Alternative to the typical Corporate Headshot
Environmental portrait of CEO of Relativity Space, shot with an Octabank.
I am partial to the environmental portraits because they are compressed short story forms and because it is the first kind of portrait that I learned to do while working at newspapers around the country like the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Los Angeles Times and the Kansas City Star. This skill, along with photojournalism, has served me well in my corporate photography work whether I am shooting corporate headshots or the more interesting work of corporate portraiture of business people in Los Angeles.
My clients don’t pay me to figure out how to make corporate portraits, they pay me to know how to do what I do, so when I arrive at a business office, I know what I am I am looking for. Usually, a photographic background that speaks to what they do, frames them or is just really interesting. For the environmental portrait, I often look for something contextual that says something about the subject, like the aerospace CEO on the left. Here the American flag in the background the floor of an airplane hanger in the midground and the rocket engine housing in the foreground are the elements that add meaning to the picture. Further, the housing is lit with a couple of strobes and uses the color blue to align with their branding.
Using backgrounds to frame corporate portraits
Corporate portraits using the background to frame subjects.
Alternatively, a photographer can use the background to frame the subject is another way of directing the eye to your subject. Note the background behind the woman in the yellow suit. The archway frames her in a way that raises her profile. Similarly, the woman in black is roughly framed by the palm trees in the background.
Framing elements can be entryways, doorways, hallways, trees, windows, or anything with a shape that allows the photographer to place the subject in front of them.
They are easier to find in locations where an architect has done a great job in designing the building or has created a garden area outside. Architects often seek symmetry in their designs that serve as background elements in environmental portraits.
The American writer Susan Sontag, who wrote essays on photography, said, “The photographic image […] is always the image that someone chose; to photograph is to frame and to frame is to exclude” and thus focus.
This is an easy way to enhance the image and impress your clients.
Blurred backgrounds for the corporate headshot.
Corporate headshots with an environmental background and lit with a silk and large reflectors.
For simpler portraits where the background is not important to the client, a photographer can choose a setting where there are interesting elements.
In the background of the images to the left, the foliage wasn’t that interesting until I threw it out of focus. The viewer understands that it is foliage but it does not distract from the subjects. All of the viewers focus on the subject. This is more interesting to me than a corporate headshot on a seamless paper background and it serves the same purpose of identifying the business person.
Throwing the background out of focus so it looks abstracted allows for a greater range of elements to be used in the corporate headshot, so long as it is interesting and not distracting.
I typically use a 24-70mm f 2.8 or a 50mm 1.2 lens to make the background go out of focus and on occasion, I might use a longer lens. For the images to the left, we lit the subjects with a silk and large reflectors, using the sun as my only light source.
