloc members were invited to an early preview of the new Chocolate Fish Coffee location in Land/Curtis Park. They gave us goodie bags with Cobram Estates EVOO and a sample bag of freshly roasted coffee beans.

Chef Kevin O’Connor prepared his signature toast made with thick slices of artisanal bread and slathered with goodness. Forget about carbs; am I right? You have to try these! I promise you, it’s worth it!

The bread is slightly toasted and soft in the middle. There is a variety to select from starting with fresh ricotta and strawberries, almond butter and bananas drizzled with honey, smashed avocado, and my favorite, the egg salad. It makes a beautiful presentation.

I had a wonderful time meeting up with fellow bloggers and photographer friends. Loved meeting Chef Kevin O’Connor. Did you know he posts cool food pictures on his Instagram account.

Good Cropping For Headshots

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Good cropping will make your image pop. For business portraits, it draws in the viewer and shows your personality. Modern business portraits are often cropped for a variety of uses on social media.

Our full service headshot packages include a set of cropped photos in a variety of sizes ready to be used on social media.

Headshot packages start at $175 and include a 10 color corrected digital images with a set of sizes to use on your marketing materials, website banners, and social media profiles.

* We can change or remove the background. Create Facebook Page banners, brochures, and other graphic design needs.

*Addtional fees apply for retouching, graphic design and changing or removing backgrounds

This image was taken in our inhouse studio located in midtown in Sacramento.

We can also come to your office or location and set up lighting for business portraits.

Discounts are available if you book several people for headshots at the same time and location.

Changing the Backgrounds Of An Image in Photoshop

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Here are some of the best tutorials that I’ve found for changing the background of an image in photoshop. We’re happy to do this for you.

Selecting a subject from a busy background.

Changing the backdrop.

Blurring Background

How to cut out anything.

 

This is amazing!

HTTPS – What’s All the Hype About?

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As of January 2017, websites should be using HTTPS in place of HTTP.

Why HTTPS is essential on your webpages.

Having HTTPS protects your users against intruders coming to your site impersonating you and tricking users into divulging personal information, tracking their behaviors and identities and injecting ads and malicious content onto their computers.

If you are visiting a website with HTTP, data can be breached from wifi hotspots, a compromised ISP, or a user’s machine. It’s like leaving your door open for intruders to enter and watch everything that happens between you and the information you enter in your browser. This can include your passwords, credit card information and other sensative data.

HTTPS is a requirement for many new browser features, particularly those required for progressive web apps.

Let’s Encrypt is a nonprofit global Certificate Authority resource that helps organizations obtain, renew, and manage SSL/TLS certificates that can be used on websites to enable HTTPS connections.

Don’t Ignore Your Website In Favor of Social Media

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You may be new to blogging and posting content on social media. Perhaps you’re now in a job or an organization that requires you to be a contributor on their website and Facebook or Instagram account, and you have no idea where to begin, or what to say. It can feel overwhelming, and it’s normal. What’s not okay, is ignoring your website. Fear is part of growth and something we all have to face. Don’t let it hinder you.

Mostly, be yourself. I feel that people will be more accepting and forgiving when we have the courage to step into the arena.

Getting comfortable posting content takes some practice, and I’ll explain the difference between writing content for a blog and posting content on social media channels. And, why your blog is more valuable than any social media channel.

Your ultimate goal should be to write interesting and informative articles or stories about your business or organization on your website/blog and share them on social media. It’s easier for your blog posts to get shared over and over while linked to the website.

Social Media

When you’re at a live event, you’ll want to post real-time updates with photos and video to your social media channels as it’s happening. You can also post recaps to Instagram and Facebook with photo captions. You can use #hashtags with a name for your event so that when someone does a search for that hashtag, they see all of the posts related to that hashtag.

Blog Articles

Blog posts take more forethought and time to organize content, while a Facebook or Instagram post can be a caption to a photo or a quick short paragraph.

Decide Who Your Audience Is

When you’re writing an article for your blog, think of the audience. Decide on your tone of voice. I like to write as if I’m talking to a friend. I find it more personal and friendly. I write for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who need help with their websites, social media, and design. My work is very social and engaging. If you meet me in person, I’m very social and approachable. The tone in my writing fits with my audience and my personality.

Set Your Tone

You have to decide who you are talking to when you write for your business or organization and how they speak. What are they seeking when they arrive at your website? How did you attract them in the first place? What are their expectations? Communication can be difficult if you’re not tuned into the people you want to engage. Some organizations, for example, speak in a formal tone while the audience they wish to engage with is turned off by such formality and would warm up to a more conventional approach.

“It has been brought to our attention that donuts are being served in the dining room.”

OR

“Donuts are being served in the dining room. Enjoy!”

You have to decide how you’re going to talk to your readers.

Ask Readers to Share Content From Your Website. Make It Easy To Share.

Blog posts have a longer life. You want your website to be the center of all of your marketing efforts. Every social media post should lead back to your website. Content that your audience wants to read and engage with should be on your website.

Content posted directly to social media has its purpose, it’s quick and draws attention while showing you engaging and sharing activities at the moment. The downside is that it has a short life. The content on your website is evergreen and can continue to be seen and shared over and over through the years.

Save These Resources

  • Check the site canva.com. The site makes it easy for non-designers to create cool info graphics.
  • Use Compressor.io to optimize and reduce large images before publishing them on your blog.
  • UnSplash and Death to the Stock Photo, have free stock images.
  • With Pablo, you can create images with quotes and titles to make your posts pop.

For a more in-depth perspective of blog posts, visit Kevan Lee’s article on  How to Write a Blog Post.