Corporate Portrait: Fusion at Work

I was recently approached by Jaki George-Tunnicliffe from Fusion at work for portrait images to enhance her website.

Corporate portraiture is an area of photography with very few grey areas; it can either be a breeze from the start or it can provide a string of headaches that make you seriously question your own abilities to meet your client's expectations.

Thankfully, Jaki falls into the first category, and even though things ran smoothly and pleasantly, there are still a few learning bites worth mentioning.

Catch you on the other side of the jump.

The nice thing about corporate portraiture is that your client almost always knows exactly what image they want to portray.

I approach all of my clients in exactly the same way: I insist on a face to face meeting to talk a few things through.
This serves many purposes: It is an opportunity to break the ice. It gives you a chance to make a first impression before the day of the shoot, and importantly, it gives you a chance to find out what your client wants.

Jaki's brief was simple:
1) 3-5 images
2) Varied outfits and looks
3) The images needed to convey energy, professionalism and a sense of fun

This brief was soon extended to include a few shots of Lisa, who works as Jaki's assistant.

My lighting plan for the day needed to take the above into account, and I opted for a very simple 2 light setup on a seamless black background with a large softbox as my key light and a gridded strobe providing separation.
(I could then use the separation light to blow out the background if I switched from black to white.)
I opted for speed - more images in a short space of time with a versatile lighting setup.

As usual, the start of the session is always an opportunity to get your lighting ratios nailed down, get your model at ease and get yourself at ease.
I have a store mannequin that I use to get my lights setup well before the client arrives, but minor adjustments are always required.

Usually the warm-up process doesn't take too long, and such was the case on the day.
Jaki had brought 3 changes of clothes, and we opted to shoot each outfit against black and white, then shoot Lisa while Jaki was changing.

I am personally in favour of the black background, and indeed we did end up using it for most of our shots.


The white background worked out quite well for Lisa...


...and in fact one made it into Jaki's final selection as well.


In addition to the straightforward portrait images, I also make sure I take a few with significant dead space, especially when they are being used for marketing, advertising or the web., which allows text and graphic to be placed in at a later stage.
(And sometimes they don't look too bad on their own )


All things considered, it was a great shoot. (Always easier when your subject is both photogenic and comfortable in front of the camera.)

Jaki eventually settled on 7 images, with the collage at the top of the post.

Her big dream is to get published and find her way onto Oprah's couch.
Here's holding thumbs!