First, we have a good article dealing with this in our blog. Communication is key. Let us know what you are trying to achieve and we will respond back with the necessary questions. A few details you may want to include are, the kind of look you’re going for (solid background, do you want office ambience, action shots, or a particular unique stylized feel). How many people? What’s your space like, do you have room to shoot in? And of course where and when. A lot of the answers are here in the FAQs. But we are happy to address your specific needs. Second, you’ll need to schedule your team. We are happy to answer questions about time per subject, etc. Again, a lot of that is answered below. Before the shoot we suggest sharing the preparation basics on this page with your team. It’s important to let them know that this is a guided process, they don’t need to know how to pose, or sing or dance, or cry on cue. After the shoot we deliver proofs via online gallery. How you choose to make selections is up to you. We’ve found the easiest way, outside of us choosing for you, is to have a dedicated individual choose for everyone. This is especially true with large numbers of 20 or more. For smaller shoots we think it’s okay to be a little more selective.

With respect to schedule and timing, I typically leave this up to the client but I’m happy to guide you. As you can imagine there are an infinite number of ways to schedule these shoots, depending on your situation. If it’s an all day event it sometimes works to simply notify everyone that I’ll be there and let them come over at their own convenience. If you’d like to offer more precise scheduling I’ve found what works best is to schedule people in blocks of 5 or 10 individuals expecting each person to take 3-5 minutes each (at most). At 3-5 minutes per individual (for example with 50 individuals) we are at 3.5 hours to photograph them all. I’ll get to what to do if you have less time below. If you have a full day to work with you can spread the blocks out. If you have less time to work with you can schedule your blocks closer or even back to back. If you have less than 3.5 hours (and 50 people for example) we can get the time per Individual pretty low while maintaining good results. I’ve done a person per minute before and it worked fine. 

As far as planning the day I like to get there about an hour early for setup. I can arrive at whatever time works best for your situation. No time is too early for me. I like to get there about an hour before the event to set up. And it takes me about half an hour to break down. I typically only need about a half hour for lunch and a 15 minute break if we are going a full day. 

I have an equipment cart I’ll bringing in so I like to avoid stairs if possible. But I don’t have a problem pushing it a little ways if parking requires that I do. But of course, if there’s an easier or closer way to load it all in I’ll always take it. 

For the shoot:

I would have each individual hold up a piece of paper with their name and whatever particular way you’d like to identify people (employee number, email, etc.) for the first shot. Typically groups do this by putting a stack of paper and a pen out where I’m set up so each person can write out their info before they step in for photos. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about the above or anything else. I look forward to it!

this varies greatly depending on the number of subjects, the style or complexity of the desired image, and logistics. By logistics I mostly mean the art undertaken by the member of your team who’s job it is to gather all of your employees efficiently. In an idea world, where everyone is scheduled perfectly, to be safe I’d set aside at least 1 hour of shoot time for 10 subjects, 2 hours for 20, 3 hours for 30, and a half or full day for anything more. But in practice it’s not always all that easy to schedule perfectly. We are happy to discuss and offer advice for your particular situation. Remember shoot time does not include time to set-up and break down equipment. Add 45 minutes for each.

There are a lot of variables that go into deciding this. If we are doing standard headshots, on a uniform background, it’s possible to schedule each subject for as little as 2-3 minutes. In 2-3 minutes we can typically capture 5 good proofs per individual (5 shots to choose from for retouching). Make sure to account for lunch and a break. Smaller shoots are more forgiving. Just remember the standard group rate is per day. And additional rates are per person. 

We deliver all proofs through a password protected gallery that can be shared with other members of your team. We leave it up to the client to decide how they’d like to run the selection process. Albeit not always the most popular way according to individual subjects, the easiest way is to turn it all over to us. Some groups choose to select an individual to be in charge of the section process. Some choose to share the gallery and let each employee choose. The larger the number the less I’d recommend the latter. In our experience It’s much easier and more efficient if a single individual can make the choices.

The first and most important thing is to remember that I’m here to guide you through the whole process. Most people tell me they don’t like having their photos taken. Including myself! I expect that, and do everything I can to make it an easy, fully guided process. Second: Communication is key. Let me know what it is you’re trying to achieve. If you see photos on-line that inspire you, send them over. If there’s a particular mood you’re going for, let me know. If you’re undecided about wardrobe, etc., run it by me. Try to get good sleep the night before the shoot. But, with exception to extreme cases, you don’t need to cancel if you don’t—most of the signs of a poor nights sleep can be edited out. Just be aware that you might need to compensate for your tiredness. But again, I will guide you through. With respect to hair and make-up the vast majority of my clients choose to do their own. If you’d like to have an artist do it for you on site, you can arrange it yourself or, we can help you arrange it at an additional fee. Here are some hair make-up and wardrobe basics: Hair: Fixing your hair as you normally would is perfectly acceptable. If there’s a particular do you prefer that you can’t achieve on your own I would suggest going to your typical do-artist before the session. Flyaways, small gaps or subtle shifts, etc. can be taken care of during the shoot or while post-processing. Make-up: Again, applying basic make-up as you normally would is perfectly acceptable. Remember, this is more like a documentary we’re making than a Kabuki musical. Don’t over do it! Wardrobe: First, if you’re stuck, just ask. I’m happy to answer questions about these things. But it’s not all that complicated. Simple is best. Wardrobe should typically never take the focus from the face, but at most should subtly compliment it, which is most often achieved by color. A solid top that compliments the eyes is nice. Avoid low necklines and busy patterns. Color is not bad. However, for smaller shoots with no wardrobe requirement, I would suggest bringing a more muted alternate just in case. Overthinking, over planning — putting too much thought in to hair, make-up and wardrobe, etc. is something to be avoided. Yes looking one’s best is important. But don’t put too much into it. Blemishes, most hair issues, can be fixed or adjusted on the fly, a stressed out subject, constantly worried that something has been missed, is much harder to fix.If you’re looking for some additional make-up basics, check out this article. For some more basic on how to prepare including hair, make-up and wardrobe tips, you can view my blog post.

Yes and no. How to pose for a headshot is a headshot photography related phrase often searched on google. And the answer is really not all that complicated. Simply because most of what you’ll be required to do, other than stand or sit naturally, is up to me to walk you through. And even then not all that much needs to be done. A few tweaks here and there to your natural posture is often all it takes. A good photographer is in part almost always thinking in terms of composition. It’s up to the photographer to establish the group of angles necessary to serve the end goal. So yes you have to do a little bit of what one may call posing, but no you don’t have to figure any of it out yourself. If you’re more interested in this I have a whole article about it in my blog.

The easy short answer to this is a good photographer makes a good headshot or portrait. That might sound a little flippant but the point is true — you pay me to make a photo, all you really need to do is cooperate with what it takes to achieve that end goal. And honestly, it doesn’t take all that much on your part. There are a few things you can do leading up to the session that can help, e.g., try and get good sleep, etc., but I wouldn’t stress about these things too much. There’s very little that can’t be coached or corrected. You can view my tips on how to prepare to learn more about this. Outside of the collaborative process between photographer and client there are certainly a few aesthetic qualities that make a headshot or portrait most effective. Although there are differences between headshots and portraits the following applies to both. A good headshot or portrait is dynamic. Just like any other art form, a powerful photograph almost always has a dynamic quality. In headshot terms that might mean the head turned subtly one way while the shoulders are angled another. It might mean creating negative space between an arm and the body or something as simple as shifting the head one way and the eyes another. Lighting can also provide a dynamic quality. Sometimes I’ll shoot subjects straight on, almost perfectly symmetrical and let the lighting and design add in the dynamics. A good headshot or portrait is honest. There’s something I call the honest gaze. This is a feeling of genuineness portrayed by the look or gaze of the subject being photographed. This does not mean intense, or confident or anything else. It means genuine. If your look is genuine, it’s going to by nature also be confident and powerful. A genuine or honest look is usually simply you un impeded by the present circumstances of being in front of a camera. Does that mean you can’t be nervous, well no. It means you need a good photographer to read between the lines, determine your baseline and do what’s necessary to capture it.