[MrSpaceman]

I've volunteered to shoot some portraits of members (15) of the team based in another office. The shots are going to be placed on a large org chart for viewing at a divisional event (650 people).

I've been given a free reign over the style. The last thing I want is for it to be traditional passport photo looking, so I'm looking for any suggestions really.

My initial thoughts are black and white, natural expressions, close up.

[dfrear]

Check this, might give you some ideas:

5 Corporate-Style Portrait Techniques

[kBm]

1st thing - your not going to please everyone! The passport style is a safe bet, although can look very flat.

What about the classic portrait style - very professional like this? (scroll down the page)

What about the people in their working enviornment? Although office based work can be a bit limiting to a sat by a pc screen, 'meeting' round a desk etc. Still has the potential to be interesting.

But - do they want interesting or just photos of the staff?

[denno75uk]

Radiohead did some really nice portraits of his colleagues a year or so back that he posted in the Inspiration and Learning thread Pt1, link here to the first few. There's a few more in the 10 or so pages after. Might be worth a look for some inspiration.

[MrSpaceman]

Cheers....I remember those now.

[leckie]

I always think showing more of the body rather than the typical shoulder cut off portrait has better results but like said before you're never going to please everyone.

[ryart]

If they are for an organisation chart the first consideration is that the subjects should be instantly recognisable in the pictures. This suggests head and shoulders with a similar crop and lighting style for each person. I would keep the lighting fairly simple; main light to the left with a soft fill/reflector to the right should give good modelling.

If possible shoot everyone in the same session to keep consistency and perhaps produce some test shots, with a few variations, beforehand to discuss with whoever is in charge of the project and maybe the highest ranking person on the board.

Any reason for thinking of B&W?

The bottom line is balancing functionality of the pictures with any artistic flair you might like to show.

[sim667]

Are they paying u any extra for it?

If not, just give em bog basic stuff....

[ryart]

Originally Posted by sim667

Are they paying u any extra for it?

If not, just give em bog basic stuff....

That way you won't get asked again, you'll feel very unhappy and also, with an audience of 650 seeing your shots, there is a chance that it will lead to further things that might pay rather well .



If you decide on the head and shoulders route have their shoulders at a slight angle to the camera and then get the subjects to turn their head towards you. This can give a more "natural" appearance; less of a passport look.

Had a look at some of the links earlier in this thread and found the lighting very flat in some of them. If you don't have much in the way of lighting equipment try using the light from a large north facing window. Turn the subject until the modelling is nice and use a large sheet of white card to fill in as necessary. You may need to warm up the results in post processing. The repeatability of flash light on stands is the way to go if you can get the look you want.

It is best to use a tripod and have the subjects seated. Mark the position of the chair on the floor with some masking tape. Some people always move the chair as they sit down, some by accident, others in an attempt to take control of the situation .

Once you're set up and shot a few off, try raising your head above the camera and smile at them. People react much more naturally to a persons face than someone hiding behind a camera. This is the main benefit of using a tripod. If you adopt this tactic check the focus after to make sure they haven't moved and avoid using too wide an aperture, you need a bit of depth of field to play with. Your priority is to get a good in focus picture not some arty 2mm of depth of field picture, most of which end up focussed in the wrong place. Its also best to review all your shots before you pack up using zoom mode in the camera to check focus, or better still a PC or laptop if handy.

The balance of aperture, shutter speed and ISO setting will depend on how large the final prints will be and at what distance they will be moved. Unless you do this sort of thing regularly it is very advisable to take some test shots and print up to finished size.

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Cheers, Malcolm