How To Create Awesome Photographs For Your Personal Trainer Website And Marketing

It is a well-known fact that people buy with their eyes. Your online presence, whatever your business, means it has to do more than just sound great. It has to look even better. The images you choose for your website or accompanying any marketing must draw people in and keep them interested.

But what does this mean as a Personal Trainer? And how can you get it right? Here, we offer a few tips.

Everyone uses stock photos, don’t they?

Our advice starts with avoiding stock photography. While it can be a cost-effective option, you’re almost guaranteed to see the same photos on someone else’s site, and if you’re looking to be head and shoulders above the competition, this doesn’t help. If you have the budget, you can certainly use the services of a professional photographer, but the good news is by taking on board a few tips, you can get that same look yourself. Most smartphones have pretty impressive cameras, meaning there is no need to have a whole armoury of photographic equipment if you follow some of these tips on composing your shots. Here’s what to consider when creating your own photos.

Branding

Understanding your brand is critical to creating awesome images. Your website and marketing sell your brand and the photos must reflect it. Continuity of brand throughout your writing style, images and appearance will help people identify with you and bring in the type of clients you love.

Know what you like and why

Let’s start with the type of images. Explore what you like about the marketing and websites from your favourite brands or competitors. Which images hold your eye, tell you a story and tempt you to look further? Consider the photo’s composure, how you balance people, equipment, lighting and focus. You may want to highlight the use of a particular piece of equipment, but that doesn’t mean the image has to have it bold, upfront and centre. Focussing on one part of the equipment or changing the angle you take the photo from can tell a far more visually appealing story than a standard middle of the image shot. Also ask yourself if you need a person in every picture to tell the same story?

Personal Trainer wearing a PT Uniform

Your business is you

To look good and create some free advertising, you will want to invest in some quality training wear. A PT Uniform will certainly see you looking the part and can look great in your photos.  Professional personal training clothing can easily be created with a few simple clicks. Looking the part and keeping your brand front and centre is key to good business presentation.  A photo of your team, or your clients in your branded clothing can really make a good impression, but don’t be afraid to get in front of the camera yourself. After all, as the figurehead of your PT business, people want to know YOU.

 

Creating the right image

Now to create the actual images. Follow these tips and make professional photos on a budget. It is easy to take many pictures in this digital age, so don’t be afraid to take more than you need, experiment and enjoy this investment in building your business.

  • Subject Choice – Choose a clear subject, don’t let the image lose its impact. Make sure that you don’t have key subjects disappearing off the side of the image. If you are trying to photograph a moving object, take lots of pics and carefully choose ones that sit nicely, don’t lose key parts off the side of the frame.
  • Choose a key focus – This is the area of your image you want to grab attention. It should stand out and draw the eye. You may choose to blur the other aspects of the image, and some phone cameras have a quick background blur setting which can make this easier to achieve. If you don’t have the blur setting, try tapping the screen on the area that you wish to keep sharp.
  • Equipment – You don’t need anything fancy, just a tiny tripod that can be kept in your gym bag and set up quickly if the perfect photo opportunity arises. You can then use the self-timer on your phone if you are the subject in the photo and reduce hand wobble for any posed shots.
  • Lens cleaning – This is important. Clean the lens! You may not see the muck on your lens with the naked eye, but trust us, phones go in and out of pockets, fingers everywhere, the lens will have picked up dust, dirt or film that will have a hugely negative impact on the clarity of your images. Wipe it with a clean cloth, or if you are really stuck with your clothing before you start clicking away.
  • Straight is key - turn on gridlines in your phone’s camera settings, you need to know what straight is, even on a planned wonky picture. It is easier to take a straight image and save valuable time fixing unwanted crooked images at the editing stage. Placing the focal point in the correct spots is also easier with gridlines switched on.
  • Consider reflections and Natural Light – Looking directly into a camera can appear unnatural and be unnerving. Use reflections created by mirrors, puddles, water, or metallic surfaces to make a really striking image where the subject looks more natural. As a personal trainer you want the people and clients in your images to look to look relaxed.

Photos taken in natural light can often appear more natural than those using a flash. Flash photography can be tricky to keep the light balance right within an image. Natural light may give you a darker image, but you can draw the eye to a colourful feature, or enhance colours when editing. Allow light to balance itself around the subject and to get better overall results try touching the screen where you want the primary focus to be. Use this technique before switching your flash back on.

  • Stop Zooming – Move around, get closer yourself. Zooming in will magnify all of your tiny movements and negatively affect overall image quality. So whenever possible, change your position to avoid blurry or pixelated images. If you are as close as you can be and still need to zoom, then zoom first and allow the camera to refocus before you take the photo. You will then be able to crop the image during editing instead.
  • Change Perspective – As a fitness trainer, you should be pretty fit, so don’t stand still. Try laying on the floor and look up to the photo subject or use reflections. Get up high and take a photo of equipment from the top-down, end on or from underneath. Don’t be afraid to get moving and take shots from different perspectives. Experiment with angles and heights to add drama, context and impact to the story of the picture.
  • Use negative or empty Space – Some of the most striking story-telling photos use the negative space within an image to add drama or a sense of movement. Use empty space such as a wall to frame a single person, or piece of equipment. Images with blank or negative space (as it is known in the trade) can have a far bigger impact for the viewer when around two thirds of the image is pretty featureless. Your viewer will then focus on the key element, so make it dramatic

​​​​​​​These types of shots make excellent website headers, as they give you clear ready-made space for business info. You can add your business name, a tag line or call to action without taking away the dramatic appearance of the image. Take some photos specifically suitable for use as headers and profile pictures.

  • Consider repetitive or symmetrical patterns – Geometric shapes and lines or even repeating colours can create fabulous, striking images. Gym and personal trainer fitness equipment are perfect for this. Rows of equipment lined up, stacked weights or even the lighting or floor tiles can add interest and a striking graphic element to your picture.

Symmetrical images attract attention; use your gridlines to help create images with complementary reflecting sides. The two sides do not have to be identical but simply reflect each other, keep the centre line of the reflection in the centre of the image, and make it fun.

  • The Devil Is In The Detail – Going back to what we said earlier, showing detail on a piece of equipment can be more striking than showing all of it. Take images of a weight bar from one end, it is still obvious, but the photo is far more attractive to the viewer. You do not need the entire bar in the shot. In fact, it has more impact if you don’t. Sharpen the image when you edit, focussing on the end of the bar to draw the user into the feel of the knurling. The partial view technique will still show what you do but adds an artistic and creative flair to your publicity that keeps it fresh and professional. You are looking to build confidence in your audience and bring in clients, so do it with style.
  • Editing – This step is at least as important as taking photos. With many great editing packages for mobile and laptop, you can enhance and crop freely to get the best out of your photos. Sharpening the image, adjusting the colour, or cropping can turn a good photo into a great one. Spend time getting to grips with the essential editing functions and experiment till you are happy.

Finally, always take more photos than you need. You will then have a quick source for ongoing social media content. Remember to add metadata to the images to help with SEO. You can then easily change photos to freshen up your website and social media when required.

It is your business, your brand and your look. It’s worth your time to invest in creating personalised photos to really help your PT business stand out from the crowd.

Your cart is empty
Search
Search

Select Currency

{CC} - {CN}
Cancel

Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy