Professional Corporate Portraits

No matter what type of business you are in, you are represented by your employees and anyone connected to your company. When it comes to having those people represent you in a positive and promoting way you must have a professional corporate portrait. To a potential client, your personal first impression and the company’s first impression is reflected by the employee portraits on your website, social media, business cards, etc. Professional corporate portraits are worth the investment because of the versatility they hold. You can put your portraits anywhere and they will do nothing but benefit you!

The 2 Best Types of Corporate Portraits

1. Professional Headshots

Most professional headshots are the ones you see as a social media profile picture. These are normally done in studio/setup in a building but can also be done outside. These images are taken only showing the upper body where the focus is on your face, which is also the representation of your company. This is your first impression and I recommend that you wear what you would normally wear when meeting a potential client for the first time.

2. Branding Images

A branding photoshoot differs from a headshot photoshoot because of its way of showing character. These images are taken as a full body shot and tell your story through the image. These images are mostly taken at your place of work, but I have also done many branding shoots in my studio. This approach to a portrait is unique way of showing your professionalism through a photo and it still professional and popular in the business world. The clothes that people wear for a branding photoshoot differs from person to person. It is up to you and however you want to showcase your personality!

What Should You Wear for A Professional Portrait?

It is expected that you have a certain charm for your professional headshot. In a lot of cases, this worries a lot of people because they don’t know what to wear. I am here to tell you!

I always tell my clients solid-colored clothes are your best friend. We want the attention to be on you, not what you are wearing

Colors like purple, blue, and green always look great for corporate portraits, but I recommend choosing a mid-tone color that brings out your eyes (which is our focus in a headshot). Your confidence also shines through when you are wearing a color you know you look good in. 

For a headshot you should avoid colors that are too close to your skin tone. For a branding image you should also avoid colors that are close to your skin tone but also wear different colored pants and shirts.

I mentioned that solid colored clothing is your best friend and that is true. Patterned clothing takes away from the focus of the image (you)!

I will say that I have had clients come in wearing colors like bright yellow and the images looked amazing. Only wear bright colors like this if you are confident, you can pull it off!

You know yourself better than I do.

My job is to make you feel comfortable behind the camera and to get you the portraits of your dreams, but you know what you like more than I do.

• If you have a good side, tell me.
• If you have a pose you want to try, tell me.
• If you have a certain emotion, you want the image to capture, tell me.

Do not worry if you are clueless walking into the session, most of my clients are, and that’s when I ask you questions and get to know you. This ensures that we get you the images you are looking for!

Corporate portraits play a role in the business world and help you engage/network with more people, especially on social media platforms like LinkedIn. This blog may have not answered all your questions, but I promise I can give you the answer you are looking for. I love what I do and I hope you will reach out to me!

If you are searching for a photographer for corporate headshots for your business,

employees, or for your social media profiles then you can contact me at duane@duanefurlonstudios.com or call at 480.201.7204

Female Doctor Headshot

In the healthcare industry and for your own personal brand, not only is a professional headshot necessary but it is also expected. Patients look for professional, personable, and caring healthcare workers, and before they meet you in person, your image is what they will be judging this off.

The Human Eye Naturally Draws Towards Your Picture

When patients are on the hunt for a doctor that is right for them, more so than not they will only be skimming your website. Their eyes will draw towards your headshot more than the paragraph(s) of words. If your headshot is poor and low quality, do you think that they will continue reading anything about you?

This shows just how much people value a professional, high-quality, personable headshot. This is especially true when they are deciding on a person, they need to have 100% trust in a doctor.

People Judge a Book by its cover

No matter how many times people use this phrase referencing that it’s not a good thing to do, it’s natural for people to do it. Most of the time they don’t even realize it. This is even more true when people are choosing whether they want to proceed with you or not. A great example of that is a doctor. Other examples include realtors, therapists, hairdressers, etc.

Your potential patients will use your headshot as whether you are going to be able to give them the professional care they hope for. Regardless of the business, you are in however, a poor-quality headshot will reflect a careless and unprofessional image of your personality and how much pride you take in helping others.

A poor headshot will leave a potential patient thinking “If they don’t even care about their own headshot, who is to think they would care about the people that are trusting them with (in some cases) their life?”

A patient just wants to feel connected to you. Show them how much you love what you do by starting with a professional headshot.

A Headshot Will Strengthen Your Brand

As I mentioned, a patient wants to feel connected to you. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to add information and pictures of things you enjoy outside of work.

Do you have a family? Add a family picture to your website!

Your patients should know a little bit about you too! Your brand is whatever YOU want it to be, but you must build it.

How To Create the Quality Headshot

• Patients want their potential doctor to give off a cozy, welcoming, and friendly appearance. Is that what your headshot is currently conveying? Or does it seem cold and unapproachable?
• Avoid bright and busy colors in your headshot. Unless you decide to wear your white coat, I would wear some type of mid-tone color. For example, purples, blues, and greens are great options.
• Is your headshot up-to-date, or is it 10 years old? If it is, patients can tell. It could even question how up-to-date you are with the medicine you’re practicing. A patient doesn’t want a doctor who isn’t staying up to date with medical trends and answers and an old headshot could cause that judgment.
• Have your headshot taken by a professional headshot photographer. You will not receive what you are looking for if you try to take it yourself or have someone take it from you. The studio lighting and the after-image retouching are 2 of the main elements that make a professional picture actually look professional.
• If you need headshots taken of multiple doctors, there needs to be consistency across the images. The backgrounds should be the same and they should all be wearing similar clothes.

If you are searching for a photographer for healthcare headshots for your personal medical brand or for multiple healthcare professionals, you can contact me at duane@duanefurlonstudios.com or call at 480.201.7204

Corporate Team Photoshoot

Having professional group photography will increase business growth. A professional headshot photographer will be able to capture the personality and feel of the environment through the image. In today’s world, it is essential for companies to have a strong online and social media presence, which is why you want to invest in a professional photographer to capture the team in the best possible light.

No matter how big or how small your team is, group photography shows character, trust, and personality. Group photography greatly emphasizes cohesiveness and will be able to showcase types of ethics and friendliness clients won’t receive from just looking at individual headshots.

Having group photography done on top of having individual headshots shows the team working together. Group images will show your company culture. Is your company positive and cohesive? That will shine through the image. To be a team you must be able to successfully work together to complete tasks, so why wouldn’t you want to show clients that before they meet you?

Having high-quality and professional images can help promote your company’s values and representation. Team photos are so important to the company brand and should be given equal value and attention as any other marketing tool.

Does my team need to have individual headshots taken too?

In my professional opinion, it is essential.

Although I emphasize the importance of having team images, individual headshots have their own separate benefits that I will list below. A group image alone will not give you the highest representation of your business, you need to be able to state facts and information about each employee individually.

Reasons why group images can’t stand as the primary representation of your company

1. What happens when one of your employees leaves the team or moves to a different apartment? Your team image will need to be replaced with an accurate one, which in the long run would just be a hassle.
2. You will not be able to add information about any individual in the team, you would only be able to reference the team.
3. I will say that I do not think you need to have individual headshots taken of every single team member, especially if you are a big company. What I recommend is having a professional headshot photographer come in and take individual headshots taken of your executive team, and then take a big group photo!

I absolutely recommend and love taking team photos. I just don’t want you to make the mistake of using a team photo as a replacement for individual headshots.

The Importance of Individual Corporate Headshots

1. LinkedIn profile picture- It’s best to have your company represented and have a consistent look all over! When your staff comments on your social media and all of their profile pictures look like they are a part of the same company it looks professional.

2. A headshot can be a recruitment tool- The look of a friendly and professional picture may help potential employees feel more comfortable before entering an interview.

3. Putting a face to the name- As more people are working from home, it may be difficult to remember who is who. A headshot could give you that reminder every time you are conversing with them online!

4. Social media- Most companies like to post their employee’s headshots when referencing them in a social media post. This is so much more personable than just tagging them.

5. Team bonding- The whole experience of a photographer coming to your location and taking headshots is also a great team bonding activity. It creates a ton of chatter and time for your staff members to talk to people they haven’t before.

6. Will give your employees a sense of value- A good headshot can really make your employees feel valued in and out of the office. I even have many corporate employees tell me they want to use it for personal use too!

Do you need staff headshots for your company?

I offer professional headshots, environmental business portraits, corporate photography, and event photography throughout Arizona.

Email: Duane@duanefurlongstudios.com

Phone: 480.201.7204

Outdoor Business Portraits

Many companies like to take outdoor business portraits to tell a different kind of story in comparison to an in-office portrait. It depends on the person, company, and brand and if they think outdoor portraits would be best for them. The outside environment will tell a different story and bring more emotion in to the portrait than it would being taken inside, but that isn’t what is best for every company. While still being professional, outdoor portraits may feel more relaxed and at ease to the viewer. Therefore, in the beauty, healthcare, entrepreneur, and real estate business outdoor portraits can be very beneficial.

When is the best time to schedule outdoor portraits?

In my experience it is best to keep the number of people in your group lower. Because of the Arizona heat, light sensitivity, and weather it can be difficult to capture portraits for a large amount of people.

Therefore, I recommend only having your executive team have outdoor portraits taken. I have been on-location at a lot of companies, and this has always worked out great and they always seem to agree.

It may be tricky to find a time where you can gather all your employees/executives at the same time for the portrait session. This is when we work together to find a time that is right for you. Sometimes companies decide on having the session broken up into a two-day session also.

We can make any time of the day work, but the best lighting is 1-2 hours after sunrise or 2-3 hours before sunset. This is considered the best time for shooting because the sun is low and doesn’t cause any drastic shadows.

Why you should invest in professional portrait photographer for this job

You may think that taking photos outside is easier than inside lighting. It most definitely is not. When I walk into a building, I can immediately start thinking how I want to set up my lights based off the tone and brightness of the lightbulbs. When we take the photoshoot outside this all changes. Not only do I have to worry about weather, but the lighting is also always changing. The sun moves in and out of clouds and hits at different spots throughout the day. I use a different lighting technique for outdoor shoots, and the average person does not have this type of knowledge, experience, and equipment.

Outdoor lighting is tricky, and you will need a professional to do the job if you want the portraits be high-quality and show expression.

I absolutely recommend and love taking outdoor portraits. I just don’t want you to make the mistake of not using a professional and not get the outcome you were hoping for.

Are outdoor headshots right for you?

It might hard to decide on if outdoor portraits are right for you or if you should stick to portraits inside. Your business portraits are the face of your company and are used as a huge marketing tool. They are your first impression and need to be done correctly and fit your brand.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having your portraits taken both inside and outside so there really isn’t a right answer. Let’s take a more detailed look into portraits taken inside vs. portraits taken outside.

Advantages of indoor portrait sessions:

1. The lighting setup stays the same throughout the session and don’t have to worry about weather, only the inside environment. The shoot is all in yours and the photographers control.

2. Because the best time and the most common time to take outdoor headshots are in the early morning or late afternoon, you don’t have to worry about blocking off a specific time. The shoot can be whenever you want it to be! Scheduling is easier for you and me.

3. You have the option of outfit changes. There is the option of having outfit changes outside too, but we lose time and have to make sure there is somewhere for you to change. Changing clothes is not a problem indoors.

4. You have options of a background. We can go to your individual office, your conference room, etc. When we move to take a shoot outside, we set up and take the images in one place.

Indoor portrait sessions are more formal but also have disadvantages. Indoor headshots may feel less approachable to the viewer and a lot of people prefer natural lighting.

Outdoor headshot sessions are becoming more popular, and they could be right for you!

Before your headshot session you will need to think about where you want to take them. You will also want to check the weather. Especially in Arizona, it would probably be best for the both of us to not have our outdoor photoshoot at 1:00 pm in the summer. Also, an outdoor photoshoot means you should expect the unexpected. We can’t shoot in the rain.

If you have a destination in mind that is great! The less busy the better. We don’t want to increase the distractions in a public and busy area.

Do you need staff headshots for your company?

I offer professional headshots, environmental business portraits, corporate photography, and event photography throughout Arizona.

Email: Duane@duanefurlongstudios.com Phone: 480.201.7204