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On to the guide. A company photoshoot can be pretty messy if you don’t know how to organise it. Since organising these photoshoots takes a lot of time and effort, you will need to be aware of all the important factors that go into setting these up. This article will be a marketer’s guide to organising a corporate photoshoot for your company, from what you should look for in a photographer, how the photoshoot process usually goes, to some tips to make them a successful experience.
4 Reasons Why You Should Have a Professional Photoshoot for Your Company
It is important to professionally display your company through photos and videos that you can share on your website and social media accounts. A company photoshoot is a great way for you to do this as it allows you to visualize your products, services, employees or activities to consumers.
Before going over what you need to organise it, here are four reasons why your company should have a business photoshoot:
1. It allows your company to look more professional.
Contrary to the popular saying, many people judge a book by its cover. Blurry images, inconsistent visual display discourages visitors from spending more time on your website.
Professional photos help to improve the image and demonstrate the credibility of your company. This credibility will lead to more customers trusting and supporting you because you have presented yourselves as authentic and trustworthy.
This can be an example of a company photo that will need improvement because of its dark background:
While this photo can be an example of a good company photo because of the good lighting and professional look:
Holding a photoshoot for your company can already present you with the opportunity to gain an advantage over your competitors by presenting yourselves in a professional and authentic manner to consumers and potential customers.
2. Photos from these photoshoots help establish your company’s identity.
Providing images and photos of your company from a photoshoot is an important part of communicating your brand to your audience. What is your brand image? How do you want to be perceived? What are your products and premises?
These photos should be displayed on important platforms like your website, all your different social media accounts, or other advertising platforms.
These photos help establish your company’s identity and personality. It gives your audiences an idea of who you are.
3. Great businesses need great photos
One day, you will receive a request from the media for your headshots, business premises or product photos needed for their articles.
You don’t just want to give them the best shots from photos you casually take with a smartphone camera. You would want to provide them with clear, professional shots that present the business in the best light.
4. It will provide the highest quality of photos for your company.
Unless you have an in house staff who is well-versed in photography, it’s hard to replicate what a professional photographer can do. No matter how good a smartphone camera is now, it still cannot compare to the high quality photos that are taken and produced from a photoshoot.
With professional photographers you will have access to their experience, knowledge, expertise, and high end equipment which will guarantee high quality photos for your company. They will also know how to make you look and feel great all throughout the photoshoot.
How to Look For a Photography Studio for Your Company Photos
Now that you are more aware of the reasons why you should have a photoshoot for your company, here is an overview of how you should look for a photography studio that will work on your corporate photoshoot:
1. Set clear branding guidelines and goals for the photoshoot.
To start out this process, you should first be able to set clear branding guidelines and the goals that you want to achieve with the photoshoot. This will help in letting the photographers know what type of photos you want to get from the photoshoot.
Providing them with the direction you want will make sure that you will always be on the same page all throughout the shoot. Some of the things you need to make clear to the photography studio are:
- Your brand identity (voice, personality, colors used, styles)
- Who your target audience is and what their preferences are
- What you want your target audience to feel and remember from your photos
- How you want to separate your company from its competitors
When you can provide these guidelines and goals to a photographer, you can easily figure out if they will be able to help you achieve your goals.
2. Get familiar with how photography studios price their photoshoot services.
If you are not completely familiar with how photography studios price their services, it is best to read up on them and the factors that go into how they price them.
You can also look up if they have other services that they provide that can also be included in the packages that they are offering to consumers.
3. Start your research on potential photography studios.
You can now start your research on potential photography studios that you can work with. You can search for these studios either on the internet or by inquiring through networks and connections that you may have.
Simply searching “photography studios near me” or “photography studios Singapore” can already give you a lot of relevant options. This is because most of the top photography studios have either placed ads for these keywords or have great SEO performance so that they organically come up in search results.
You can also try out finding photography groups or groups that are similar to that to get suggestions from professionals and experts on the best photography studio for what you need.
Try to gather as many studio options as possible so that you can be more flexible in deciding who you want to work with when you eventually decide on one particular photography studio.
4. Gather quotes from the studios you are interested in.
Now, you should be able to gather quotes from the studios that you are interested in. This helps give you a gauge of which studios or what services can be the best for you based on how much you are willing to spend.
Do you think it is worth it for you to risk getting an affordable but unproven team or should you shell out a decent amount to a trustworthy team that already has an excellent record with other clients? This is where you have to decide what amount of value will be worth it for this project.
5. Take a deep look into their photography portfolios.
Have a deep dive into the photography portfolios of the studios that you are interested in. Viewing their previous work, especially their most recent ones, should give you a better idea of how good they are with their photography services.
Viewing their work should show the variety and skill that they have which you will need for your own photoshoot. You can also check if they specialize in a certain type of photography so that you can consider working your photoshoot around that specialty.
6. Look for feedback from some former clients of the photography studio.
It also helps to do research on which clients hired these photography studios previously. If they have worked with a company that you are familiar with, that means that they already have had experience working with companies in your industry.
Feedback and reviews are also important to note, so that you can view if people had positive or negative experiences with a certain photography studio. You should want to find out if they were helpful and cooperative with their former clients.
7. Communicate and set clear expectations and a timeline
Once you are close to deciding or have decided a photography studio to work with, it is important to engage and communicate with them to review everything about your business photoshoot.
Everything should be clear in regards to all the details needed about the whole photoshoot process. You should coordinate on how long the shoot will take, how much time is allotted for processing all the photos, and when the photos can become available, among other things.
The Company Photoshoot Process
Now that you know all the steps you need to take to hire the perfect photography studio for your photoshoot project, here is everything you need to know about the process and how to organise it:
1. Go over and finalize your guidelines, objectives, and the budget of the photoshoot.
Once you have decided to collaborate with the photography studio of your choosing, it is important to meet up to go over and finalize all the important details that you both will need to note for the photoshoot.
You should have a final run through of your company’s guidelines and objectives with the photographers. Here are some of the details that have to be finalized:
Type of photos you will need
- Full body
- Headshots
- Up to the waist
Photo orientation
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Square
Where you will post your photos
- Social media
- Website
- Print materials
- Advertisements
What the tone or message of the photoshoot will be
- Creative and fun
- Approachable and friendly
- Serious and professional
Once all of those are sorted out, you should also discuss and finalize the budget of the photoshoot with the photography studio. The price will usually include the consultation before production, photographer services, travel expenses, and editing services during post-production.
2. Plan out when and where your company photoshoot will take place.
It is always better to plan the photoshoot at least one to two weeks after you have gone through all the important details with the photography studio.
It can also help to provide or select some sample photos so that the photographers will have a better understanding of your preferences and inspiration.
For the location of the photoshoot, you will have to decide on whether you want to do it in a photo studio or in your office. If you decide on using your office, you also have to show the photographers the specific spot, room, or area you would want them to be.
You may get a more affordable price if you decide to shoot in the studio because the photographers will not spend for travel expenses.
However, if you have a lot of people in your company that will need their headshots, then it might be a more appropriate choice to have the shoot in your office space so you don’t have to worry about the logistics of bringing your team to a studio.
3. Make final preparations before the photoshoot.
Now that you have set the date and location of your photoshoot, you have to make final preparations so that the whole process will run as smoothly as possible. It is important for you to send official reminders to your team the day before your company photoshoot.
It is also helpful to prepare a shot list with your photographers so that you will have a more organised look at the order of shots during the photoshoot.
This time to prepare is also where you must decide on the final look for the photos by determining what background color you want to use for your headshots. Choosing a background color is important as it should be aligned with your company’s tone and colors.
The team’s dress code should also be finalized before the photoshoot itself. Your team can go for a more traditional corporate look like a jacket and tie for men or a jacket and blouse for women, or you can try out a more modern and casual “start up” look.
Here is an example of a traditional corporate look for men:
While here is an example of a “start up” look that is more casual:
This will depend on what type of mood you want to communicate with the photos. Also, if you have brand colors, it would be a nice touch to incorporate them in parts of your outfit.
4. Let the photoshoot take place.
On the photoshoot day itself, if it will take place in your office, the photography studio will come in earlier to set everything up for the photoshoot. You should point them to which specific room or area where you will do the shoot in your office. Setting up the lighting, cameras, tripods, and everything else will usually take about 30 minutes.
Most photography studios will provide you with hair and makeup services but the extent of their services may depend on how the number of people included in the photoshoot.
If there are a lot of people involved they may ask you to come with hair and makeup prepared so that they will only need to do light touch ups before shooting.
Right before the start of the shoot, the photographers will do test photos to make sure that everything looks like how you want it to be.
When the photoshoot is taking place, it is vital that you allot a certain amount of time for each member of your team so that it can all be organised and without any delays.
5. Select the final pictures that you are most satisfied with.
Once the session has ended, you can select all the photos that you like so that the photography studio can mark it for retouching and editing later on.
Some of the usual adjustments done in retouching services are outfit adjustments, hair editing, and background corrections among others.
6. Receive the final edits of your chosen photos from the photoshoot.
Typically, the process of retouching and finalizing all the photos that you are asking may take a week or two, depending on how many photos are part of the package.
When the photography studio is done with the retouching process, you can receive the photos either by being sent physical copies of the photos or by being sent the photo files through the internet via email or DropBox.
Tips for Business Photoshoots
Here are some tips that that can help you and your team make your company photoshoot experience as pleasant and as organised as possible:
Trust the photographer.
When it is your turn in front of the camera, it is important to always trust the photographer. This is especially true if you are someone that gets nervous around cameras.
Take deep breaths and relax because you should acknowledge that you are in safe hands with professional photographers.
These photographers will do their best to take the best picture that they can of you and make you comfortable during the shoot and happy with the result.
Communicate your preferences to the photographer.
You are more likely to know what looks best for your appearance during your photos and it is important to communicate those to the photographer as well.
You can tell them which side is your best side or which feature you don’t really like or are self conscious about. They will understand and work with that information to make you more comfortable.
It is a lot easier to tell your photographer these preferences and concerns than having to settle for a photo that you will not like. You should not be worried about telling them anything that you may think is embarrassing because they also want you to feel and look your best.
Always do your best to smile.
The best photos tell a story and the best way to tell a story through these is with facial expressions. Smiling in your photos gives a warm and friendly expression to your image and can make you look more trustworthy and friendly to viewers.
Here are some of the simple tricks you can try to work on having a better smile:
Finding your best side can slim your face when done at around a 30 degree angle. Dropping the shoulder in front of the camera and placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth can give you a more defined and elegant jawline.
Closing your eyes and then opening them right before taking a photo can relax your composure and remove feelings of awkwardness about having your photo taken. This can lead you to bring out a more natural and genuine smile.
Related: On Camera: Best Tips for Being Confident in Corporate Videos
Wear glasses if you need to.
This is a tip for those that normally wear glasses all the time or when they are working, it would be better to also wear them on your photos.
If you are someone who only wears glasses when you are working with a computer on your desk and don’t wear them when meeting people, you should make the decision of wearing glasses beforehand.
If you are going to wear your glasses to the shoot, there are still some things you should do to make them look their best. Make sure to clean your lenses thoroughly because marks may show up on the final image.
Another thing you should do is to push back your glasses as far as they can go on your face to avoid them covering your eyes in the photos. It is important to keep your eyes visible for these business photos and having your glasses pushed back shows your eyes off the most.
Do not rush your photoshoot session.
Make sure that you and your team are able to maximize the time that you will have with the photography studio. Get in as many photos and looks you may need as long as it is available in the photography package that you ordered.
If possible, try out different expressions, body positions, or outfits if you have the time. Maximizing the photoshoot session can give you a variety of shots that your company can use for a long time.
If you are looking for a proven and experienced photography studio in Singapore that can provide corporate photoshoot services and professional headshot services while also helping you with organising it for your company, then our team at fewStones is ready to help you out.
Check out our guide on other types of professional photography:
