I’m doing some corporate headshots for a small law firm near me, but as I usually do videography I don’t have photographic lighting. I have a speed light that goes on top of my camera and im a confident photographer - do you think this is adequate? What would your tips be for corporate headshots?
Can someone who’s pretty experienced with shooting headshots do it with one speed light? Yeah, absolutely. But if you’re asking this question in here, I’m thinking you’re not very experienced. Especially for corporate work. These are people who generally aren’t happy with how they look - #1 question is always ‘you’re going to make me look thin, right?’ - and they aren’t models, so they have no idea how to pose. So it’s up to you to infuse confidence in them that you know what you’re doing, and to impress them. When I do corporate work, I use a minimum of 3 lights, and a reflector. I’m tethered to a MacBook so they can see the photos and choose their favorites. It’s important to get it as close to finished as possible right in the camera, because you don’t want to have to edit a ton of photos just to make them presentable, especially if they’re only choosing one. Do you have a backdrop? Or do they want them taken in an office? Outdoors? If anything, I’d give the job to a more experienced headshot photographer and tag along to see how it’s done.
I also recently done headshots for a law firm lol, and this is 100% correct. I took one headshot of the CEOs PA and I got two shots that I really liked, to the point that I would consider both of them a portfolio shots. But she hates thrm, I had to convince her that it was a REALLY good headshot.
Most of them are corporate people, they have worked in corporate their whole lives. So they don’t understand what a good, or bad shot, looks like.