Show off your Company’s Professional look
A Professional Corporate Headshot displays competence, confidence and personality. A good corporate portrait builds trust and credibility, it is dynamic and communicates a visual story of you and your staff to your audience.
What are Professional Headshots?
Headshot photography is a subset of Portrait photos. Like all portraits, headshots say something about their subject. Business headshots go a step further to emphasize confidence, competence and personality.
Nearly everyone in the business world needs a headshot. Company websites often have an About page that shows off their team. Professionals on the lookout for work or forging new connections need a profile picture on LinkedIn. Even an Entrepreneur’s Facebook business page needs to show the world who the person owning this business is.
Is there a difference between a Professional and Corporate headshot?
Though Headshots are both Professional and corporate, the big difference between the two is that corporate headshots showcase people working for the same company, so there must be unifying elements between all of the different portraits, both technically and aesthetically.
Corporate or Business Headshots are consistent in color balance, consistent backgrounds and consistent composition. This is especially important as these images will often be used on a website and other official communications and will need to accurately reflect a business or brand’s look and style.
Your photographer will decide what look will be the best for the company’s brand i.e. everyone’s bodies positioned straight to the camera, or left shoulder or right shoulder facing the camera.
The Headshot session – what the client must know
Most organizations will want their staff to get their headshots around the same time for consistency and cost savings. Keeping this in mind, the photographer will need information such as:
- How many people will be photographed
- Where will the shoot take place, i.e. will everyone be photographed in the same area, or are there different scenarios for separate divisions in the company? Stay true to the company’s structure, i.e. people working in the service division will not fit well in the CEO’s office
- What time of day will fit everyone’s schedule, i.e. early morning, allowing the sales team to leave earliest possible to see their clients. Is the company flexible to accommodate busy schedules?
- Will there be group photos taken? How many groups and how big will the groups be?
- Where and how will the photos be used i.e. website, social media, LinkedIn, publications
- How important is the appearance of the staff for the client? This may sound like a strange question, but it often happens that the company wants to invest in perfect headshot photos of the staff and need to make use of stylists, makeup artists and hairstylists. Please discuss this with the photographer, as they regularly collaborate with these service providers and will be able to refer good companies. Keep in mind, that when using these professionals, it will have an impact on time allocation per person that has to be photographed.
Choosing a Corporate Headshot photographer – what to look out for
The photography industry is filled with photographers and choosing the company that will fit your needs the best can be a challenging task.
Professional photographers often decide to specialize in specific genres of photography, such as weddings, lifestyle, product shoots, etc, with some offering a combination of genres in their portfolios. As an example, a wedding photographer is not necessarily experienced in Corporate photography and vice versa. Choosing a photographer specializing in Corporate work may prove to be the better option.
5 things to consider for when choosing a Corporate Headshot photographer
- Does the photographer have a professional website with a gallery of photos showing her work? Is the style and quality of photos the style and quality you would like to have?
- Does everyone in the gallery look like they work for the same company? Can you tell where one client’s brand ends and the other client’s brand starts? This will indicate whether the photographer can adapt to her client’s unique look and feel that represents the company’s brand.
- What do her clients say? Take the time to read the testimonials, not only on her website but also on her social media platforms.
- Enter into conversation with the photographer. Is she organized, prepared and professional? Even if you are in a creative industry, it’s important that she will be calm, competent and able to deliver what you are looking for, on time and on budget. But professionalism isn’t everything. For example, it’s also important that she is a good listener and takes on board what you want from your Headshots.
- Is she able and willing to assist you in preparing for your shoot? Ask her for ideas. A good photographer is a true creative, not just someone with camera skills.
Finally, a professional corporate photographer does not only take great photos, she also delivers on time, stays in touch with her clients and follows up regularly with fresh ideas and news.
Is it time to freshen up your company’s Corporate Headshots? Contact me and let’s discuss how we can make it happen for you!
