Is your company going to get professional portrait photos of its employees and want to know more about how to go about it? Here we gathered all the information you might need to think about before you choose the right and representative portrait photos that suit you.
Staff photography - everything you need to know
It is very important to know not only what a company does, but who run and develop the business. Photographing personnel is a large part of the company's representativeness, visibility and competitiveness on the market. The company with portraits of its staff always has an advantage over the business that deprioritizes the portfolio of its employees. Visual presence creates trust and increases the chances of cooperating with the person and/or the organization.
Whether you are a large company with a thousand employees or maybe just you and a few others, we will make sure you get representative, competent portrait images for your company.
I want to take staff photos in my company, where do I start?
To make it easier for you to understand what kind of staff photography your company needs and at the same tim make right choices from the start we have collected comprehensive tips and guidlines. You will get answers to all your questions that usually popps up before, during and after the photography photoshoot. For example: how the process of photography goes, what portrait possibilities exist; advice on choosing clothes, accessories and make up, all about editing and delivery; what ownership rights apply, how to buy and own the rights, how much does it cost and more
Few general questions to you regarding what you want with pictures
"Having nice cards on the staff" - you often hear it at the first opportunity, but with the help of the following questions, you as a company will have a much better idea of what you want with the photography.
It's about representing the company's profile rather than yourself as an individual
What do you work on and how do you want to appear to your customers?
Is it important with the work environment or preferably with photo studio background?
Serious, with a big smile or just nice and likeable?
Should everyone wear the same clothes or individually?
Should everyone be photographed with the same lighting so that everyone looks the same?
Do you want a full, half-body portrait or perhaps a head and shoulders is enough (so-called Headshot)?
Did you plan to photograph once or continuously when new employees arrive?
Clothes to avoid!
Make-up, Hair and accessories
Where will the image be used?
What would suit your business?
Down here we will describe in a little more detail regarding each point mentioned above
What do you want from your the images and what is tha message in them?
What if a dentist ordered a full body image/portrait for their website in a very casual style of clothing - would that fit? - doubtful! You should preferably see a competent dentist in work clothes and preferably in his work environment, feel free to check out an example here.
Every workplace has its own "dress code", even if you think there isn't one. Work clothes almost always create more confidence and professionalism in a certain area.
That is why in most cases we would recommend using your work clothes if available.
If work clothes are not available, then one would think more about choosing between more strict and casual. What suits you best? If you are easily available and your profession does not force you to look serious and strict, then it is probably best not to wear a jacket with a tight scarf, slightly nicer everyday clothes are fine there.
Advokatbyrå, on the other hand, would benefit much more from the "sharp look" without a smile and with strict clothes.
Feel free to think about what suits your company or discuss with us, we always share information that can be of some help to our customers.
What will the images be used for?
If the images are to be seen on the web, printed in a newspaper, journal or poster, we must know in advance. We adapt digital files to what they are to be used for. The images used on the web, for example, have a size of less than 100kB, are in Jpeg format and have the sRGB color space, while files used for printing are significantly larger, have Adode RGB color space and are usually in TIFF format. All this so that you get the best results from images where they are used.
Background in the photo studio or in your work environment
Your work environment as a background is always more alive, representative and give a good idea of what you do. The studio background is consistent and systematic so that apart from the model, everything is exactly the same in all images.
If it is important to show your work environment as part of competence and professionalism, then it is best to photograph portraits on location in the unique environments at your place.
If you have several hundred or perhaps a few thousand employees and want your portrait portfolio of employees to look consistent, then it is best to photograph the staff with our background in the studio or on location. We make sure that the light and background are identical on all pictures of staff. Feel free to check here and you will see more people with the same background (one person, however, did not want to be photographed so has kept the picture he had before). Despite all having the same background, they were not photographed at the same time. New employees, for example, come into our studio and photograph on our background and then post was edited into the background we photographed all employees.
Studio light "Flash and Light shaper" or Natural light - which suits my company?
With studio light, you can have a very even and consistent flow of images of staff for a long time and regardless of time of day, weather or season. It is a little more difficult with existing light to have consistent images over time in one and the same place outdoors. That's why, when we're outdoors, we combine both existing light and our battery-powered light sources to control light and give even results without the flash feeling.
Do you want full body, half body or head and shoulders in the pictures?
How much of the body should be visible in the picture is important and not so difficult to decide on.
Helkropp porträtt
Fotografering av personal där hel kröp syns på bilden är ganska specifik och oftast har med syfte att visa miljön och något viktig runt om människan. Sådana sorter av porträttbilder används snarare för tidningar och websidor för att representera själva företaget än att avbila personalen.
Halvkropp porträtt
Porträttbilder på personal där allt från midjan och uppåt syns räknas som halvkroppsporträtt. Det är vanligare att mindre företag samt ledningsgruppen på de större verksamhet införskaffar sig sådan sort av porträtt. Anledning till detta är att halvkroppsporträtt ger mycket mer information till tittare samt är mycket mer representativ. Vi som tittare vill också få så mycket information om en person från en bild som möjligt,
Det är relativt svårt, i tanke på ”huvud och axlar porträtt”, att fotografera halvkroppsporträtt med samma posering, då inte alla se lika bekväma på bilden med, till exempel, korsade armar. På så sätt blir det svårare att ha konsekvent flöde av bilder i företagsportfolio.
Head and shoulders portrait - "Headshot"
The picture where only the shoulders and head are visible is called a "Headshot". In a way, the simplest variant is portrait. However, do not confuse "simple" with less valuable or less representative. Simple is usually best when it comes to many things in life. Think, all the time that would otherwise be spent on posing arms, legs and posture is concentrated only on bringing out emotions and natural radiance, that's what makes portraits real.
One time project or ongoing shoot?
By "one time project" is meant that the photography will be finished when all employees have been photographed. It can take from 1 day to a few months to finish a project and depends on how many employees are to be photographed and what are the wishes for the personnel photography.
"Ongoing", on the other hand, has no clear end date and continues when new hires have entered the company and need a portrait.
In any case, the photography can take place in our Photo Studio or on site. You can stop by our Photo Studio when it suits you or we will come to you to supplement the company's portfolio with new employees.
What kind of clothes should it be, is it important?
Clothes are an important part of portrait photography, but why it is important is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Clothes should complement photo portraits and attract all the attention.
Tips for clothes, details and a little more before the photo shoot
No strong colors
Feel free to choose muted colors instead, they always look harmonious and nice in the picture. It is especially important when everyone has approximately the same tone of clothing. Nice red, yellow or green shirt can ruin pictures where everyone is wearing mid-tone colors. Strong colors steal the attention and leave bad viewer experience.
Avoid all types of clothing with checkered, striped and other sharp pattern
Strong patterns are the best stealers of our attention. The picture, moreover, does not look harmonious and make your eyes tired and unfocused fast.
Clothing without large logos
Remember that you represent your company and not the brand on your clothes. Feel free to choose clothes with small or preferably no logos that send the wrong message to viewers.
Iron clothes
Make sure the clothes you wear during the photoshoot are ironed. It is possible to edit out spreads with it takes quite a long time and with a greater flow of staff to be photographed it will not be prioritized considering your budget.
White shirts are good?
Should the company be photographed with a white background, it is not the best choice to wear white. Which is why the best thing is ti take with you some of your most favorite shirts with you so we can help you choosing.
Fix your hair a little before
Fixing the hair in post retouching is quite difficult and time consuming. To avoid allowing hair to ruin a portrait make sure to fix the hair before shooting. Staff photography is usually planned in advance, so you might as well take the opportunity to visit your hairdresser beforehand.
Makeup, how much is too much?
A little makeup is best. If you're trying to hide a pimple with some makeup on, don't! It takes significantly less time to remove it in post-retouching than correcting skin tone, which can be crazy after a layer of foundation cream.
Accessories - good, bad or ?
Watches, necklaces, rings, etc. always looks good in pictures. However, you must be careful with accessories, as it is the company that is represented, not you as a private person. Again, minimalism in this case is best.
"I look terrible in the pictures and can't pose at all" - whose responsibility is it that a person posed and looks good?
Personal photography is something that is usually experienced as more or less difficult. Some say the same thing: - "I look terrible in pictures", "what to do with hands", "how do you pose"?. Most people also believe that it is just the way it is and nothing can change. However, it is a completely wrong idea, as it is the photographer who poses, composes and makes sure that staff look good in the pictures. If you haven't received the photos you like, it probably indicates that you haven't met your photographer yet. Personal photography at Chaiko & Markstedt, just like all other photo shoots with us, is a nice experience rather than uncomfortable and tense time spent in the photo studio or on location. We take responsibility that your organization looks representative and matches your expectations.