Preparing for your Business Portrait Session
Congratulations! You, or you and your team have decided it’s time for some new portraits. Perhaps this is the first time you’ll be getting portraits done, or perhaps you’re looking for something more up-to-date and aligned to fit with the tone of your business and brand.
My goal is to make your team portrait sessions fun, easy, and intentional. To help you and your team prepare for their sessions please find tips below on how to best get ready.
What to wear?
Rule number 1 - wear something that you’re comfortable in, and that makes you feel great. Isn’t it true that when you’re wearing something you love and feel good in, you feel more confident in yourself, move around in a natural way and just more ‘you’?
Choose an outfit (or outfits) that best represents you and your personality. Colourwise - anything goes, however, with fabric patterns, please be mindful of avoiding small patterns like lots of tiny little dots or stripes, as they don’t translate so well into an image. The same goes for logo’s. Avoid wearing anything with a big logo across the front (unless it’s your own brand) as it can be distracting.
If you are getting team portraits
Some teams choose to coordinate their outfit colours to the colours of their brand. Others choose to stick to neutral colours like black, white, cream and grey. Others opt to leave it up to the individual members of their team and simply request they wear an outfit that fits the style of your business, for instance ‘business casual’.
Unclear what to do? Let me know and I’ll help you decide.
Outfit details to think about
Make sure your clothes are clean, stain free and ironed so the materials sit just right. Bring your clothes with you separately on a hanger if you have a few outfit changes.
Give your clothes a once-over with a lint roller to remove stray hairs and miscellaneous flecks. I’ll have a lint roller on hand if needed during the shoot.
Choose items without excessive bobbling.
Accessories
Do you have an accessory that is a signature part of your look? Eg… a hat, necklace, earrings, bright glasses. Bring it with you and we can include it in some of the shots.
Nails
These do show in photos so make sure they’re tended to!
Glasses
Please avoid wearing “blue light reflectors” or “transition lenses” if possible.
Give your glasses a clean before your session so they’re smudge and fingerprint-free.
Miscellaneous
Remove any rogue hairbands around your wrist.
Wearing lipstick? Quickly check for smudging on teeth before your session.
Posing
No matter your comfort level of being in front of a camera, you’ll be guided with poses and positioning. The goal is to create images that look natural, so if something doesn’t feel right, we’ll tweak things up until they do! I promise you’ll feel at ease after just a few minutes.
Location
If you’re thinking of opting for an on-location shoot, think about choosing a location that adds a subtle hint of narrative to your portrait.
If you and your team work for a business that has its own space then finding or setting up an area or two for consistent portraits can be great, and being in the heart of where business operates from weaves a feeling of authenticity into your images.
If you’re a small business owner and run your business from a variety of places, or if you’re creating portraits for your personal brand, the location for your session could be anywhere: your home or workspace, a cafe or coworking space. Choose somewhere that feels like a good representation of who you are, and what you’re up to.
There are many incredible spaces available to rent by the hour or day if this is something you’d like to consider. Questions about this, how to choose your location or where to look for rental spaces? Ask me and I’ll help you find the perfect spot.
Props
If you want a minimal and clean photo, you might not want any props, and that’s fine. Or perhaps there are pieces that are important to have with you, or in the frame somewhere. A few examples:
You’re a product-based business:
Do you want one of your products somewhere in shot?
Are your products made in a special kind of way that can be represented with an item? Eg if you’re a local clothes manufacturer using natural dyeing methods can the plant source where the dye comes from be included?
You're a service-based business:
You’re an event planner - notepad, pen, your wall with visual plans on as a background?
You’re in social media community management - perhaps your smartphone, a laptop
You’re a healthcare practitioner - charts or drawings in the background, any specialised equipment
An opportunity to support other small businesses
If supporting other impact-driven businesses you love along the way is something you want to do, there are some creative ways to do so during a portrait session!
Ways to support other businesses during your business portrait session:
Be extra intentional about the clothes and accessories you wear. If you’ll be using these new photos in multiple places with your online presence they could be opportunities to tag brands that you wear when sharing out the images: an easy way to support another small business.
Props: same as above! Notebooks? Pens? Books? Cushions? Support another business by including and tagging them in.