Professional Portraits and Head shots

 Part One

What is the point of a business portrait or professional head shot?
It's a good question, and there's more than one answer.
Frequently clients  schedule a business or corporate head shot or portrait having not yet thought about why or what they are looking for. They just know they need one. Now for the stunning news!!
Not all businesses are the same. What works for an international patent firm may be very different from a firm specializing in entertainment law. Likewise a medical professional will need a different approach. I work with a lot of PR professionals and their needs are completely different, not only from other areas of expertise but within their own profession.

The world is such a visual place now, it's more important than ever to have images that truly represent not only your business but also a reflection of who you are. This is even more so with the explosion of social media and the marketing and professional opportunities that social media now provide.  Here's a grouping of very different professional business portraits.

When I first speak with a prospective client about their professional photography needs I usually ask a lot of questions in an effort to learn about not only what the client may know they need, but also sometimes what they don't know they need. Of course there are occasions when we simply need to match a corporate 'look' for an existing group of head shots. In those cases, I study the existing images prior in order to match the 'look', lighting and background as closely as possible. More frequently clients are trying to convey 'something' My questions are designed to understand what those values are. I also encourage the client to try and take a step back and consider the questions from the standpoint of their potential viewers.
If I were to list some of the qualities you might want to convey,   I think these would rank well

Professional
Approachable
Personable
Trustworthy
Intelligent


Regardless of what type of 'look' your business portrait has, there's one element that remains true across the board - the need to connect with the viewer. There is something universal in how we connect with images of each other, and how we react to those images.
You want that viewer to feel that they would want to talk to you. And, you only have a few seconds to make that connection. It's not about being beautiful or a ringer for Daniel Craig (although that wouldn't hurt)- it's about being authentic.

If you would like to know more about Eikon Photography, Karen Sayre or our Capitol Hill Studio

If you would like directions to Eikon Photography Capitol Hill  http://blog.eikonphoto.com/?page_id=376