3 TIPS FOR COLOUR BRANDING IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Colour branding is a powerful tool you can use as a business owner to capture your creativity in all things visual. It allows you to infuse your images with consistent colour, tint, or tone that reflects your unique style and lets you stand out from the rest. The right colours will make your work more compelling, professional, and memorable.
What is colour branding and why is it important in photography?
Colour is one of the building blocks of brand identity that helps you build aesthetic appeal and memorability. It also creates consumer associations and influences buyer mood and behavior. For example, green tones summon thoughts of nature and serenity while warm colours can make you think the temperature is hotter than it actually is.
Colour branding isn’t limited to logos and graphic designs—it is just as essential and effective in photography. For photographers and other business owners, colour branding does not just come in handy when you craft your own brand identity, but it also gives you an edge in client work. By understanding and applying the basics of colour branding, you can skillfully shoot images with colours that reinforce a brand’s identity.
Read on to learn more about the different types of colour branding and tips to take even better photos!
Tip #1: Keep your target audience in mind when choosing your brand colours.
Certain colours have more appeal to certain audiences, and the right colour will appeal to your target demographic. When deciding on your brand colours, it helps to align your colour palette not just with your values and the message you wish to communicate but also with the preferences of your desired clientele. Using the right colour palette is a useful instrument to direct your target audience to your website and social media profiles.
If you want to create a portfolio that targets people and businesses in the food industry, complement your photos with warm colours to evoke appetite or green tones to promote nutrition and wellness. If you’re eyeing fashion and style, you can use black to exhibit sophistication and elegance or red, orange, and pink to show confidence, passion, and excitement.
Tip #2: Know and apply the best type of colour branding.
Certain colours and tones can help you create a stronger portfolio that demonstrates you can capture and deliver compelling photos to your clients. Here are the different types of colour branding you can apply to your work, based on which subjects and industries they’re most suitable for, from food photography to corporate branding.
Warm
Warm-toned pictures are best for food and event photography. Warm colours, such as red and yellow, grab attention and stimulate the appetite, making food appear more enticing and delicious. When editing photos of people, warmer tones of red, orange, yellow, and pink give your subjects a rose-tinted effect, making them look happier and more attractive.
Cool
Cool tones of blue, gray, and white are a great choice for architectural and landscape photography. Cool, high-contrast tones highlight the geometric proportions and heighten the drama of architectural structures. Landscape photos of mountains, trees, and oceans are enhanced through desaturation.
Pastel
A romantic and delicate pastel palette is perfect for the most gorgeous wedding photos. Pastels are soft and soothing while stylish and breezy, bringing beauty and simplicity to images. Pastels are also associated with the fresh light of spring and happy, new beginnings.
Bright
Bright colours, with their energy and scroll-stopping impact, are best for travel and adventure, fitness and health, as well as event photography. The biggest advantage of bright and vivid colour branding is it lets an image stand out in a sea of photos, making it the ideal choice for grabbing attention on social media.
Dark
Deep and dark tones convey artistic intensity and surrealistic charm. Although many photographers do not lean toward dark colours and tones in their work, there is a growing trend of dark tints in portraiture and interior photography. A dark vignette around a person lends a theatrical quality while inky shades of blue, crimson, and forest green enhance shadows and add depth and drama.
Black and White
The classic black and white photos, with no other colours to distract the eye, makes the subject the sole focus, drawing emotion, depth, and interest. Black and white photography, with tones of gray, builds up the narrative of an image, making it an excellent choice for portraiture and street photography.
Monochromatic
Playing with the different shades of a single central colour extends a brand’s identity, making monochromatic photography a popular choice in corporate and product branding. Without other colours to divert a viewer’s attention, monochrome photos let you focus on shape, tone, and texture, allowing you to highlight the essential ingredients of an image.
Tip #3: Colour your photos for Instagram.
Social media platforms such as Instagram are an important marketing tool for entrepreneurs since it allows your potential clients to view your work. Since there is a huge quantity of images on Instagram, colour branding can help you stand out and display your aesthetic uniqueness and creativity.
Create a color theme you can apply to all your photos, giving your profile page a more consistent and professional look. A unique and consistent colour branding style makes your photos more memorable and improves the visibility of your brand.
Final Words
Identifying and using the best type of colour branding can enhance your photos and have clients lining up to work with you. Your brand colours are not just there to make a visual impact. Effectively use your colour palette in your photos to convey your brand’s values and message and build an emotional connection with your target audience.
This article is brought to you by guest writer, Sophia Young.
Sophia Young recently quit a non-writing job to finally be able to tell stories and paint the world through her words. She loves talking about fashion and weddings and travel, but she can also easily kick ass with a thousand-word article about the latest marketing and business trends, finance-related topics, and can probably even whip up a nice heart-warming article about family life. She can totally go from fashion guru to your friendly neighborhood cat lady with mean budgeting skills and home tips real quick.