Preparing the Team for Headshots at Your Workplace
Part of preparing for headshots at your workplace will mean finding a suitable place. Keep in mind some people are shy and do not like having their picture taken. So, avoiding a busy lobby is probably a good idea. But a conference room where privacy is better is often not a viable choice.
If the photographer is bringing lighting, and you are not opting for natural light, there are optimal room considerations. Ideally, you want a room or clear area that is 12×12 feet or larger, at least 10-foot ceilings, and no windows. The closer you can get to such an ideal space, the better.
Next you might want to consider a policy on wardrobe. Some businesses have set wardrobes that employees wear, making it straightforward. However, for marketing purposes, you might want to clearly define a policy on what to wear. For example, you might dictate strictly that everyone must wear a navy-blue business coat and gray tie or scarf. Or you might be a bit less strict and say wear your favorite business suit. This is dependent on how much you want to align with any branding you have planned.
It is usually a good idea to create a schedule for the day of the shoot and share it with everyone getting headshots. For example, if you have determined with your photographer that shoots will be 15 minutes apart, then you might want to send out a schedule that lists each person’s time: Sally at 10 AM, Johnny at 10:15, Leticia at 10:30, Mark at 10:45, and so on. Share it with your photographer too so they know who is next and can mark off each person as they finish.
It is important to be clear about expectations with your team and the photographer. For your team, if you want them to all smile, make this clear. If they must all pose to the right, make this clear too. Share these requirements with your photographer too. Does the photographer need to provide a specific background color or brightness – if so, verify they have this before hiring them? Are there any team members requiring special attention, and so on?
Finalizing the Headshots
Before the shoot starts, you should also confirm any technical requirements with your photographer. This might require coordinating with your website developer team. Do you need the headshots cropped in 1×1 or 4×5 crop factors, for example?
Part of the vetting of your photographer should also include finding out how they deliver the photos. Get details such as how long it will take? What file format options are there? How many retouches, if any at all, are included per person?
Taking on a project to get the team headshots done at your office does not have to be a daunting effort. In fact, the point of looking for mobile headshots is to simplify the process. While it is much more work for the photographer, it adds convenience to your team. You will be asking for just a few minutes of each person’s time for their session rather than a couple of hours to a half a day to go to a studio on their own. Furthermore, if you are leading the project, you can supervise it to ensure it is going as planned.
Getting mobile headshots in Los Angeles done can be daunting if proper research is not done to find the best photographer. It can require reshooting which wastes money and wastes the time of staff too.