Bethesda Headshots recently had the opportunity to create group and individual corporate portraits at Ameriprise Financial in Bethesda, MD.
Corporate Group Portrait Tips
If you thought corporate portrait photography involves taking pictures of men in suits in offices, you would be only partially correct. Today’s corporate portrait needs to tell a story and illuminate an individual or group. There are multiple ways of achieving your client’s desired result.
The Background
In this case, we found an interesting background in the office reception area. I used camera settings that would keep the background a bit darker than the foreground but still allow the interesting existing lighting on the vases to register.
The Lighting Setup
I was going after a balanced well lit look without any unflattering shadows.
One off camera flash camera left as a key, one off camera flash camera right about 1 and 1/2 stops lower power, and another off camera flash low, back, left adding a touch of light to the background.
Camera settings Nikon D4s, 56mm 24-70mm, f3.5, 1/125 sec.
The Poses
It’s important to frame the small group of executives centered with the vertical background elements. I took the time to pose them in a natural flattering manner so each person looked their best.
In the below image, I brought him out just enough to retain some of the pleasing background yet illuminate the Ameriprise Financial executive with my off camera flash so he stands out. So often backgrounds are too distracting, so I’m really appreciating this look.
In the below image, I brought the executive out farther from the background so he could rest his arm on the counter top which also allowed me to use it as a lead-in element.
