Office Headshots

Photographing employees, staff, and management at their place of business is the majority of my work. My experience is that you want the highest quality with the least amount of hassle and interuption to your day and place of business. This is precisely my goal. I want to deliver the highest quality corporate group headshots with the least amount of work on your part.

Where To Start?

I think a phone conversation is a great way to begin. If you just starting your search for a headshot photographer it might be helpful to read over this page. I will cover most of the questions I get on an intial conversation along with some other thoughts.

How much space do you need to work?

I need a space with about 15 feet of length and 10 feet of width to work with. I need 45 minutes to set up and half that to strike and load out. I've always been able to make it work. Maybe a light stand ends up on your conference table, or your ceiling height requires folks to sit. I've never run into a situation where I couldn't make it work. The ideal scenario is about 15 x 10 but, rest assured, we'll find a way to make it work for you. I've, literally, shot in supply closets. Don't be afraid to ask your building management for a favor. Is there an unused office space we can use to do your group headshots?

Headshot Day At The Office: What to expect

I shoot tethered to a laptop computer. Once I get the subject situated and we get a couple of decent takes I bring them over to the computer. We look at the early takes and based on what we see I make suggestions. This is one of the most important steps in the process. Everyone does better after they see themselves. 99% of the time they find it encouraging. They go back to their mark more confident and relaxed for a second set of takes. We repeat the process until both the subject and I are satisfied that we have a few great choices. Please don't have the employees line up. Men especially tend to be disruptive in a light hearted way. But it's distracting and things will go better without the male banter. Women tend to be very helpful with each other. So, it's best to bring them in one by one or send the women in pairs according to help each other. Women have many more options then men so it's very helpful for me as a male photographer, to have an additional female in the shooting room. I suggest having a list of folks in the order you want them shot. Give them a window of time to be available. Situations vary and we can talk about yours and how to handle the que with respect to your workplaces individual needs.

How long should I allow for each person to get their headshot taken?

In the workplace most people are doing well to have 3 to 5 minutes to spare for a headshot. A rule of thumb is about 5 minutes per person. After that the pre-occupation with work usually takes over and it's more productive for that person to circle back and do a second attempt later. It's not uncommon for someone to come in the room and pull the subject out from in front of the camera to deal with an emergency. That's ok! I'm there for you. We'll work it out.

CEO First?

This happens a lot. It's understandable that the C level folks would want the most predictable part of the schedule. BUT... I need to dial things in. It's best to give me one person before them, then bring in the leadership team. That's usually the person reading this and hiring me. You can always come back through again.

Who picks the final photo?

There's a number of ways to work this. The most common is that I put up a proofing gallery and someone at your company, most often the subject, chooses the final take to be retouched. Alternatively you can have the subjects choose at the time of the shoot. Lastly you can have me choose for you. In certain situations, like when I'm used as "booth bait" at a conference, trade show, or expo, having me select is the only way it works affordably.

What is the crop for our group headshots?

In my opinion, a headshot crop should be from the sternum up or higher. Cropping is a stylistic fine point after that. Some photographers insist on cropping into the hairline, a landscape or portrait crop, or some other concern. Here's my reasoning but having said this I'll do whatever you like. If you shoot folks from the waist up you include most everyone's biggest insecurity, their weight. You also ask more of the headshot subject as model because you probably want their hands in the shot. The other immediate difficulty is that their clothing becomes more of a concern. A waist-up shot is often what's required and I'm happy to do them. It's not unusual to do both, a headshot and a waist-up shot.

Retouching

The short of it is that retouching is optional. If you're tight on a budget and you're folks are young, and your headshots are small and website only... you may not need retouching at all.

Often it seems to depend on how many folks in your organization and what you do. Lawyers and finace folks who are client facing and may require their image to go to print, opt for retouching everytime. Tech folks sometimes opt out of retouching and even want quirky shots.

What I want you to know is that I'm your most affordable option for high quality retouching. Having said that, I get as much right in camera as possible. So you benefit by hiring me every step of the way.

All the work you see on my website is retouched by me personally. However some fixes are best left to someone who does nothing but retouching. It's very rare, almost never, that I can't fulfill a retouching request. Rarely there might be an upcharge to perform a task that would take a lot of time.

You can save some money by hiring out the retouching yourself, or foregoing it all together. It depends on how you will use the final images. If the images are going to exist only as 100 pixel thumbnails on your website it may not matter. Your decision doesn't have to be all or nothing. For example, it's common to get the C-Suite folks retouched, and support staff not retouched. My retouching holds up at any size. I also deliver both web and print size file sizes. So if you need to go to print, say for an annual report or trade magazine, you can do so.

My retouching includes blemish removal, base tone skin blending, hair silouette clean up, and minor clothing fixes (moire).

I do not have a "before and after" page out of respect for my clients. If you are considering hiring me for your group headshots I can provide you with a private link to a before and after gallery so you can see my retouching.

What background should we use for our headshots?

Paper Seamless

If you're in doubt I would use a light gray paper background. It works for the most people and brings a consistency to your presentation of the headshots. If you're a company with lots of locations a gray background is easy to replicate in any situation. Other colors and white work as well. I would caution against a strong color like orange or yellow. A low saturation works best something like Savage Paper "Blue Mist" lit to be on the bright side. If you want a shade of gray we can make the decision on the day of the shoot.

The main consideration for paper seamless is do you require a rigid consistent shade of gray? Is it ok to vary the density if a subject has gray hair or a suit a very similiar density?

Outdoor Headshots

Outdoors is a great way to get some variance in each shot but with a consistent look. If you are setting your date because you have a bunch of folks coming in from out of town, this is not a good option. If you're people are local and rescheduling is just a matter of moving the day, this is a great way to go.

View Through The Window

If your office has a great view and there's enough room to work it out, this gives you a great oppurtunity. Again weather conditions apply but you can also composite a view in the window in those situations. Extra costs apply to compositing a sunny day view of your office if we work on a cloudy day, but it can be a better alternative to rescheduling. Don't be afraid to ask your building management company for a favor. An empty corner office on a higher floor could work wonders. They'll never know we were there. Ask well in advance. Go look at options.

Office Environment As A Headshot Background

It could be a logo on your window, or just the office itself. Check the gallery on this page for some ideas and things I've done in the past.

Shared Work Space

WeWork, Spaces, Regus, and other shared work spaces will rent conference rooms and allow access to other spaces on a day rate. This might be an option for you.

Green Screen Compositing for Headshot Backgrounds

Composite backgrounds are an added expense due to the time involved in combining two images and making it look like it's one shot done in camera. If you see this as the only way to make your project work a phone call is best to discuss the particulars. It's doable but there are a few critical considerations to create a great image.

Pre-Printed Background

This requires getting a background printed ahead of time. Hanging it behind your subject and getting an environmental or view through the window look right in camera. If you are a large international concern and want background consistency for your headshots, this is an excellent way to go. We can talk about how to get this produced, there are a couple of options.