Recently, a client expressed to me her disappointment when I didn't do more retouching to her photo than I had. But the things she wanted to change gave me pause. To change these things would feel…dishonest.

Luckily, I already knew how I stand on the issue. But there was a time when I didn’t. Now by having a clearly defined sense of my business ethics, it was easy for me to respond accordingly. I knew exactly where the line was drawn.

If you’re a business owner, it’s a good idea to define your business ethics ahead of time… before you face pushback. Here’s how I decided how much photo editing is too much (for me), and what steps to take to define your own sense of ethics in your business.

These Austin brand photos for a local copywriter take a fresh, edgy spin to capture her personal brand. It is one of my new favorite sessions to date!

At some point in this entrepreneurship journey, you realized that you needed to show your face more. Word on the street is it’s crucial for building that like/know/trust factor that gets paying clients in the door. Now every other entrepreneur you know is posting gorgeous, laughing professional pictures of themselves on Instagram.

Meanwhile, your pictures are, well, lacking. So you did what any good small business owner does, you went looking for a good photographer. Now you find yourself faced with a multitude of choices….and questions.

Like just about anyone else, I’ve been sucked into working with some businesses who portrayed a killer image on social media, only to realize that sacred truth once again: Instagram is not reality.

There were promises of a streamlined, detailed process and ongoing education happening for their followers. These businesses LOOK good. They SOUND good. But then when you start working with them, you realize their client experience is, well, lacking.

So I set out to study what mistakes they were making with their client experience and then used that information to do things differently in my own business. Here’s what I learned.

Whether you’re preparing to work with a brand photographer for the first time, or you’re giving it another go after being burned by past experiences, take the right steps and get intentional with your plans so that you set your brand photo session up for success and prevent common photography mistakes.

Doing things that will contribute to the longevity of your photos and position you as a credible professional with real value will pay off for you BIG in the long run.

I work with business owners to help them enrich their online presence with personal brand photography and from time to time, potential clients will ask me: What do you think about using Stock Photography to hold me over for a while?

I have some opinions on the matter of opting for stock imagery over personal brand photography-- and my guess is that you do too, even if you haven't realized it before now. For a moment, just think about what happens when you land on a website that is clearly using stock imagery. What initial reaction do you have? Be honest.

For her personal brand session, we incorporated her love for plants and floral elements and her beloved brand "mascot", her dog, Yoda, into her brand photography session. Heather is a bright and quirky person so her photos needed to reflect that. We wanted her session to be creative and personal and to show her heart for animals, her love for the environment, and how these things influence her beauty standards and approach to her services.

How do you make the most of your Austin brand photo shoot? You know you need headshots and new website photos, but you are ready to stand out from the sea of same. You want unique Austin personal brand photography that is a true reflection of your spirit, and communicates your offering but isn’t tired and lame.

The main goal for this Austin Branding Photo Session was to attract a high-end market that trusted Robin with the creative control and direction of their design project while getting the sense that she was artistic and fun. This drove several of our creative and stylistic decisions… we wanted to establish credibility and also create a bit of creative edge.