Did you know that it only takes one-tenth of a second for someone to form a first impression? And furthermore, 76% of the time these first impressions are proven accurate. When you’re running a company with a corporate environment that fosters professionalism and reliability, who wouldn’t want that accurately represented in their brand image?
Corporate headshots are crucial in building a brand image—and the difference between a powerful and weak brand image can boil down to the quality of your photographs. Here’s a list of things to look for (and things to avoid) when hiring an on-site headshot photographer:
Avoid a photographer that’s asking you to do…way too much.
If a headshot photographer asks their subjects to perform hyper-specific, uncomfortable poses under the pretense of “artistic truth” or something adjacent, maybe consider switching photographers. While the artistic skill of a photographer is important to create the best-looking results, headshots should be focused on you and your brand. If the employee is no longer the focus, or if the pictures don't reflect your company authentically (and are instead highlighting the photographer), they’re probably the best option.
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Avoid complex or noisy backgrounds.
If you can’t find a single example of a plain or otherwise simple background in any previously taken headshots, we advise against hiring them as a corporate photographer. Like mentioned above, your employees should be the center of focus. Noisy, colorful, or distracting backgrounds can take away from the professionalism of your employees. It can also ruin the quality of your pictures, especially if used in small sizes (such as in an online profile picture or resume). Look for a photographer that can provide example pictures featuring simple, clean backgrounds—and assure that they can bring these backdrops with them. Relying on a natural background can be useful in candids, but don’t look as impressive for traditional headshots.
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Avoid an over-editor.
Yes, retouching is necessary; it can help brighten, clean, and highlight employee faces—who doesn’t want to put their best face forward? However, there is such a thing as too much retouching. If your headshot looks too edited, it’ll reflect poorly on your employees. Over-edited headshots can look unreal, or even cartoonish. If your photographer is charging too much for editing, or if their example headshots look a little too airbrushed, consider other options.
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Hire a professional. No exceptions.
This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s an easy mistake to make if you don’t know what to look for. Headshot photography is an entirely different branch of photography that requires unique equipment and skill. Hiring any photographer (or worse yet, any person with a camera) won’t give you the best results. Headshots encapsulate your brand’s image. They also create first impressions. Hiring someone that knows that they’re doing is worth the extra investment—especially in a city as competitive as New York.
At Jeffrey Rosenberg Photography, we take professional, first-class headshots that will boost both your company’s image as well as your employees’ careers. Let us come to you; we can help create that best first impression!
Contact us today for a FREE quote!
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