How to plan a brand photoshoot for a website redesign (not just Instagram)

Even if you're the absolute best at what you do, most people won't stick around long enough to find out unless they're convinced visually first.

In my experience, the number one thing that will make or break your website is your website photography. I've noticed it firsthand: client websites with strong, intentional brand photos just perform better than the ones without them. More time on the pages, more trust, more bookings. But the problem is most brand shoots get planned around one thing: the grid.

Nine perfect squares, a cohesive feed, a handful of poses that all look good next to each other. Which is great, if Instagram is the only place your photos need to work. But your website isn't a grid. It's hero sections and service pages and About pages and calls-to-action and blog posts, all needing different things from the same shoot. And when the photos weren't planned with any of that in mind, guess who ends up scrambling to make it work?

The designer. Cropping awkwardly. Stretching one vertical shot across three sections it was never meant for. Trying to make lemonade with the oranges they were given.

So if you don't take away anything from the post, just take away this: your website should shape your brand shoot, not the other way around.

Why Website-First Brand Shoots Work Better (and Last Longer)

Your website needs photos that support structure, not just vibes. They have to work across your hero sections, your service pages, your about page, your many calls-to-action, your SEO content (like blog posts), and the list goes on.

That's a lot of jobs for one set of photo to do. A brand shoot that's planned with your website in mind, section by section, gives you images built to actually do them. A shoot that's planned for aesthetics and vibes only gives you a beautiful set of photos that only sort of fit anywhere.

The payoff of doing it the first way: less reliance on stock photos, way fewer awkward crops, and no reshoot six months later because nothing you captured actually matches what your site needs.

Before You Book Your Photographer: Start With A Plan

I know it's tempting to book your photographer first and figure out your site later. Don't. Get clear on what's actually changing in your redesign or refresh before any camera lens caps comes off.

While you're planning, ask yourself:

• Are you starting to offer new services?
  
  • ie: An esthetician who used to only do facials starts offering LED light therapy add-ons. The site needs new service pages and photos that actually show the equipment and the experience, not just another close-up of skin.
• Are you wanting to work with a new type of ideal client?
  • ie: A hairstylist who built her business on individual clients starts targeting brides and bridal parties instead. Now the site needs group energy and celebration, not solo, moody portraits.
• Does your brand's tone or positioning need to shift?
  • ie: A spa owner who's been "luxury and exclusive" for years wants to feel more approachable, because she's realized her actual ideal clients want to feel like they belong, not like they're being granted access. The whole visual tone shifts from polished-and-distant to warm-and-in-reach.
• Does your website's layout or structure need to change?
  • ie: A solo practitioner who's finally hired her first associate needs a "Meet the Team" page that didn't exist before. That means new photos of more than one person, and shots that show the space itself, since now it has to feel like a studio, not just her.

Your visual needs will change every time your brand's messaging does. From what I've seen working with clients (and even with my own brand) it's pretty common for this to happen naturally every 4-5 years or so. You just want to make sure you're not switching things up too often or your brand will start to feel all over the place.

Map out your website pages

This is the step that separates a strategic shoot from a pretty one, so don't skip it.

Write down every website page you have or will need. Then break each one down into sections. Homepage sections, service pages, your about page layout, contact and CTA sections. All of it.

From there, build what I like to call your photo inventory list: the actual shot types you'll need to cover everything on that page-by-page outline.

• Full-width hero images
• Horizontal shots with negative space (for text overlays)
• Vertical crops for mobile, or just have your photographer shoot both landscape and portrait for everything
• Close-up, detail shots for texture and depth (these are great because they don't  to have your face in them and they essentially become your brands own private stock photo library)

What to Actually Capture for a Website-Ready Brand Shoot

Hero images that support not distract

Quick definition, because most of my clients don't come to me already knowing this one. And hey, that's fair, because honestly why would they? A hero section is the very first section someone sees when they land on a page of your website. Before they scroll, before they click anything, it's the image and the headline sitting right at the top of the page.

It matters more than almost anything else on your site, because it's help create a first impression. Someone decides whether they trust you, whether they're in the right place, and whether they're going to keep scrolling, all in the couple of seconds it takes to look at it. If that image is fighting your headline instead of supporting it, you've already lost some of that trust before you even got a chance to make your case.

So a hero image has one job: make room for your headline and your call-to-action/button without a fight. That means wide framing, clean backgrounds, and eye direction that supports the scroll, not distracts it.

Service-specific visuals (not one-size-fits-all)

This one seems obvious, but I still see it skipped all the freaking time: you need photos that actually show your service in action. Not just you, smiling at the camera, for every single page. For example, I sell website services. So it would be weird if I didn't have any photos of my by or using a computer, right?

Different services also call for different emotions. Some need movement, some need calm. Some need to communicate authority, others need to feel approachable. Tie every shot back to what you actually want a visitor to feel right before they book.

And even if you're not a naturally smiley person (because hi, same), get some shots of yourself smiling anyway. You'll be thankful that you did. Smiling photos help makes your site feel inviting instead of guarded, and that matters most for when new people make it to your site that don't know you or your personality yet.

The supporting photos most shoots forget

When you're planning your shoot yourself or not working with a photographer that is used to shooting for websites, this is the stuff that gets left off the shot list every time. But it's also the stuff that saves you later if you do remember to shoot them:

• Hands at work → a nail tech blending polish, or an esthetician mid-facial massage
• In-process moments → a staged therapy session, caught mid-motion
• Detail shots → a closeup of product bottles lined up on a clean counter
• Environmental images → a wide shot of the treatment room itself, empty and styled
• Lifestyle context → a client relaxing in the waiting area with no camera awareness

These are the photos that end up carrying your SEO pages like blog posts and long-form content, the stuff you're writing regularly and don't want to illustrate with the same three headshots over and over.

How I Planned My Brand Shoot for My Website Redesign

I practice what I preach here, so let me actually show you the process instead of just telling you about it.

With my recent website redesign, my positioning shifted. I leaned all the way into the "in the lab" science vibe I'd been circling for a while, because it's the truest version of what The Lab actually is. But I also needed the new site to show a little more of me: the fun side, the nerdy side. Still moody. Still authoritative. Still very much a vibe. Just with more of me peeking through it. I've had team members in the past, but right now I'm running everything solo, so I wanted the site to feel personal, not hide behind a wall of "we" and "us".

That shift in strategy is exactly what shaped my brand shoot shot list. Homepage authority shots. Process-driven visuals. Detail and texture imagery. Neutral images built specifically for SEO pages. Every photo tied back to something the new site actually needed to say.

There was a lot that need captured but here's what made the whole thing painless: my entire site was wireframed before the shoot happened or I even inquired with a photographer. Which means when the photos and videos came in, I wasn't scrambling to figure out where anything goes. I just dropped them into the spots that were already waiting for them.

Common Brand Shoot Mistakes That Hurt Website Redesigns

Shooting without a wireframe

I know you likely get the point by now, but if you don't know your page layouts yet, you'll be guessing at what photos you need instead of knowing. You'll end up with a beautiful gallery of photos and no idea which one is supposed to be your homepage hero versus your About page header versus your third service page. Wireframe first, shoot second. Always.

Only capturing vertical images

Vertical looks great on Instagram stories and mobile scrolling, but your website has wide sections that need to breathe: full-width heroes, horizontal banners, side-by-side layouts. If everything you shot is vertical, you'll spend the whole build cropping in tight or leaving awkward negative space on either side, neither of which is ideal.

Photos without enough breathing room

A heavily styled set can look really good as a standalone image and still be the wrong image for your site. If every shot is dense with props and background detail, there's nowhere left for a headline to sit, no breathing room for a call-to-action button, nothing clean enough to layer text over. Your site needs some of those quieter, simpler frames just as much as it needs the dramatic ones.

Design the Website First, Then Plan the Shoot

Your website's design should drive your brand shoot, not the other way around. Map your pages first. Build your shot list around what those pages actually need. Then hand your photographer a plan instead of a Pinterest mood board and a pocket full of hope.

Do it right once, and you won't be reshooting in six months because nothing quite fits or resenting your photos all together.

If your site's due for a redesign and you want someone to help plan your brand shoot with you, just know, that's one of my favorite parts of my job. Submit a website inquiry and we can chat from there, I would love to help.