For a full-time portrait photographer, choosing to do corporate headshot photography is a good idea during the quiet months.
Portrait or headshot session
When doing a portrait or a headshot session, Violet Gorgi a headshot photographer will work at least one hour with one person. During this time, the person will get comfortable, the photographer will do some coaching to help the subject feel good and relaxed, because only this way the look will be great.
The photographer can try different things with the lights, while the person can change outfits, hairstyles and the rest of it. All these things will guarantee that something great will result at the end of the headshot session.
Corporate headshot photography
Corporate headshot photography is way different because instead of one person per hour, the photographer can work in only two hours with up to 70 different people.
In this case, the photographer usually relies on a system which makes his job a lot easier.
All employees participating in the headshot photography session will follow the system in which, the photographer will bring people in, will shoot with them, and after that they will leave the room to give way to the next group of employees.
This way, the photographer will get good shots consistently during a 90 seconds to two minute session with each person.
This is not the only way to do things when doing corporate headshot photography, there are other systems and different techniques used by other photographers to work with a larger number of people in a short period of time.
The whole thing with corporate headshot photography is reaching a balance between being extremely efficient while keeping the consistency of the shots up.
The setup and the headshot shooting itself
The setup usually starts with a background light facing onto a white paper. The white paper is the most common background used by some corporates, but there are corporates choosing grey or black backgrounds, while others choose the color of their own company, etc.
Beside the background light, the setup will also consist of the key light, a reflector, and a gridded strip light.
When the setup is ready to start the headshot session, all the subjects that are selected will enter the room one by one or in groups of two or more people. However, even of more than one employee enters the room, only person person will sit in front of the camera each time.
The photographer will spend up to two minutes with each employee, and this way the entire corporate headshot session can take up to two hours.
During those two minutes, the headshot photographer will do some coaching, which means that the subject will sit behind a line drawn on the ground.
The photographer will position the subject in the perfect place in relation to the lights in the room. Regarding the body position, the photographer requests a straight spine, leveled and flat shoulders, and the right foot slightly forward, because this way the body will be pivoted towards the light a little bit.
When everything is in position, will start the shooting session itself. This means efficiency achieved with a large group of people in a short period of time, while getting great shots with all the employees involved in the headshot session.
