With the predominance of Social Media platforms such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook we have seen the demand for new styles of professional headshots increase. As a corporate headshot photographer working in Melbourne I have been using different styles in order to supply corporate clients with contemporary corporate headshots. The most used style of corporate headshot would be the formal portrait on a clean white background. These have been around since the early days of corporate photography and are normally associated with studio sets and with a standard approach to getting a straight corporate headshot. These are still demand and still used often by very large corporates that employ a lot of staff and changing the corporate style would be impracticable.
Newer styles are being adopted by companies keen to promote their corporate profile as more approachable and these are often portraits that are captured using ambient light and involve out of focus backgrounds of office interiors and show the subject in a working environment.
Contemporary corporate headshots which are commissioned by individuals or progressive companies use a reportage style of photography to capture portraits of business people ‘in action’. This type of image is becoming more popular and I am seeing increased commissions in Melbourne for this type of natural corporate photography.
Corporate portrait photography can encompass many different uses from annual reports, online CVs, document pitches, social media portraits, press releases, editorial features and website profiles. It is important to decide before you commission a corporate headshot what media it will be used in and how large the image will appear on the website or in print. Avatars on social media sites are very small compared to printed images so it is important to think about cropping and the style of headshot.