Taking a Corporate Headshot

You might be questioning the importance of, or the reason for having a corporate headshot. It is generally a good idea to have corporate headshot of yourself as well as employees. You can upload them to the staff page of your company’s website. This is particularly advantageous if yours is the kind of business which deals heavily in client relations, as the headshots and accompanying, written staff profiles give personality and identity to your staff and company as a whole. Incorporating headshots may help clients engage and interact with your staff, as the headshots act as a friendly “hello”. However attractive the final product may be, headshots can be rather costly, which is why some businesses opt to do it themselves. But before you take out the camera and start shooting, read our tips and tricks for taking the best headshots of you and your team: 

• Getting started – Let’s begin with outfit choice. A headshot should be, you guessed it, shot from the chest up! Having said that, choose a few nice shirts to wear. It is best practice to wear something comfortable and in which you look and feel good – fashion with a function. When you feel good in the clothes you wear, it shows through a bright, smiling face. Sometimes, you’ll even get a good day out of it. You know how that song goes, “It’s a good day to have a good day.”

• Putting on your face – You’ll want to look your sharpest, not only in the clothes you wear, but more importantly, the point of the headshot, the face. Don’t go overboard on the makeup though, as you could end up looking nothing like yourself on a normal day. The point of a headshot is to provide a clear, attractive, and friendly picture of yourself. Women should lean more toward neutral colors or a light application of makeup. Men should be either clean-shaven or well-trimmed, depending on if you usually sport a beard or mustache, or not. You should also take the time to style your hair for some added flare and personality.

• Lighting and backdrop – These will change depending on if you’re either inside or outside. If you’re inside, you’ll have to set up artificial lights and maybe even a background if the walls are unflattering. Stick with a solid color background, and make sure the lights aren’t too bright and in your face. The lights should complement the face, but not be so intense that they project shadows on your face or give your skin a different color. Two lights on either side of you should do the trick, with one closer to your face to create a soft shadow. If you’re outside, you’ll have to play with angles for a bit, depending on where in the sky the sun is. You don’t want to be in the deep shadows, as it may be too dark to see the image clearly, but you also don’t want to be in direct sunlight, as it will bother the subject’s eyes and the excessive light may be unflattering as it falls on the face. You’ll want to be in the “open shade”, or the spot in which you’re not directly in the sun, yet you’re still lit up. Choosing the background will depend on the angle you previously chose, as it would be harder to fight with the angle and sunlight if you were to choose the background first. Pay close attention to make sure the angle, light, and background complement the subject’s features, including face and hair.
• Selecting and editing for the perfect headshot – You should take several photos with different poses and degrees of smile, so you have a selection from which to choose. Once you’ve chosen the best, most attractive picture, it’s time to do some last minute touch-ups and editing. You can either do this through a program like Photoshop or with a simple camera app. You should first crop and straighten, then adjust the brightness, improve the color and lighting, and sharpen or soften the image as needed. And finally you can save it once you’re happy with the finished product.
• Profile write-up – Underneath each headshot on your website should be a proper description of the employee, including their skills, talents, specific role(s) within the company, and special interests or activities outside of work for added personality. You can even include something quirky, like a favorite food, tv show or movie, sport, if they met a celebrity and how or what the interaction was like. Be sure to include their education background as well to attribute where they learned their specific skills. The write-up itself should only be about 4-5 sentences long and really showcase who the employee is as a person and why they’re a valued member of the team.

While having corporate headshots aren’t necessary for every company, it will provide your clients with a view of your team and how their respective talents, skills, and roles culminate to make up your adroit and dexterous company. As with any photoshoot, the subjects should be well-rested, well-fed, hydrated, and eager to get their picture taken. Be sure to have fun with it, too, so the personality can really shine through, making for an even better headshot. Choose the most professional yet attractive photo for each employee and write a dazzling description.