GUIDE | AMSTERDAM

Personal Branding Photo Ideas from Real Sessions

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 7 November 2026

Walking beside the railing of the Veerhaven quay, a smiling man in a white shirt, sailing ships moored beside him and modern towers beyond

Good personal branding photo ideas start with two questions: what are the photos for, and where does your work feel most like you? The ideas follow from there. Think of portraits where your work happens, your city as a backdrop and the things you use every day, plus one or two easy looks and a mix of close and wide frames. Every example below comes from a real session.

This guide is for freelancers, founders, writers and creatives who need photos of themselves rather than of a company. Portraits like these are part of my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam. A few ideas also come from branding shoots for small businesses in Haarlem, in Leiden and on the Amstel.

At a glance

For: Your website, LinkedIn, a book, a practice or social media
Places: Canals, your own studio or shop, modern streets, a park
Props: A book, a laptop, your tools, your dog
Outfits: One or two looks, or one look in layers
Variety: Close portraits, wide frames with room for text, details
Session: One hour in one picturesque area, 10 downloads

What Are Your Branding Photos For?

Start with where the photos will live, because each place asks for a different frame. A website needs at least one wide photo with room for text beside you. A new freelance recruiter now has exactly that across the top of his site. It comes from his branding portraits in Rotterdam: a frame along a pale facade, with plenty of street around him.

Smiling man in a white shirt walking along a pale facade with gray window ledges, a wide frame from his personal branding shoot in Rotterdam — A wide frame with room for text, in Rotterdam

LinkedIn asks for the opposite: head and shoulders, a clear look into the lens and a calm background. In LinkedIn photos along the canals, a new consultant got calm headshots and a profile photo against dark brick.

LinkedIn itself explains how to add or change your profile photo in a few steps.

A book or a practice often needs both. A writer wanted a friendly portrait for social media and a sharper one for interviews. So his author portraits along the canals include both, plus frames of him reading in the sun.

Close-up of a man reading the London Review of Books in soft sunlight, a relaxed author portrait — A LinkedIn headshot, and an author reading in the sun

Places That Suit Your Work

Choose a place that says something about what you do. For many creatives, that is simply their own city. For his summer portraits on the canals, an art director stood under three old gables, in the city where he works.

Low view of a man in a sage T-shirt and sunglasses on a bridge railing beneath three old gables, part of his personal branding shoot

During his personal branding shoot, a man in a white shirt holds an old lamppost by the Veerhaven, tall ships and Rotterdam towers behind him — Old gables in Amsterdam, old masts in Rotterdam

From experience

One picturesque area can hold many backdrops. In Rotterdam’s Scheepvaartkwartier, a park bench, a pale corner facade, the old ships of the Veerhaven and a fountain monument all lie within a short walk. So one session there gave a single client four settings.

If you have a studio, a shop or a farm, use it, because where the work happens says more than any backdrop. During a branding shoot at a beauty studio in Haarlem, I photographed color, washing and blow-drying. Real clients sat in the chairs.

Stylist in a leather apron painting color onto a client's hair by a red brick wall, paintings and a mirror beside them — Hair color by a brick wall in a Haarlem studio

On a cheese and clog farm on the Amstel, a father and son wore matching red neckerchiefs from the barn to the workshop. Their branding shoot at Rembrandthoeve shows the craft and the bond at once.

Father and son back to back with arms crossed under green trees at Rembrandthoeve, a shed behind them

Even a quiet room can tell your story. Two psychologists in Leiden had their room photographed both empty and in use, so new clients know what to expect. During their branding shoot at a therapy practice, they took turns playing the client, so no real client had to appear.

Two psychologists reading a book together by a bookcase with a snake plant on top, a candid moment from their branding shoot

Personal Branding Photo Ideas from Everyday Life

Some personal branding photo ideas are already in your bag. The things you use every day make good props, because you already know how to hold them. A book, for example, gives your hands something to do, so your face can relax. That is why a young copywriter brought the book he was reading to his casual portraits in October.

Casual portrait from his personal branding shoot: a young man in a striped short-sleeved shirt laughing on front steps with an open book — A book on the front steps, in early October

A Dutch model brought his own life: a red vintage motorcycle, a tennis racket and his big curly white dog. His natural portraits for a model show the person behind the portfolio.

Big curly white dog leading the way across a wooden footbridge in a park, its owner in sunglasses and a suede jacket right behind

Young farmer holding a yellow painted clog in front of half his face, smiling in a red neckerchief on the branding shoot — A dog on a footbridge, a yellow clog in a farm shop

Owner holding purple scissors against her nose with a playful look, a close portrait from the branding shoot

Playful frames are welcome, too. The owner of the beauty studio held her purple scissors against her nose, and the farmer’s son peeked out from behind a yellow clog. On a website or a feed, those are often the photos people remember.

What to Wear: One or Two Looks

My FAQ recommends one or two outfits, and before your session I share outfit suggestions that suit the route. In these sessions, simple pieces that mix well worked best.

A suit can carry two shirts. The Rotterdam recruiter wore his charcoal suit with a beige shirt with a fine pattern, then with a red-and-white one. In summer, the art director brought T-shirts, light trousers and a denim jacket to throw over his shoulder.

Man in a dark suit and red patterned shirt walking past the Caland Monument with its bronze cherubs, a branding photo in Rotterdam

On a summer day of his personal branding shoot, a man in cream walks across a bridge past tall canal houses, a denim jacket over his shoulder

From experience

Layers save time. The copywriter wore one outfit in three layers: a white T-shirt, then a striped shirt over it, then a corduroy jacket. Nobody had to look for a café restroom, and still his gallery shows three looks.

A business with a look of its own can simply use it. The beauty studio’s team wore white tees that read “Be good to yourself, inspire others,” while the farm’s red neckerchiefs tied every room together.

How Much Variety Fits in One Hour?

More than most people expect, without rushing from place to place. When portraits are for personal branding, I make both close and wide frames on purpose, so you have photos for every format. Small changes add the rest: sitting, then standing, still, then walking, looking into the lens or away.

Smiling man on the gray front steps of an old canal house, a birch trunk and leaves blurred at the edge, from a personal branding shoot

A wide frame on the front steps of a canal house leaves room for text on a website. A few steps closer, the same spot gives you a profile photo.

Arms crossed, a young man in an olive corduroy jacket smiles against dark brick, a casual half-length portrait in October

Head-and-shoulders author portrait of a smiling man in a gray sweater and white collar against a dark brick wall — Close frames against dark brick, for a profile and for the press

Then come the details: hands, tools, a page in the sun. They give a website or a feed some rest between the portraits.

Personal Branding or Company Photos?

Personal branding photos are about you: your work, your face, your story. Are the photos for a company, with a team in one shared style or a whole office in one day? Then the Branding or Headshot Photoshoot of my business photography in Amsterdam is the better fit.

That was the case for around fifty colleagues on an office headshot day, one after another on one warm backdrop.

A new partner’s headshots in the Zuidas were for his firm’s website as well, so his session was a Headshot Photoshoot too.

Laptop open on his lap, a man in a white shirt looks straight into the lens, purple flower spikes and a glass facade blurred in the Zuidas — An office headshot day, and a new partner in the Zuidas

Ready to turn one of these personal branding photo ideas into portraits of your own? Discover how my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam work.