Portrait options

Business portraits can be broken down into four areas:

1.Traditional Head and Shoulders Portraits

This is the standard in the business world. This formal portrait is normally used for web bios, news releases, magazine articles, brochures, etc.

2.“Character” Portraits

This type of portrait shows more of the body. By showing more of the arms and body, “body language” can be used to convey greater personality and activity. For example: A man in a business suit sitting behind a desk can give the impression of a conservative long-standing institution. A man with rolled up shirtsleeves working at a desk can portray a hard working active representative, ready to serve your potential client.

3.“Environmental” Portraits

These are portraits that use the background to help communicate your message. Backgrounds can be done in the studio with a set, digitally, or on location.

4.Group Portraits

At times, it is necessary to show a larger group, such as a staff or group of directors. This can be done in a large studio, on location, or even digitally with each person photographed separately

5 Digital backgrounds

Not only does digital photography allow a quick preview, fast turn around time, more opportunity to take more shots and almost unlimited ability to do photo retouching, it enables us to have an unlimited and varied number of backgrounds.
Normally, backdrops would include seamless paper, muslin, canvas, hand-painted as well as studio sets. However, by using a neutral backdrop, the backdrop can be “erased” and the subject “extracted” digitally. Then a background photo of choice can be inserted behind the subject. This photo background can be a courtroom, street scene, office and endless other choices.

Another use of an “extracted” background system is that individual people can be grouped together and inserted on a background. This allows the individuals to have their photos taken at different times in the studio. It also allows us to later remove or add someone to the group and rearrange the layout.

A good business photographer should be able to do all of the above. What type of portrait you choose will depend on your specific need, whether it is a web page, bio, brochure, billboard, etc. Good communication with your photographer will facilitate receiving an effective portrait.