#brandportrait

[sulamichiephotography]

Brand portrait development

For our zoom call where we had to take a photograph of one branded item around our house I chose this cheerios multigrain box. I bought this because I enjoy wholegrain natural cereal and I had an idea that cereal could be my theme for this project as I buy a lot of different types of wholegrain cereal and don’t stick to one brand. After searching more after the class I realised I didn’t have ties to any certain brand, but there was an overarching theme in my food purchases: natural, healthy wholefoods. 

For my moodboard I combined my own images that I photographed of the peanut butter, ricecake packet, houmous and oil with found images. Greens, browns and oranges stuck out to me as a colour theme and I think my research images helped support my theme and highlighted the natural, organic element. This was the first moodboard I ever made on Photoshop so I am quite pleased with what I was able to create for my first try. 

I set up my shoot in front of my large floor to ceiling windows so there was a lot of natural light that lit the scene as well as with two soft boxes. I brought a floodlight just incase I needed to highlight a certain area but I ended up not using it. 

I decided to choose the whole earth peanut butter jar, and wholegrain ricecakes to represent my brand portrait. These are two natural products that I have regularly that both work together. I shot my final image on wicker backed chair which created a lovely textured background behind my products. I placed them on a hessian bag that was a reusable shopping bag which tied in with my eco theme as well as gave me the desired natural look that I used in my moodboard. The colour palette matches the one in my moodboard and the lighting is bright and clean. The only critique I have is the placement of the seeds and nuts, I should have scattered them in front of the knife to fill the empty space in the front of the image .

What did you learn about yourself as a consumer, your brand personality and how the final image reflects this?

This project made me realise that I am not a big consumer of goods or products and certainly not a brand consumer, so I had to really think about this project and how I was going to put together a recognised branded theme. My clothes and shoes were not considered because they are either given to me second hand or bought from charity shops, so I couldn’t choose a recognised clothing range for this project. Also I am not a consumer of electrical goods, leisure wear, or perfumes so had to think about something that I bought regularly that had a common identity. Not being a brand consumer reflects my personality as I am more independent minded and open to expressing myself as an individual. I am also interested in the environment and nature so being a mass consumer of products is against who I am. I was brought up in the west Highlands and this rural environment away from regular visits to shops has affected my exposure to consumerism and therefore, how I choose certain products and my view on the natural world. I am positive about healthy, natural eco products that aren’t negatively impactful on the planet which is shown in my final image as it contains two different branded wholefood items, a colour palette of earthy tones, a natural backdrop and a reuasable bag as a base. I think the final image reflects my brand personality well. 

[sulamichiephotography]

Brand portrait research

What is brand advertising?

If you are selling products or services it is important to create a trusted and recognisable brand to give confidence to customers to develop a long-term purchasing relationship. Brand advertising is a system that builds loyalty with consumers and establishes the brand in peoples minds as the go to product.

Different outlets are used primarily for Brand advertising – television, magazines, radio, the Press, billboards etc. These methods of advertising are there to repeatedly put the Branded product in front of the consumer to create a feeling of familiarity and trus and ultimately develop sales year after year.

https://instapage.com/blog/brand-advertising-examples

How are Photographers involved/employed by advertising Agencies ?

Photographers are either employed by Advertising Agencies or are offered work as freelancers depending on the Agency. Photographers if employed would begin by working under an Art Director or a senior Photographer to gain experience.

What kinds of things does an Advertising Agency expect from a Photographer ?

An Agency will expect the Photographer to produce photographs that create an impact and tells the story of the product and campaign. The subject of the campaign could be anything from buildings to people, products or experiences. The words for the advertising campaign will be taken into account when the Photographer chooses the way the product is shot and how the lighting, composition etc are utilised to convey the intended brand identity to the consumer. The Photographer will also need to be able to work as part of a team and communicate with the advertising professionals to produce the right image for the advertising campaign.

https://learn.org/articles/What_Is_the_Job_Description_of_an_Advertising_Photographer.html

[siobhanchalmersphotography]

Brand Portrait

For my brand portrait moodboard, I wanted to give a feel of natural products, whole foods, no processing, and wholesome nutrition. 

I really enjoyed this project in the research stage, branding and marketing is something we hadn’t spoken about before and i found it really informative. I also enjoyed the opportunity to experiment with making the moodboard, which again was something new to me which I found really helpful as a concept. 

I found this quite difficult to shoot at home because there’s very little space in the house I’m staying in currently and it was tricky to get a good lighting set-up too. Still life/ product photography is not my strong subject so I would've liked to be able to shoot it in a proper studio set up to practice these skills.

[hayleynashhndphotography]

Brand Portrait

Plan

I don't often buy branded items however when it come to technology I definitely do. im planning on creating my mood board on the technology brands that i bye. 

Mood Board

From looking at my mood board i ave decided to shoot one of my pieces of tech. I think I'm going to shoot my headphones as i like the colour and i feel they are interesting. 

Contact Sheets

Final Image

Overall Evaluation

I like the use of the negative image in the background. when it was plain black it looked too boarding.  however I wish u used a smaller aperture or photo stacked like in the brand new brief. in some areas of the headphones it look to be a little soft but not too noticeable however i feel it meets the brief well and i overall like the image. i like the use of the pink gels, i feel this also makes the image more interesting and pop a little more. 

[kmurphyhnd2]

Brand Slogan

For this brief we were asked to think about what kind of consumer/ buyer we are. We were asked to quickly go find an item in our houses that we buy all the time, something we use everyday. After doing a bit of research and thinking about something I buy a lot of it was McDonalds.... I like McDonalds, alot. I wanted to do something different from everyone else. I looked into different still lifes and went through all the cupboards and drawers in my house. But this felt more like me and something I buy a lot of.

[markcairneyphotography]

Brand Portrait post production

Before

After

After finalising from my selection, I felt happy with with what I had shot and began editing. I didn’t do all too much, to highlight the bag as the standout item I added a bit of a vignette to draw more attention to the centre, and help the black background sort of fade away more flawlessly. I colour graded to make the whole image a bit warmer and more inviting, as well as used dodge and burn in some areas; like the tasting notes pictures below to bring out the highlights in them. 

Overall I’m really happy with my final image and believe I produced a really high quality image. I decided to post on social media and tag the Dear Green instagram page which they reposted, which made me feel a bit more accomplished. 

During zoom feedback, I was given advice by Claire, she said I could have considered shooting in natural light which would in hand, hit home the message that the product is natural and organic. While I prefer the look of the studio lights, it made me consider the different style choices you can make when shooting something like still life, to amplify whatever message/effect you want to achieve or send. If I were to shoot again I would probably shoot using natural light, as in hindsight I think it makes more sense for the product.

[markcairneyphotography]

Brand Portrait Selection

I shot using studio lights which I recently got, problem being is I didn’t have any light modifiers other than a soft box, which wasn't adequate to achieve the desired effect which I wanted. I improvised by using tinfoil, which in hindsight was really daft, because the light housings are made of plastic, which luckily never got damaged.

Selection Process

[markcairneyphotography]

Ideas and thoughts

Researching for brand portrait was mainly just looking at different still life photography to see what kind of style I wanted to go for, as I had already narrowed down what I was shooting. I decided to go for a dark background with some sort of wood to place my branded object on. I’m also planning to showcase some of the tasting notes in the coffee which is usually stated on the bag, hopefully this will reinforce the freshness and authenticity of the brand and its product. I’m going to shoot with studio lights to get some nice dramatic lighting