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Gallery Share: Esthetician Brand Photo Session

October 14, 2024

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I'm Marisa — a Northern Virginia lifestyle and brand photographer serving the DMV and beyond. 

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Featured Brand Session: Capturing Daniela’s Esthetician Business

This week, I’m thrilled to spotlight one of my favorite brand photo sessions — a lifestyle shoot with Rosado Beauty! If you’re a small business owner who is curious what my process looks like from start to finish, keep reading for an inside look into how we crafted a personalized visual story for her business.

An esthetician sitting in her well-lit studio suite, posing for a headshot. She is wearing all black and smiling. A round mirror hangs on the wall behind her, reflecting part of the room's light décor.
An esthetician looking in the mirror while holding a brush to her eyelashes. She is wearing all black and smiling. The room is well-lit and bright, with a pink neon sign that reads "I Woke Up Like This" in the background and plants hanging from the wall.
An esthetician standing at the front desk of her beauty salon, posing for a headshot. She is wearing all black and smiling. The room is well-lit and bright, with a pink neon sign that reads "I Woke Up Like This" in the background and plants hanging from the wall.

Daniela, the owner of a growing esthetics studio, came to me seeking refreshed, engaging content to showcase her services, which include facials, eyebrow tinting, and skin waxing. She previously relied on a basic headshot taken with a cell phone and a few stock images of spa treatments, and was ready to elevate her online presence. I knew a custom lifestyle brand session would be the perfect way to fill her website and social media with relevant, on-brand imagery that truly represents her work.

Pre-Session Planning

A couple of weeks before the shoot, Daniela and I had an in-depth consultation where we dove into her business history, goals, and her vision for the future. This conversation helped me understand not just the services she offers but also the essence of her brand, including any existing logos and color schemes we should incorporate. With that insight, I created a personalized mood board to give Daniela a clear idea of the overall vibe and types of shots I planned to capture during our session. It’s always important to me that my clients feel aligned with the creative direction before the camera comes out!

A screenshot of a custom mood board created for the esthetician client. It shows various pictures of women in a beauty salon, getting eyelash extensions, holding tweezers, as well as color swatches of light pink and neutral gray.

The Day of the Shoot

On the day of the shoot, we kicked off our two-hour session with a series of headshots in Daniela’s studio. We captured her at the front desk, welcoming clients, offering skincare consultations, as well as in her studio suite preparing her tools and products. I always aim to deliver a mix of wide shots and close-ups, along with both landscape and portrait orientations, so my clients can use these images across various platforms — whether it’s for an Instagram post, a website banner, or even a printed flyer. To add a little fun and personality, we included some candid shots of Daniela holding her esthetician tools and looking into the mirror. These kinds of images really help bring out the personality of the person behind a brand!

A sign on a counter of a beauty salon, it reads "Rosado Beauty" and has a QR code to scan and book services.
A mirror with a reflection of a pink neon sign that says "I woke up like this"
Hexagon shaped shelves on a wall in a beauty studio, holding pink boxes of eyelash and eye brow care products
A woman holding 3 blue eyebrow tweezers in front of her face
An esthetician sitting in her well-lit studio suite, posing for a headshot. She is wearing all black and smiling. A round mirror hangs on the wall behind her, reflecting part of the room's light décor.
An esthetician looking in the mirror while holding a brush to her eyelashes. She is wearing all black and smiling. The room is well-lit and bright, with a pink neon sign that reads "I Woke Up Like This" in the background and plants hanging from the wall.

Showcasing Her Services

Once the models began arriving, we shifted our focus to capturing Daniela in action. It was important for her to showcase her services on real people so that potential clients could get a genuine sense of what to expect when booking with her. Each model session lasted between 20-30 minutes, depending on the service being highlighted. This gave us plenty of time to capture a variety of details, including:

  • Close-up shots of her tools and products in use
A woman holding an eyelash extension with a pair of blue tweezers. A female client with white eye patches on is laying down on the table below her, about to receive an eyelash treatment.
An image of a woman's hand wearing a clear rubber glove and dipping a popsicle stick into a white wax warmer filled with iridescent pink wax, to be used for facial or body waxing.
A woman uses a white pen to map out a new eye row shape on a client. A female client is laying down on the table below her, about to receive an eyebrow tint treatment.
A wheeling cart with beauty service tools is set up. There are tweezers, eye patches, and blue bottles containing serums.
A woman holds a box of beauty product in front of a shelf. The box is white and dark blue and reads "CIRCADIA Serum"
A wheeling cart with beauty service tools is set up. There are scissors, a metal bowl, cotton rounds, and a white bottle containing serum.
A woman uses a white pen to map out a new eye row shape on a client. A female client is laying down on the table below her, about to receive an eyebrow tint treatment.
A female client laying on a table wrapped in a white towel and head wrap receives a facial massage using a black plastic tool.
A woman wearing pink rubber gloves dips a tattoo machine into a pot of dark brown ink, about to add pigment to a client's eyebrows.
  • Daniela consulting with her clients, creating a comfortable, professional atmosphere
Two women are standing in a bright room having a friendly conversation. The woman on the left, wearing a black outfit, is showing a facial product to the woman on the right who is sitting and wearing a grey tank top and light colored jeans.
A woman hands a box of beauty product to a potential client. The box is white and dark blue and reads "CIRCADIA Hydrating Cream"
Two women are standing in a bright room having a friendly conversation. The woman on the left, wearing a fitted beige long-sleeve top and jeans, is smiling as she faces the woman on the right. The woman on the right, dressed in a sleeveless black outfit, is holding a small box and smiling back. A round mirror hangs on the wall behind them, reflecting part of the room's light décor.
A woman is lying on a cushioned treatment bed while another woman stands beside her. The woman on the bed is holding a hand mirror up and smiling, while the woman next to her, in a black sleeveless top, appears to be adjusting or brushing the client’s eyebrows with a small tool. The room has a clean, bright aesthetic with a sink and shelves in the background.
A woman seated on a stool is holding a hand mirror and smiling, while another woman, dressed in a sleeveless black outfit, gently applies a cosmetic tool to the seated woman's eyebrows. They are in a well-lit, cozy room, with plants hanging from the ceiling and a circular light overhead, adding a soft glow to the scene.
A woman dressed in black reaches for beauty products on her shelf in her salon suite.
A woman seated on a stool is holding a hand mirror and smiling, while another woman, gently applies a cosmetic tool to the seated woman's eyebrows.
Two women are in a bright room having a friendly conversation about beauty tools. The woman on the left, wearing a black outfit, is showing a facial product to the woman on the right who is sitting and wearing a grey tank top and light colored jeans.
  • In-the-moment action shots of her performing treatments, from eyebrow tinting to facials
A female client laying on a table wrapped in a white towel and head wrap receives a facial massage using 2 metal ball-shaped tools.
A woman holding an eyelash extension with a pair of blue tweezers. A female client with white eye patches on is laying down on the table below her, about to receive an eyelash treatment.
A female client laying on a table gets her armpit waxed by the esthetician wearing gloves.
A woman holding an eyelash extension with a pair of blue tweezers. A female client with white eye patches on is laying down on the table below her, about to receive an eyelash treatment.
A female client laying on a table with a warm, damp, white towel being wrapped around her face prior to a massage.
A woman wearing pink rubber gloves dips a brush into a pot of dark brown ink, about to add pigment to a client's eyebrows.
A female client laying on a table wrapped in a white towel and head wrap receives a facial massage.
An esthetician sitting in her well-lit studio suite, posing for a headshot. She is wearing all black and smiling. A ring light is held above her while a client lays down on her table.

Bonus Content: Video Clips & GIFs

As part of this brand session package, Daniela also received a bonus addition — short video clips! I offer gifs and short-form video content as an add-on to brand sessions because they’re incredibly versatile. These can be used for Instagram stories, turned into Reels or TikToks, or even featured in email newsletters. They help bring a brand to life in a way that still images sometimes can’t.

Final Delivery & Inspiration

When it was time to deliver the final gallery, Daniela received a wide selection of images to choose from. I also put together a mockup of a suggested social media layout, giving her a visual blueprint for organizing her Instagram grid with the new content. This step helps clients feel confident about how to use their new imagery to make a big impact on their online presence.

A mockup graphic design image of a hand holding an iPhone on a pink background, showing an Instagram feed. The feed shows a variety of pictures from this esthetician's brand photography session, and the bottom of the screen says "Photos By Marisa Glaser Creative"

Here’s what she had to say about our work together:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Marisa made this whole experience so much easier than what I expected! I was looking for a professional to take pictures of my business and from the first contact I knew she knew what she was doing. She is very organized and came out with all the ideas , also great communication! I told her all my ideas and concerns about the amount of things I wanted during the session and she was so great helping me to put everything together. Very professional and I got all my pictures in less than 2 weeks!! I’ll highly recommend her for any professional that wants pictures of their business or brand, she will guide you through a smooth process and it will be so much fun!”

An selfie image of the photographer, Marisa Glaser, holding her camera and smiling. She is wearing a white t-shirt and standing in front of a neon pink sign that says "I Woke Up Like This"

I had a blast creating this gallery for Daniela, and it was a joy to see her enthusiasm and collaboration throughout the process. This session was truly one of my favorites, as it allowed me to blend creativity with capturing the heart of her business. It’s always so rewarding to know that the images we create together help tell a meaningful story for her brand!

Ready to elevate your brand with a custom photo session?

Let’s create visuals that showcase the best of what you offer!

INQUIRE HERE

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