corporate photography tips Archives

Photography for Corporate Events

9th October 2018/in conference photography London, Corporate Event Photographer, corporate photographer in London, corporate photography tips /by Editor

We are often commissioned to photograph our London client’s corporate events on a recurring cycle. This is because once the client sees the benefits of having a decent photographic or video record of the event they will repeat the process for each new occasion. Having these images is a massive plus when it comes to marketing next year’s event. There is no doubt that great photographs showing industry professionals looking interested, taking notes, talking with clients/customers in their business sector, enjoying the great venue and illustrating how popular and busy it was was can only improve your next event.

London corporate events people audience photography

London corporate events venue photography

London corporate events people audience photography

When you commission a corporate photographer in London to cover your event make sure you have a comprehensive shot list. We came unstuck on a few events where we would focus on aspects of the occasion like the key speakers and the venue and not knowing that the client had assumed we would know who the important people in the audience were and had captured their photos. Other shots to have on the list are internal and external photos of the venue, food and drink photographed before it is served. We tend to suggest you do not take close up photos of people eating as these never really work. Also close ups of any awards and literature at the event along with images of any graphics and projected images.

London corporate events speakers venue photography

London corporate events speaker awards photography

London corporate events client audience photography

A good idea is once you have the events photography send out a gallery with download options to everyone who attended the event. People might not want to ask for a photo of themselves but this way guests have the option to use their photo and just ask for a credit if they are using it on a website.

We often download images and video as the event is in progress this way our clients can stream photos onto social media. With DSLRs we can capture the key speakers or invited guests as they talk on stage. These are great records of the event and can be used on your company website.

London corporate events presentation photography

London corporate events special venue photography

London corporate events key speakers photography

London corporate events special guests photography

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your next London corporate event photography requirements.

The difference between corporate headshots and corporate portrait photography.

7th June 2018/in Corporate Photographer London, corporate photography tips, corporate portrait photography, LinkedIn Photographer, LinkedIn Profile Photo, Portrait Photography /by Editor

I have been a corporate portrait photographer for longer than I care to remember and have noticed that over recent years we are receiving less commissions for corporate portraits and more for corporate headshots. The majority of clients require a profile photo on a white background and often their request asks for something simple and without too many studio lights. This gives us very little to work with as they are basically wanting a passport photo but taken on a decent camera. This seems a real shame as a decent corporate portrait can portray your personality and suggest success and professionalism.

The term headshot originated in the US and was originally associated with actors. These were sometimes very creative shots that used lighting and background to create powerful portraits. Early website pages with ‘meet the team’ headshots were often taken against a bright blue or mottled studio background and did nobody any favours. These were often the colourama rolls which studios had lying around and after a while became standard for plenty of large US corporates. To this day I still get sent sample headshots that I need to match which feature these backgrounds.

In the past corporate portrait photography was commissioned mainly for magazines, annual reports and company brochures. People had the perception that this was required for this media but a website headshot could dispense with the quality and creativity associated with a portrait. Their has been a gradual change to using a corporate portrait. We have seen an uplift in requests recently and the understanding that your LinkedIn profile is your professional online CV and the photo will be the first thing people look at.

Here are some samples and we can look at how they benefit the individual.

1. Striking corporate portrait using natural and studio lighting to great effect. Great use of reflections and The City skyline to suggest a confident professional in a modern London office.

2. More subtle corporate portrait using natural light from a side window and a interesting boardroom background. Little hints of modern corporate interior design help show her business success.

3. You could never convey this type of confidence and pride in a basic headshot. The stance and location bring a sense of leadership to the corporate portrait.

4. Wonderful corporate portrait using the office corridor lighting as a diagonal which adds visual interest. The pose again is very relaxed and the individual looks in control and at the top of her game.

5. Informal or reportage corporate portrait photography is visually interesting as it gives a sense of purpose in the working environment. People are focused on talking about their business and therefore look unposed and very natural.

6. The crop is tight which is similar to a headshot but the addition of a subtle outline of St Pauls suggest a young London professional ready for business.

7. We shot this for CEO Magazine and using shapes and lighting this is a good example of corporate portrait photography.

Looking at these samples you have to take into account where they are going to be used. LinkedIn profile photos are very small and therefore a tighter crop is required to feature well. Company websites have enough room and scope to widen their ‘About Us’ headshots and their is marketing potential in being creative with their corporate portrait photography to make the website page of interest to the viewer rather than a standard corporate staff gallery.

How do you work out your corporate photography rates in London?

5th June 2018/in Corporate Photographer London, Corporate Photography Rates, corporate photography tips, London Photography /by Editor

A question we often get asked by other photographers and we find it hard to give an answer. Not because we do not want to divulge this information as for many years we had it on our website, but you have to come to this decision based on your situation and many other factors that are involved in corporate photographers undertaking a commission.

We have always quoted our rates which include the rights to all the headshots and corporate images with a full licence to use in any media over an unlimited period. Many other photographers retain control over their photographs and stipulate terms of usage and periods of licence. This is clearly another way to gain revenue and therefore these photographers could reduce their corporate photography rates and making their quotes more attractive at first glance.

Another factor which comes into play is charging for post production. We include airbrushing and retouching with our headshot and corporate photographers rates but do put a limit on the number of photos included. Post production rates vary and the quality certainly can vary but when setting out their stalls photographers look at the complete service that is being offered to clients and corporate photography rates are not the only factor businesses take into account when choosing who they will use.

We get a least four emails everyday (weekends included) from retouching companies in China and India. Prices are so low you wonder how they ever managed to afford the computer to do the work on. We do not outsource our post production and with all the data protection laws being tightened are very unlikely to do it in the near future. I do most of our headshot retouching and airbrushing and find it a real pleasure these days. In the past when I was working alone I found it a chore as I was always having to tag it on at the end of the day and clients would be needing their photographs the following day. These days I have block periods during the working day to complete corporate photography post production and have began to get better and better at it. I find the trick is to make sure you can not see that the headshots have been retouched. Subtle is the best word to describe our post production and people look better but not overworked or false in anyway.

Our corporate photography rates are charged out by a combination of people and time. We can photograph X amount of people in X amount of time. So we structure our costs in hourly, half day and day rates all plus the good old VAT.

Should you put your corporate photography rates on your website? A few photographers do and many do not. We used to display them but got feedback that we were either undercharging or being undercut. Several times we lost work due to people charging just a little less than us. Also I had a call once from a leading London corporate photographer who left a voicemail saying that we were not charging enough as they had picked up a job we could not attend and the client had told the photographer what we had quoted. I suppose at the end of the day it all boils down to what your costs are, against what profit you need to survive or prosper.

Recently I have began looking at what other photographers charge and it varies greatly for the same sort of service. My research saw headshots in London studios for as little as £50 (not sure how that is possible with London rates) going up to £500 for a top London studio. It must work along the lines of the first studio doing 10 shoots a day and the top London studio doing the one per day as I can not believe they would be booked out at that price. But my point is they are making the same amount per day and that is why corporate photography rates can vary so widely in London.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss our corporate photography rates and different package options.

Grantly Borrett-Lynch

Corporate photographer and editor.

Tips for Corporate Headshot Photography

23rd March 2018/in business headshots, Corporate Headshots, Corporate Photographer London, corporate photography tips, LinkedIn Headshots /by Editor

People tend not to like having their photo taken. I have never been able to work out why and it is a very British thing as well. Americans love to be photographed and see the benefits of a high quality headshot for marketing themselves. I thought I would jot down a few tips we have picked up over the many years of capturing corporate portraits.

1. What should you wear?

People often feel they have to make an extra effort when it comes to dressing for their headshots. But be careful not to overdress and I would not suggest buying a new outfit just for the shoot. Wear clothes you feel comfortable and relaxed in and this will come across in the photographs. If you are overdressed you will feel awkward and this will show. Keep things simple and make sure the clothes are fresh and clean. Have a brush down for stray hairs etc. We can adjust things in post-production but it is about how you feel during the shoot that matters. There is only one item of clothing I would mention that you might want to avoid (top tips). White shirts if worn without a jacket tend to reflect light very well. This is not a technical problem for us but can produce a form of uplighting under the chin. We tend to light our sitters at 45-degree angle so that there is a shadow cast under the chin. This makes the chin look stronger and can hide any signs of a double chin. A white shirt will weaken this shadow so if you feel this might apply to you avoid wearing one.

2. Do I need a make-up artist?

In the past, we have worked with clients who wanted a make-up artist at the shoot and it was always a tricky balance of not going to over the top and hiding blemishes, spots etc. These days we tell clients to wear what they normally wear and we can adjust any imperfections in post-production. Modern retouching is so superior to what you can hide with make-up. Also, we use retouching in a subtle way so you still look the same but with any wrinkles reduced, spots removed, scars can be lessened, bloodshot eyes cleared the list is endless but overall we retouch so you look like yourself on a good day.

3. Should I get my hair done beforehand?

Your call really. If you feel more confident and professional after a recent hair appointment then please do it. If not please bring whatever you need to get your hair looking its best to the headshot session. Sounds silly but just running a brush through it in front of the mirror works perfectly. As long as you are happy with it in front of the camera we can control wayward strands in post-production.

4. With or without glasses?

If you wear them all the time and clients are used to seeing you in them then yes. If you only wear them to read then no unless they make you feel more confident. In my opinion, the most important element to creating a good corporate headshot is the eyes. If you get the eyes looking engaged, confidence radiating from them you have cracked it and the rest will fall into place. The eyes give everything away though so if you are feeling uncomfortable in front of the camera it will be the eyes that convey this. The photographer should put you at ease, showing you the best way to stand, suggesting different head positions and guiding you through the process.

5. Should I smile?

I think this all goes back to our childhood with parents urging their children to grin ear to ear in any photo that they appeared in. I someone is a natural smiler then just go with what they feel happy to do. Others we have to nurture into a smile but in these cases, I do not suggest a large broad grin because this does not come naturally to everyone. We suggest a half-smile which gives warmth to the corporate headshot giving an approachable look. There is nothing worse than a false forced smile and a photographer asking a sitter to smile makes the situation awkward if the person does not feel natural doing it. You do not have to smile in your headshot. It is down to the individual’s character. People who know you will react if you are clearly out of character and likewise potential clients will want to see a true reflection of the person they want to do business with.

6. My friend is a photographer do you want me to tell you the tips they suggested?

Always interesting to pick up new tips but overall it is best to follow the process we have perfected over 20 years of experience. It might have been suggested that you practise different poses in the mirror or say a certain word to make you look better. These tips really do not work and only make the session staggered as it breaks the natural flow of the headshot session.

7. Is this my best side?

We shoot a full range of headshots on both sides getting you to stand at 45 degrees to the camera with your head turned directly at it. We will position you in a variety of poses giving you tips on how to stand. If they feel awkward we will change to another. Sometimes people want to stand in a certain pose or angle to hide a spot or scar. Let us know if this is the case as I mentioned these imperfections are best dealt with in post-production and certainly should not mean you are standing at an odd angle in your headshot.

8. Do I have to look at the camera?

Not everyone likes the confrontation of a long lens and even less having to look natural in front of it. We often capture people looking off camera and this can work really well as if they are chatting to a friend who is positioned out of the camera’s view then the sitter has something else to focus on and feels less inhibited. In cases when you need a companies headshots to follow a style for a website about us page for instance then we would have to shoot the headshot with the sitter looking to camera but there is something quite refreshing for a LinkedIn profile page to have an off-camera shot. Tends to make the person look like they have been captured during their working day.

9. Business casual or smart?

Which best for a headshot formal or informal? This all depends on your industry and what your business sector expects to see. For instance, an IT company idea of casual is jeans and a t-shirt whereas a bank would suggest casual is not wearing a tie. You will know your market sector better than we do so go with what your competitors are doing. We have several styles of corporate headshot photography which we can run past you but it is a very good tip to have decided the look you prefer prior to the headshot session.

10. Do you send me the best headshots for LinkedIn?

We tend to send you everything we have captured minus any obvious outtakes. People naturally want to see everything so they can make a choice from the selection. Once you have selected your favourites we will retouch and edit those. We can produce black and white versions of our colour headshots and give tips on which crop works best for LinkedIn or other business social media sites. One of our new tips is to think about the background image you can upload on LinkedIn. You have gone to the expenses and spent time creating a professional headshot for your LinkedIn profile but then happy to leave the background image as the default LinkedIn graphic. We have a large selection of corporate generic imagery which we can supply as cropped to fit the LinkedIn banner background. Try and use an image that reflects your business or market sector. We have found that the most popular is a London cityscape for those working in The City and we can tailor it to your corporate headshots so it does not look like a library photo.

Finally of all these tips, I would say that when you are choosing a corporate photographer in London to capture your headshot look at their portfolio carefully. I know that is an obvious tip but remember headshot photographers work for years creating styles and processes to define their portfolio so above cost and availability be sure that their style is exactly what you require. Suggesting to a photographer that they mimic or copy another photographers work might save you a few pounds but the outcome will not be their best work and therefore probably fall below your expectations.