Portrait and Corporate Headshot Photography: Get Picture Perfect with Top Tips and Professional Advice
With the pandemic and the world moving online faster than we ever expected, being picture perfect has never been more important. It has also never been more important to get your personality, and that of your team across in a single image.
We can all take photos, hey every phone is now a camera. But I am sure you are only too aware that getting the picture to make you feel it looks like you, let alone portray your personality to someone who doesn’t know you, is not as simple as at it may sound.
I have been taking headshots and portraits for years, and I have learnt a lot about the art of creating images of people that also represent their personality. It would take too long to share all my knowledge with you, in this blog I have tried to give you some of my top tips and things to consider in order to help you take a great headshot.
I have summarised the key points/tips below. Hope you find it useful and hope your next headshots are the best yet!
Summary of Top Tips
What’s the focus?
Attitude is everything
Choosing the right lens
The perfect background
Light it right
Correct camera settings
What’s the focus?
Do you really know why you are taking the image in the first place? What are you going to use it for? Is it for one reason, or for several? Is it for social media, the website, meet the team or a newsletter or press release for example? Each of these might need a different image, or there could be a way to set up the photo and pose the person to enable it to work for more than one purpose. But to do that you must remember the purpose of the image or images you are taking.
Attitude is everything
For both you and the person being photographed, being relaxed, confident and approachable is very important. As the photographer, being relaxed, confident and approachable will put your subject at ease and enable them to reflect the same attitudes too. This will help them showcase themselves at their best. Talking to the client through the process will help.
If they feel uncomfortable, stop the photo shoot and just chat for a while, even take a break and get them to come back after a walk. Maybe just have a go at some fun shots or action shots, make them smile, and when you feel they have relaxed and you have gained their trust, then try again, but try and ensure it isn’t seen as a big deal. The less they feel it is formal, the more likely you are to capture their natural side, which will undoubtably allow their personality to shine through in the photo.
Posture is important
You don’t have to have the sitter perfectly positioned, and nor do they have to have perfect posture, but having a good posture, which is comfortable for the subject, and helps create better lines and composition for the image, is important. Good posture and composition can help people to appear more confident, alert, slimmer and more.
Think about simple things like how the neck is positioned, how they stand. Are they likely to be side on to the camera or at an angle for example? Getting someone to sit up or roll their shoulders back can completely change how they present themselves in real life, and even more so in an image. However, don’t force them into positions which aren’t natural for them, as this will only make them uncomfortable and come across in the photo. Always try for the best you can get, without sacrificing their natural behaviour and personality.
Choosing the right lens
Phones are great and some camera phones are rather amazing. However, there is in my opinion no real replacement for the equipment made for the job, so I would always use a purpose made camera. Choosing to use a camera with different lenses really can make a huge difference to the quality, depth and focus of the image you are taking. It will give you a huge amount of control. If you are an amateur with a good camera, this is a chance to dust off the lenses and use them for what they were really meant for.
With this in mind I suggest you choose a focus length that will put you the right distance from the subject, in order to get the right focus and depth you are looking for. A lens with a wide focal length, say around 20mm will have you too close to your subject and will create distortion in the image. A lens with a focal length of around 200mm will place you too far away and can lead to you disconnecting from your subject.
By this mean, when taking headshots, it is good to remain within a reasonable proximity of the person being photographed, without being on top of them. This again helps them feel confident and engaged with you and the process. Therefore, I would suggest a good starting point on a 35mm camera would be using a lens with a focal length of around 85mm.
Don’t worry if that all doesn’t make sense to you, it is about having the right distance for the right focus point. However, it always is good to get an expert’s opinion if you are not sure, or better still, leave it to a professional to worry about and have a cuppa whilst you watch them worry about that!
The perfect background
Backgrounds for business portraits and headshots in general are an essential element and sometimes overlooked. These need to be considered alongside the purpose of the image and how and where it will be used. This could affect the backdrop you wish to use. For example, if you are running an outdoor business, you may want a natural looking backdrop which indicates the outdoor nature of your business, and your job or role. However, if you are looking to use these for an accounting company, you may want to have a consistent more generic background and therefore the use of a solid backdrop or studio location may be best.
Whether a real or set up backdrop, we would always suggest that, for headshots where the person in the image is the hero of the composition, the backdrop should always be neutral and not a distraction.
You could look to use paper or fabric backdrops. Although common and able to be bought with relative ease, these can provide the generic and standardised backgrounds. These can become warped or creased over time leading to ripples appearing in the final images which you may not notice at the time. This can create the need for additional retouching of images post shoot, or in the worst case, a need to reshoot the images. Therefore, my suggestion would always be to use a solid background wherever possible.
When using backgrounds though, be careful how and where you use them and how the lighting affects the shot. This leads on to our next top tip…
Light it right
Natural lighting can be used for business portraits but can alter quickly and be inconsistent. Especially as the clouds and sun passing through the sky can send you from glaring daylight to cloudy and overcast in minutes throughout a shoot. If you are trying to get consistent lighting across a number of people, or images, I would always to look to suggest you use studio lighting where possible. Studio lighting is a key factor to getting a consistent look and feel across multiple images and subjects and in the long run, the time it takes to set up the lighting can actually help save time overall during the shoot and in post shoot production alternations. So take your time, hire some lights, hire a studio and get a professionals help. It really will be worth it!
Correct camera settings
So you now know why are you taking the photo, you have put your subject at ease, increased their confidence and got them smiling. You have selected the right lens and set up your lighting. You are now ready to shoot. Surely that’s it? Not quite. The last thing is your cameras settings.
To ensure consistency for your shots, whether taken all at one time or across different sessions, try and ensure that you take note of the camera settings you use. Camera settings should be fairly standard throughout the shoot. You may need to make small alterations but on the whole, they should remain reasonably consistent. From my years of experience, I would recommend when using studio lighting that:
your cameras fastest flash sync speed (generally 1/200th) for your shutter speed.
the aperture should be set at around f8 to ensure sharpness for the whole of the face. However, this can be dropped to around f5.6 if the client wants a softer look to their image. Saves the use of Vaseline (it’s a nightmare to get off of the camera! Only joking don’t spoil your lens).
the ISO should be as low as possible to eliminate unwanted noise in the image.
Correct camera settings
So you now know why are you taking the photo, you have put your subject at ease, increased their confidence and got them smiling. You have selected the right lens and set up your lighting. You are now ready to shoot. Surely that’s it? Not quite. The last thing is your cameras settings.
To ensure consistency for your shots, whether taken all at one time or across different sessions, try and ensure that you take note of the camera settings you use. Camera settings should be fairly standard throughout the shoot. You may need to make small alterations but on the whole, they should remain reasonably consistent.
From my years of experience, I would recommend when using studio lighting that:
your cameras fastest flash sync speed (generally 1/200th) for your shutter speed.
the aperture should be set at around f8 to ensure sharpness for the whole of the face. However, this can be dropped to around f5.6 if the client wants a softer look to their image. Saves the use of Vaseline (it’s a nightmare to get off of the camera! Only joking don’t spoil your lens).
the ISO should be as low as possible to eliminate unwanted noise in the image.
In summary
In summary, it is worth having a go yourself, especially if you are keen photographer. However, if you are not, it may well be worth saving your time and effort and using a professional to get the images you desire.
If you would like to discuss your potential project feel free to get in touch, by email, phone or through the form on our contact page. I can arrange to take photos either on location or at our professional studio in Ipswich. Full post-processing facilities are also available for any digital adjustments if required.
If you would like to know more about my photography service, click here. Alternatively, you can also contact me directly on 07809 431944 or email: lee@leehayesphotography.co.uk.
I also offer product photography services. These are perfect if you are looking for professional promotional images of your products. See more about this here.
