How to brief realistic brand photography

Understand the decision

List the information each image should communicate: scale, usage, location, process or product detail. Specify wide and close views, useful crops and space for adjacent text. Avoid generic shots that could belong to any business. Obtain the appropriate permission for identifiable people and privately owned locations. Keep a record of the photographer, licence and approved uses.

A practical approach

Review the identity in the smallest and most difficult places it must work: a mobile header, a label, a plain document and a real printed sample. Judge recognition and usability alongside appearance. Keep source files, export settings and asset ownership together so the next person can produce consistent work. An impressive presentation does not demonstrate that a system survives low-quality printing, long product names or a narrow screen.

• Map images to actual page slots.
• Include crop and aspect-ratio needs.
• Record subjects and publication permission.
• Write factual alternative text and captions.

Illustrative example

An interiors studio could commission room-wide images, material details and before-and-after views of an approved project. A generated room might be useful for a mood study, but it should not be labelled as a completed client installation. The visual purpose and provenance belong in the brief.

A mistake to avoid

Do not use realistic imagery to imply a real team or delivered project when it is illustrative. Clear captions protect the usefulness of the evidence.

What to review

Check relevance, image loading and crop quality on mobile; record whether visitors still need basic visual information the photographs were meant to answer.

Turn the guide into a working brief

Prepare a compact usage sheet with approved files, minimum sizes, typography, colour roles and examples of acceptable variation. Ask the person who publishes everyday material to recreate one item using only that sheet. The mistakes they encounter are useful gaps in the system. Correct those gaps before a large rollout. Use genuine commissioned photography with permission where available; label illustrative imagery and record its source rather than presenting it as evidence of your people or premises.

Common questions