The importance of photography for your social profile

Everyone knows the importance of having a good professional headshot on their LinkedIn profile, but many undervalue the impact that good photography and video can have on your social feed. After all, there’s no reason that LinkedIn or Twitter can’t be used to showcase the eye-catching visuals that you use to promote your business.

What should you be posting?

By now, you’ll know the importance of creating your own unique content for social media. By that same reasoning, original stories should be accompanied by original visuals. There’s only so many times you can use the same tired stock imagery to illustrate your achievement stories. You can't always have a professional photographer handy to create imagery for your social posts, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be documenting your own business journey for minimal outlay. Images and video of social events, off-site workshops and milestones can provide photo opportunities of your staff looking engaged and inspired. Document big wins. Take photos of the signing of a new deal, or the unveiling of a new product or an internal promotion – almost anything can be made more interesting with a good photo.

What makes a good photo?

You don’t have to be an Ansel Adams or Annie Leibowitz to document your business milestones. Artful, soft-lit, dreamy portraits are nice, but they require skills that are learned over years, not days. Try to capture photos that look natural, well-lit and are not too posed. Try to be a fly-on-the-wall, documenting the moment as it happens naturally. You don’t want your photos to look like creepy, staged family portraits. If you need to take a photo that is more posed, ask the subject to look off-camera, not straight into the lens, as it can result in your subjects having that “deer in the headlights” look. Where possible, remove lanyards, name-tags and background signage that will distract from the important elements of the photo.

What kit do you need?

A good, multi-purpose DSLR camera that can shoot video (preferably no less than 1080p), has image stabilisation and good auto-focus is a good starting point. A screen that can be rotated to face the viewer is helpful, as it allows you to monitor yourself if you want to get in the frame or take selfies. Cameras like the Canon EOS 6D MkII are the perfect all-purpose camera for capturing content for your business, as they are both full-frame and user-friendly while having all of the manual controls you’ll need to boost your photography game as your skills develop. When it comes to glass, the choices are endless ­– so buy the best lens you can afford. An LED light panel (you can use it for both video and still photography) and an off-camera microphone are also important tools to have in your kit-bag.

How can you improve your photography skills?

Canon have a lot of great resources available on the Canon Australia Youtube channel to help you improve your photography. If you prefer a more hands-on learning process, it's worth checking out some of the workshops, classes or experiences offered by the Canon Collective. These experienced pros will have you taking great shots in no time. They run their events Australia-wide throughout the year, so check out the Canon Collective website to see what's happening near you.