How to get the best head shot for your business (The Office)

  Integrating head shots with group shots and your web page.  In this post I will show you some different looks that were played with for group of financial advisors.  At first we started of with using the office decor as the back drop for head shots and for group shots.  We set up in an office and decided to use the brick as the backdrop since it was an old building with character.  The head shots came out great as you can see in the one below.  However, it was decided to go for a cleaner look and thus change in to a cleaner look keeping the same color palette.   Also, the crop was made just a little tighter to make the subject 50 percent of the image rather than 40 percent

      

This was done for all of the head shots.  Now this was an artistic choice and could have worked just as well with the brick.  The great thing about flat color backgrounds is they can very easily be made to match the color scheme of a website, business logo, brochure, or card.  So below is the office team of head shots.

   

Next we did a group shot of every one with the office as part of the background. We set up lighting and furniture was moved, along with posing each member.

As you can see everyone is well lit, however the lighting on the back ground has some problems with reflections in the wall art.  In this session we had a limited amount of time so setting up more elaborate lighting was not an option.  Which brings up another challenge, the size of the shooting area and what would be the correct lens to use.  When creating a group photo it is best not to use a wide angle lens if you are too close.  What happens is the image starts to distort, mostly on the ends.  What happens is strait lines are no longer strait, like the brick on the left and the pictures on the wall.  In this case we used photoshop to lens correct and keep things strait.  Just keep this in mind if you try to do a group shot your self.  All and all not too bad.  However, again we decided to remove the back ground and replace it with the same color as the head shots.  This really brings out the people more because your I does not look around to see what is in the background. Just take a look below.

It really is quite different from the original.  And again this is an artistic change, the first image is very suitable for use.

Going the extra mile on your website and marketing material

When Robert Akers Photography works with a business we want you to use your image in as many ways as possible so we go the extra mile for you so you can do the same with your website and marketing material.  How do we do this?  We do it by photographing more poses and different outfits if necessary.  In this case it was simply with and with out the jacket.  As you can see the posing in these is a little more casual. but still professional.  The second image, without the jacket is even more casual.  A good reason for these is for a meet the staff page.  They have already seen the super professional meet the team.  Now it is time to get to know them person behind the profession and talk person to person.  The reason is when you finally meet your client feels like they already know you and they like what you are about.  This is a great foundation to do business on.

Another thing we can do is move to design custom images for getting your message across.  This type of imagery takes a little more time and may involve some stock backgrounds and graphic design, like in the image below.

 

Here we have integrated a stock image with a logo and motto to really bring home the message that we are professional and know what we are doing.   

Below is your team shot.  These can be used to show the team of specialist for a particular field.  For example in the financial world this could be the investment team, retirement planning team or any other service they may offer. 

 

Well, I hope this blog post has given you more insight into getting the best head shot and group shots for your business.  As always Robert Akers Photography is here to make you look great !!  Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have at 207-985-4606 or click on the link below to go to our contact form

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