Studio and corporate portraits

Learning goal

You will be able to shoot plain, trustworthy profile photos that match each other, for a job application, an organization's web page or a team list. You will learn not to build a single person's portrait once, but to be able to repeat the same light, the same distance, the same framing and the same backdrop for every member of a team. You will crop with the knowledge that the photo will often be seen inside a small circle or square, and make sure the eyes sit at the same height in every frame. You will solve the reflection in glasses with the angle of the light or the frame, and send people a short note about clothing before the shoot. In a team of different skin tones, while keeping the light fixed, you will check one by one whether each face stays in its own tone and with its detail.

The question

The master's daughter needs a plain frame showing her face for her application file; your friend shoots her during a lunch break. A week later the head nurse on her ward calls too: the whole team, twelve people, needs photos with the same look for the organization's page. There is no bakery, no street, no story; only faces. Your friend looks at the old team list on the phone: one in front of a window, one on holiday, one cut out of a wedding photo, one blurred. When they all come side by side, the list turns into a collage. How do you shoot a professional profile photo?

Context

In the lighting ratios lesson you tried writing down a lighting setup's positions, powers and readings so you could build it exactly the same on another day (Lesson 20.9). You built the backdrop's tone and the light falling on it separately in the backdrop lesson, and the clamshell setup, which opens the shadows with a main light in front and above and a fill below, in its own lesson (Lesson 20.8, Lesson 20.5).

A corporate portrait uses this knowledge for another purpose. Here the aim isn't to tell a person's character in all its depth, but to show them as someone open, calm and approachable. And most often not a single person but a team is shot. Every frame in the team can be good on its own; but when they come side by side, if one is bigger, one darker, one in another color, the page looks scattered. In this lesson, rather than a good frame, a repeatable frame is what is being looked for.

Simple explanation

A single frame or a standard?

A team standard is the whole of the lighting setup, shooting distance, focal length, framing, backdrop and color setting kept the same in all of a group's profile photos. For such a job many photographers choose a plain, forgiving setup: a large, soft source in front of the person, a little above and to the side, a reflector on the shadow side or a setup like clamshell that opens the shadows; a gray or light, plain backdrop. Leaving a little distance between the person and the backdrop prevents a shadow on the backdrop. These setups aren't rules; an organization can choose a dark backdrop or a more dramatic light. What matters is that the chosen setup is repeated exactly for every person.

For this, small marks are used on the floor: the place where the person will stand or sit, the camera's place and the light stands are marked with tape. The lighting recipe is written down and not changed throughout the shoot. The people change, the setup stays.

Why do the crop and the eyes matter?

A profile crop is a crop made according to the shape and size in which a profile photo will be seen. Many platforms show the profile photo inside a small circle or square. That is why the head and shoulders are shot so as to fit in the middle of the circle, leaving a little space around them; building the frame too tight leads to the chin or the hair being cut at the edge of the circle. Seeing the frame at a small preview size shows whether the face also reads at that size.

An eye line is the height at which the eyes sit in the frame in every frame of a team series. People's heights differ; if the camera stays fixed in place, a tall person's eyes fall at the top of the frame and a short person's eyes in the middle. When placed side by side, the eye line wavers and the page looks restless. Lowering and raising the camera a little according to each person's eye level, or shooting them seated, keeps the eyes at the same height in every frame and gives an equal look regardless of the person's height.

What is done about glasses and clothes?

Glasses glare is a light source appearing in the lens of a pair of glasses and covering the eye. The glare shows when the angle at which the light strikes the lens equals the angle at which it returns to the camera lens. Moving the light a little higher or to the side, asking the person to turn their head very slightly, or asking them to tilt the lens down by lifting the arm of the glasses slightly above the ear often removes the glare. Asking them to take off the glasses can be a solution, but if the glasses are part of someone's everyday face, the profile photo should show the face that people who know them see.

A wardrobe note is a short piece of guidance about clothing sent to people before the shoot. Plain, mid-toned colors go well with most backdrops; very fine stripes and dense patterns can create shimmering patterns on screen. For a team, keeping the colors close to each other increases the series' unity. The note is written in short language that offers options; no one's dress, or the clothing their faith requires, is interfered with. A headscarf, a skullcap or a work uniform is the person's own choice and the light is built around it.

A team standard carries a trap when it comes to skin. When the light stays fixed, every skin is recorded in its own tone; this is an honest record, and no setting is changed to lighten or darken a skin. But if the fixed exposure leads to shine on a light skin's forehead or loss of detail in a dark skin's eye sockets, this shows that detail is being lost on the face. The exposure is chosen so that detail stays on both the lightest and the darkest skin, and every frame is enlarged and checked. When a dark backdrop, dark hair and dark skin come together, the edge can disappear; a light gray backdrop or a gentle hair light prevents this.

Visual evidence

In the old team list twelve photos sit side by side: one orange in front of a window, one green in a garden, one cut out of a wedding and blurred. The faces are different sizes, the eyes at the top in one frame and in the middle in another. The faces of two dark-skinned nurses were shot in a dark room; their eye sockets can't be made out.

In an empty room at the hospital your friend sets up a light gray backdrop, a large softbox in front and above, and a white reflector below. They tape the chair's and the camera's places on the floor and write down the lighting recipe. Each person sits down; your friend lowers and raises the camera to their eye level. The white rectangle of the softbox appears in the glasses of the head nurse; your friend asks them to turn their head very slightly to the side and the glare disappears.

In the new list twelve faces are the same size, the eyes at the same level, the backdrop the same gray. The faces of the master's daughter and the lightest-skinned nurse on the ward sit side by side; neither forehead shines, both sets of eye sockets are detailed. The list is no longer a collage, but a team.

Common mistakes

Summary

A professional profile photo is shot with a plain backdrop, soft and forgiving light, and a crop that will also read inside a small circle; for a team, the real job is to build a standard that repeats the same light, distance, framing and backdrop for every person, and to keep the eyes at the same level in every frame. Glasses glare is solved with the angle of the light or the head, the wardrobe note offers options and doesn't interfere with anyone's dress; under fixed light every skin stays in its own tone, while it is checked that detail is kept on the lightest and the darkest face.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will build a profile photo standard for a small "team" of three people.

1. Build the setup with a backdrop, a main light or a window, and a reflector; mark the person's and the camera's places with tape and write down your lighting recipe.
2. Shoot the three people in the same setup, adjusting the camera to each one's eye level; if there are glasses, remove the glare with the angle of the head or the light.
3. Put the three frames side by side inside a small circle; check that the eyes are at the same level and that the face keeps its detail on different skin tones.

Check yourself

• Do the three frames look like a series side by side?
• In the small circle, do the faces read without being cut?
• Is there detail left in the lightest and the darkest face?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What separates a team series from individually good frames?

• A) Each frame being shot with a different light
• B) The same light, distance, framing and backdrop being repeated for every person
• C) Each person bringing their own photo
• D) The frames being turned into black and white

2. If the camera stays at a fixed height, what happens in a team series?

• A) The light changes
• B) The backdrop changes color
• C) Depending on people's heights, the eyes fall at a different level in every frame
• D) The focus is lost

3. How is the reflection in the lens of a pair of glasses removed?

• A) Moving the light a little higher or to the side, or changing the angle of the head or the lens very slightly
• B) Raising the ISO
• C) Changing the background
• D) Leaving the reflection as it is

4. In a team of different skin tones shot with fixed light, what is checked?

• A) All skins looking equally light
• B) Dark skins being lightened in editing
• C) Light skins being darkened
• D) Detail being kept on both the lightest and the darkest face

Answers

1. B — A repeated setup lets the frames side by side read as a single series.
2. C — To keep the eyes at the same level, the camera is adjusted to each person's eye level.
3. A — The glare shows when the angles of striking and returning are equal; changing the angle removes it.
4. D — Fixed light records every skin in its own tone; what is checked is that detail isn't lost.

Summary card

• Not a single good frame, but a repeatable standard.
• Mark the places with tape, don't change the lighting recipe.
• A crop that reads in a small circle; space around the head.
• Adjust the camera to each person's eye level; keep the eye line fixed.
• For glasses, change the angle; the wardrobe note offers options, interferes with no one's dress.
• Under fixed light, enlarge and check the lightest and the darkest face.

Bridge to the next lesson

The team page is live. At the holiday the master gathers the whole family in the home above the bakery and wants a family photo. But the grandchildren won't stay still even for a minute: one crawls under the table, one runs, the youngest starts crying on seeing the camera. Your friend remembers the taped marks, the lighting recipe and the fixed setup; none of them will work here. How do you photograph children who never stop moving? The next lesson takes up play, speed and patience.