Tips and Techniques For Outstanding Corporate Portraits
Corporate or executive portraits are becoming more and more important in a world where communication plays a big role in the success and wealth of a company. Creating a visual identity for a company by photographing the people who work in it, will give it the human dimension which can help in getting new clients. Corporate photos can range from classic and environmental portraits to be used in a company’s website, to the creation of photo stories and more fun shots for a company’s publications and for many other purposes. Corporate photography doesn’t come without challenges. In order to succeed in this area of photography you need to know exactly what you are doing and you have to be prepared to work in any kind of condition. There is usually only a small amount of experimentation allowed, as you need to give your clients exactly what they need.
Preparation
Gear, light and camera
Shooting
Some further Tips:
-Be confident. Showing self confidence and knowing exactly what you are doing will get your subjects to trust you more quickly, which will make your job easier.
-Dress Smart. Your dress code should be adapted to the place you are shooting in. If you are taking portraits of a CEO of a company, you should dress as if you were an employee of the company. In the same logic, if you are shooting in a factory or at construction site, then you should wear something more suited to such environments.
-don’t overdo editing. Corporate portraits are not like fashion, glamour and other types of portraits where you can have more freedom in editing and altering the image. Your corporate photos should be authentic and post processing should be kept to a minimum. It’s OK to remove a blemish or a pimple, but you shouldn’t exceed that, and make sure to let your client know of any extra editing that you did.
-Don’t get underpaid. Don’t accept to get paid less than the norm because you are just starting out or because you are doing it for fun. Accepting to work for a cheap rate or for free is only unfair to all the other professional photographers who devote their time and energy to this job. So ask other photographers, or do a little internet research to get an idea on how much you should charge for your services.
Following are some examples of corporate photography:
