Corporate Headshots - Studio vs Location?
We feel this is definitely worth discussing on the blog! A lot of our clients often suggest that we shoot their staff portraits ‘on location’ and while that can be a very nice way to shoot, here’s our rundown of why we think ‘studio’ always wins when photographing multiple staff from a company…
What does ‘on location’ mean?
This implies that the photos are to be taken using the client’s office as the background for their corporate headshots. This could be somewhere in their building (a corridor, a meeting room, a break room etc) or even using a place just outside their building in the natural sunlight (or grey, given that we’re in London). It means that there’s no backdrop used in the shoot and behind the person is usually a blurry office scene. This is a very typical style of corporate headshot thats been around for a long long time. Much like this example (stock image)
Why is this a bad corporate headshot?
While there’s nothing particularly awful about this photo there are some major reasons why we don’t advise photographing your staff like this. You see that hard sunlight on the man’s cheek? Thats moving all the time throughout the day, so by the time we’ve photographed your 10th staff member, the light is going to be totally different. The same goes for the light coming through the windows behind him, that’s going to change too, or even totally disappear if it’s not a perfectly sunny day.
These ‘blurry background’ portraits as we like to call them are very reliant on perfect conditions. The location needs to be amazingly well lit and the actual architecture/interiors need to be great too. While some companies are lucky to be based in very stylish buildings, another issue is the most photogenic parts of the building may not be in sunlight, OR they might be in a shared part of the building and cause all sorts of issues with security staff. Even if the conditions are perfect, this style of corporate headshot is old fashioned, cheesy and dull.
Too many variables
What you’re probably picking up on by now is that there’s just too many factors that can ruin the aesthetic of the photos. Bad light, ugly office, difficult security clearance, other people needing to use that space etc etc. Then there’s also the chance of the company changing offices, and then things really start looking inconsistent if we go back every so often to shoot headshots for new employees.
Consistency is key
The thing that instantly ruins a ‘meet the team’ page on a company website is inconsitency. All that money put into a beautiful website goes to waste when the collage of staff photos looks like each shot was taken in a different place, with different light, and possibly by a different photographer. This is why we do what we can to keep your corporate headshots looking as stylish and art-directed as possible. The key to this is ‘studio’. This keeps the lighting, framing and colours all looking great across the whole staff shoot.
But don’t you always shoot at the client’s office?
Yes we do! But we bring a studio backdrop with us along with lighting so that the setting for each headshot is the same. We’ve built little studios in boardrooms, meeting rooms, hallways, and pretty much anywhere else so that we can shoot really stylish and consistent corporate headshots. Every photo on our gallery page is taken in a client’s office.
Any other reasons why ‘studio’ rules over ‘location’?
Absolutely. What we’re trying to do here at The London Portrait is to change corporate headshots so that they catch up with the quality of editorial/magazine portraits. This massively ups the quality of our client’s websites and all their press and social media too. Shooting in a studio style means that the company has great headshots that can be used for so many more purposes and they double up as really good shots for when a magazine wants to write about their company.
Do you refuse to shoot ‘location’?
Definitely not! This are all just guidelines. After all, if its truly what the client wants then we will absolutely provide high end location portraits, but this always requires some very fancy/unique office interioirs! As a rule, if the office isn’t stunning studio is alway best.