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Headshots – Plain Backgrounds

Headshots on a plain background

In this section, we will look at the simple and straightforward headshots on a plain background. This type of headshot is a favourite for many small, medium and large companies for many reasons:

Speed, volume and cost

These are the quickest headshots to shoot. The setting up takes about 30 minutes (I would set up a studio at your place of work – a paper backdrop and professional lights).

Each person is then photographed in 10-minute slots. This gives me just enough time to relax people, check their appearance (hair, clothes, shiny nose etc..) and give them tips on how to stand, what to do with their hands and talk them through their expressions while photographing them. I take many more shots than you would expect and edit them down later to the ones that work well.

Continuity

The final chosen shots always look great as a set because the lighting, background and crop are consistent. The images sit really well together. These shots can also be easily reproduced at a later date, so if you have new employees, you can perhaps do another short shoot in six months or so, and the images will still work well as a set.

Flexibility

These images can have many uses such as, ‘meet the staff’ pages on the companies website, social media such as LinkedIn and for internal reference. Some companies have found that using headshots on tenders going out to their clients has the benefit of the personal and professional touch.

What you need to think about before the shoot

  • The shape that the final headshots need to be.
    • For example, square, landscape or portrait?
  • How would you like people to come across to reflect well on your company?
    • Here are some keywords you could choose from: friendly, approachable, professional, sensible, serious, caring, creative, joyful, fun…

What to wear?

It’s always a good idea to think about your dress code. This of course depends on your company and how you want to come across to your customers. For men, you might want to suggest or stipulate either a suit and tie, a shirt and tie, an open-necked shirt or a casual t-shirt/shirt. Or, you might be happy with whatever your employees want to wear.

For women, it’s trickier because there is so much more choice for business wear. But you could just aim to portray a level of smartness. Or you could try to incorporate a colour code – like pastel colours, bright colours, or neutrals.

Background

What colour background would you like? White, light grey, mid-grey, black or any colours. If I don’t have the colour in stock and I have to purchase it, I would need to pass this cost on to you, but I do always have white and light grey as standard.

How many people do you need to be photographed? This will determine how much time I need to do the shoot and hence the cost. If you can provide me with a list of names just before the shoot it’s always helpful, as I can then add people’s name’s to the images later.

Retouching

How many final images per person will you need? I always recommend only using the retouched images. For each session, to begin with, you get to pick a certain number of images. However, you can pick more if need be.

Reportage style headshots

Here are a few examples of headshots with a reportage style which you might prefer for your company. Usually people are not looking at the camera for these shots. The advantages of this style is that they are more relaxed…

Corporate Group Shots

From professional to playful, convey how you want your team to come across with a group photo session.

Corporate Editorial Style Portraits

Often, a director or owner of a company needs a selection of interesting portraits to use for a variety of purposes. Often a director, or owner of a company, needs a selection of interesting portraits that can be used for a variety of purposes such as the ‘about me’ page, Linkedin and social media profiles, blogs, PR, news articles and industry magazine articles.

Headshots – City, Nature or Office background

In this section we will look at headshots with an office background or a city or exterior background. You can see some examples here. We can use exterior locations or we can use parts of your office or workplace, working with a combination of natural light and mobile studio lights.