People will make up all sorts of reasons why they don’t want a professional image done for their business.
Although you cannot actually put an amount of ROI of having professional photos taken, in terms of your visibility and recognition, and being marketing-ready, having that photoshoot is well worth it.
And yet people put off having photos taken and come up with loads of reasons, often they are ridiculous.
10 daft excuses people make not to have their professional image done:
- I need to lose three stone in weight.
- I hate having my photo taken.
- I don’t like my wonky teeth.
- I use this one from when I was 25.
- I prefer this holiday snap.
- I prefer this selfie with my friend.
- I can take one using my phone.
- I haven’t got any clothes to wear for a photo shoot
- I always shut my eyes on photos.
- I’d much rather use my brand logo.
10 Reasons why these excuses are rubbish!
- Setting yourself up to lose weight in time for a photoshoot isn’t likely to happen – especially as you have not managed to lose it before now! Embrace who you are. You may feel overweight, but it probably doesn’t stop you from going out networking, or meeting clients. If this is the case, you can have a photo taken too. Careful posing can help to disguise extra weight, as can a good choice of clothing.
- People who love having their photo taken, are actually few and far between. Most of us don’t love it. However, you need to get over yourself if you want to be taken seriously as a business person. You need to be visible, on your website or on social media, and when you get an opportunity to actually be ‘in’ the media, you need a professional image, showing you at your best.
- Like weight, most of us have certain aspects of ourselves that we don’t like; wonky teeth, small eyes, big nose, spots that turn up on the day of the shoot etc, etc…. Again, a professional photographer knows how to work with you and their camera to get the best photo. Just by holding your head at a particular angle, you can probably minimise the size of your nose, or it may be that it’s slightly bent, and by tilting slightly, it can straighten. Wonky teeth – again, it’s possible to take a photo from a different angle, so that the ‘wonkiness’ isn’t so obvious. Spots can be removed in post-edit. If someone has small eyes, it is often better to photograph them from slightly above, so they have to look up at you and open their eyes. The answer to all of these problems, is to talk to your photographer. Don’t however ask for things to be edited out (apart from spots) – because then you are not the real you!
- Having photos of you when you were much younger, more handsome/beautiful, slimmer, less lines, no grey hair and so on -is not authentic. You are lying about who you are in the here and now. And if you are lying about what you look like, how trust-worthy are you? What are you hiding, that you don’t want people to see? We all grow old, so it has to be embraced. Plus, if you don’t look like your photo, and you are meeting someone for the first time, how will they recognise you?
- It is most likely that in a holiday snap you won’t be dressed appropriately for your business – your customers probably don’t want to see your knobbly knees or a beer glass in your hand. Also, you are quite likely to be wearing sun-glasses (so your eyes are unseen), or a hat, (casts shadows on your face), or you are with other people. For the latter, you don’t want people trying to work out which one you are in the group. Another thing about holiday snaps, you may look great, but there will probably be other stuff going on in the background that will detract from you.
- You probably like the selfie where you are photographed with your friend, because it’s a fun memory of a time when you were both together. It isn’t a good enough reason to use it for your business, and neither is a solo selfie. Despite what all of the adverts say, mobile images are not generally as good as a real photo when it comes to providing images to the media.
- Getting someone to use your phone, just shows you don’t want to spend money on your business. Just because you have a camera on your phone it doesn’t make you or anyone else, a professional photographer! Non-photographers often don’t notice what is in the background. They don’t notice if your hair is ruffled, or if you don’t have enough light on your face. A professional photographer does.
- If you haven’t got clothes to wear for a photoshoot, then you haven’t got clothes to wear for your business! You don’t need and shouldn’t buy clothes that you don’t normally wear, when meeting clients. Often, ‘make-over’ type photo shoots, are not good for business photos, because as a woman you usually end up wearing more make-up than you normally would, and you might be dressed in something that you would never wear for your business. It can become a false version of yourself. You do have clothes for a photoshoot as these are the clothes you wear on a work day.
- Lots of people shut their eyes when being photographed. Some do so, due to the light, and others pre-empt the click of the camera. A good professional photographer will have clever ways to help get around this. There are tricks of the trade that can help.
- Your brand logo is just that – a logo. You are your business. It is you that people want to get to know and learn about. You are the driving force behind your business, whereas a logo is an extra that people come to recognise as the colour or shape attached to you, your product or service-linked materials. Your photo introduces them to you, your personality, your welcoming smile, and that’s what people want to see and need to see.
If you’d like some new photos for your business, then please get in touch: Info@moore-photographics.com
