When it comes to company photography projects, I’m often approached by a marketing department, an outside marketing company, or the head of HR, depending on what they need. Sometimes they’re looking for headshots. Sometimes it’s branded photography. Here, I want to talk about corporate headshots and the conversation I have before anyone comes into the studio.
If you’re the person organizing corporate headshots for your company, this one’s for you. Most of what makes a corporate session go well happens before I take a single photo.
One of the first things I ask is, tell me a little bit about your brand. Do you have brand standards? What kind of feel do you want? I want to understand how the photographs we take in my Beacon, New York, studio will fit with the way your company presents itself.
Often, those headshots end up on the company website. I want to see the color palette and the photographs already there, so I can make recommendations that work with them. Part of my job is asking the right questions and understanding what the person organizing the shoot needs from me.
Looking at the company before the session
I do this all the time with business clients. Beyond the color palette, I look at whether the website has an energetic feel to it, or if it’s very serious, incredibly corporate, or more standard. Is there a touch of branding in it? Is there a possibility of having a portrait as opposed to a headshot?
That’s very different from actor headshots, which are so subjective. With a company, the photo has to fit something bigger than one person.
Sometimes the brand decides the lighting. One company I photographed wanted everything in black and white. That’s a completely different kind of lighting, so I shoot directly in monochrome and see it as we go. When there are a lot of people to photograph, everything has to be set up right from the start so nothing gets missed.
The website was where I started with Hudson Valley Engineering, or HVE. They’re a group of engineers who have been together for about 25 years, and they needed pamphlets and literature for their business.
The pictures they had weren't great (iPhone photos), with leaves in the background and other things. It certainly didn't represent them and their company in the best light. In the end, I went to their website because I thought, let me see what kind of palette we’re getting into.
Then they explained that the photographs weren’t primarily for the website. They could potentially use them there, but what they wanted was material for a pamphlet a marketing company was putting together for them.
Knowing where the headshots will be used
I normally ask about that before we shoot. What are they going to use the photographs for? How big of a crop do you need? Will there be writing next to it? Do we need to expand the background?
Those questions help me understand how to photograph someone for the layout the company needs. If there’s writing next to the person, I need to know that. If they want a tight headshot, I need to know that too. It’s a lot easier to plan for that in the studio than to fix it after.
In HVE’s case, they really wanted tight shots. That was all they wanted.
Once I understood the use and the crop, I could make suggestions about the photographs themselves.
Choosing a background that works with the people
Instead of the usual gray or white background, I asked if they wanted to try some colors that might complement their skin tones.
We went with a rich brown. It’s one of my favorite backgrounds, and they really loved it. It went very well with a blue shirt and a beige suit jacket for the gentleman. The woman had different tops in white and black, and it worked well with those too.
I like being able to offer that suggestion. The background is part of the photograph, and I’m looking at how it works with the person, their clothing, and the company’s needs.
Unless a brand calls for something different, like that black-and-white shoot, my lighting stays fairly consistent from one company to the next. The details around it, like the backdrop, the crop and the colors, are what I adjust for each business.
It was a very quick session. It’s amazing how, in 30 minutes, you can get it done when everyone walks in with a clear idea of what they want.
Planning corporate headshots for your company
So what do you do if your company is looking for headshots? If you’re in the marketing department, yes, I’m talking to you ... here’s what to expect.
I’ll ask you for your brand book, if you have one, so I can leaf through it and get a sense of what you’re working toward. I’ll want to understand where the photographs will go and how they’ll fit with the materials you’re putting together.
Tell me what kind of backdrop you have in mind and what you’d like your employees to wear. If you’re still working those things out, we can talk through the options. Then we can work together to communicate that to your team, so everyone knows what to bring and what to expect.
If you can’t be at the studio on the day, that’s okay. I’ve had marketing people join on Zoom from out of town, watching the shoot and telling me if they wanted more drama or a little more light. We tweak it until it’s right.
If you’re looking for a photographer who can also be a partner in what you’re trying to accomplish with your company’s marketing, that’s what I’m here for. I want to understand how you’re presenting your business to your customers and help you create photographs that support that.
The 30 minutes in the studio is the easy part. The conversation before it is what makes the photos work wherever they end up. That’s the conversation I’d like to have with you, too.
If you’re planning corporate headshots in Beacon or elsewhere in the Hudson Valley, get in touch and tell me what your team needs.
