There are reasons why group photos should have a limited color scheme and why we like the white tops and khaki pants group portraits. They look unified. It’s a clean look. The focus becomes the people, not the outfits. Simplicity makes for a image better. Too many colors (and patterns) don’t make pretty photos.
The other reason is because you are a group, a team. You should not have any particular person stand out (except in wedding photos - bride and groom should be a strong focal point). If anyone is to stand out at all, it should be the Alpha (boss, president, etc.) but even then, that person should only stand out slightly.
Unless the team wants to look like the furniture grouping from a country magazine, stripes, florals, polka-dots and plaids should not be worn. Try to keep it to solids with maybe one optional pattern (for ties or shirts under a solid jacket or sweater). Be nice to the photographer and your team members and follow the instructions.
Remember to make sure the background and “staging area” is clear of clutter for a cleaner, tighter look. Plants visible over the shoulder or poking out behind people will look like goofy headdresses or tails! This becomes a distraction from the faces of the team and possibly cause the team to look less professional.
I love Instagram! I have been holding off on using it for business because I wanted my photos to go straight to my Business Facebook Page. That wasn’t an option, until recently!! Now Instagram not only allows you to post straight to your Business Facebook Page, it also allows you to have and manage more than one account. Before you would have to log out of one account and log into the other account. That was time consuming and let’s be honest.. with all the passwords we need to know these, trying to remember everything was a hassle. Now, thanks to the new updates, it is so much easier to manage multiple accounts!
Just like in other social media, sometimes having a separation between business and pleasure is needed. My hobbies and personal life have little, if anything to do with my business. I don’t need to post photos of home improvement, new fitness equipment or family time on my business accounts. Business trips, photoshoots, meetings, before and after photos of websites makes a lot more since. Behind the scenes is also a good idea, but not so much the photo of the my dad with the fish he just caught on our family vacation.
It’s that time of year again when we take the time to evaluate your business. What worked, what didn’t work? Analyze your social media. What did you struggle with? What was a success? Do you need to schedule time for social media to improve what you’re doing? Find a class to improve your skills or give me a call for suggestions.
If you want to get more creative and don’t have photoshop, there are free programs available to help you add text to the images, overlap images, crop, etc. www.picmonkey.com is a good option and so is canva.com.
