Commercial headshot photography – creating the right impression

Investing in a portfolio of corporate headshots will give you a fresh, flexible and professional selection of images to present across multiple mediums, here Cherry Beesley from Simply C Photography explains how she can work around your busy schedule to capture the shots you need.

I’ve talked in my past blogs about the importance of the corporate headshot. It’s about capturing an image that shows people who you are and gets across how you want to be perceived by the outside world.

Realistically, distilling all your dimensions into one corporate headshot can leave you little room for flexibility. The cool, serious and professional shot may be ideal for your ‘meet our staff page’ but it may not work as well in the profile piece a local journal is doing about your recent charity work.

Besides, if you’re going to be featured across several mediums, publications, or appear at various events, it’s more useful to have a portfolio of headshots available as this gives you a variety of looks and poses to choose from.

As a busy professional myself, I know how to capture the right images of you, in the right locations, with the minimum of time invested on your part.

Project: Nicola Beach, SCC  

Suffolk County Council’s CEO, Nicola Beach, recently commissioned me to capture a portfolio of images for use across several mediums. Because of her position in the council and the local community, her face regularly appears in magazines, newspapers, Chamber of Commerce literature, and many other places. So being able to offer different images was vital to her.

To prepare for the shots I carried out a site recce with her PA, identifying great locations for each shot and had a telephone conversation with Nicola to discuss makeup, clothing and what to expect. Doing this beforehand meant that the actual time taken during the photoshoot with Nicola herself could be kept to a minimum.

Nicola wanted me to capture a sense of her professionalism, because in her role, how she was perceived is paramount. However, beyond appearing professional and formal, she also needed me to capture her warm and friendly approachable nature.

The decision to use Endeavour House as the backdrop was also an important factor in telling a deeper story with her headshots. Not only was the building stunning in its own right and full of natural light, it was a great way to tell her story through these images, as it’s the hub of her role.

Your portfolio

Like Nicola, investing in a portfolio of images will give you plenty of choice when using your headshots across multiple channels and media. It will help keep your face fresh for years to come and give you the flexibility to reach for the right image at the right time.

Six images in one location will take around two hours. Visit the Simply C Photography website or call Cherry on  07775 851827 to find out more.