Shooting Corporate Portraits: Black & White Photography for Design Team

When it comes to shooting corporate portraits, one of the biggest challenges is getting people to relax in front of the camera. Because, while we may all love clicking selfies, with portraits, people tend to feel camera-shy.

And that’s why, our primary focus is always about putting our subjects at ease . The other trick of course is to set up a pleasant background with clean lighting that ensure portraits look relaxed and the client feels confident about using them to promote themselves.

Today’s blog post is laden with tips about things to remember when shooting corporate portraits along with a stunning showcase from our latest photo gig. In that, we’ve worked with the amazing team at Design Team. They approached us to shoot contemporary black and white corporate portraits for each of their team members.

After setting up a suitable date and time, we proceeded to shoot at the Design Team’s offices and set up a portable studio with:

1. 3 studio lights, stands
2. 1 professional camera
3. 1 photographer and 1 assistant

During post-production, we picked a selection of corporate portraits and sent them to the client for approval.

Once approved, we digitally enhanced them on Photoshop for ensuring maximum quality.

We’ve converted all images to B+W and created high resolution and web resolution versions of each image, for the client’s benefit.

Here’s what we practice when shooting corporate portraits:

1.  Wide angle lenses are a strict no-no when shooting head shots. This will alter the appearance of photographs making them appear unrealistic.
2.  Notice how we’ve selected backgrounds that make each head shot pop. What your photographer chooses as a background, will add context to your images.
3. We always help our subjects practise a few facial expressions in front of the mirror. This helps them relax and makes shooting hassle-free and simpler.
4. We always pay attention and guide our clients on their choice of attire, particularly for corporate portraits. Also, we prefer to steer clear of a typical passport head shot.  So, avoiding symmetry in their stance is key. A good place to start is to avoid aligned shoulders; instead we ask our subjects to sit or stand with one shoulder in front and one turned to the back.

Some of the finished pictures:

If you’re thinking about making memorable corporate portraits, write in today: [email protected]