What makes a great business portrait?

A business portrait photograph must be clear, simple with a suitable background. It needs to be consistent with the other portraits of staff or colleagues in the company.
How do you achieve this?
The most important consideration for business portraits is to look at the type of business the portraits are for. To best illustrate this, let’s look at two very different businesses: A plumbing firm, and a law firm.

The plumbers headshots would need to look friendly, approachable, part of a team and trustworthy. To achieve this a photographer would get to know the business and the people involved. A photographer would work with them in order to understand how they want to be portrayed. Being part of a team could mean wearing a t-shirt with a logo, so that would be important to include in the photos. Furthermore a relaxed stance with a friendly and approachable expression looking straight at the camera would create the right impression. If they have a suitable company van this could be utilised, perhaps in the background, or with team members leaning against it. Similarly if the business has premises, these could be incorporated into the images to give a realistic but relaxed look to their business.

For the lawyers the headshots would need to be more business-like and serious with a focus on consistency, professionalism and simplicity. Using a studio flash is a great option that will give consistent results for the whole business. Eye contact is important to gain trust along with an approachable but dignified expression, to convey the seriousness of the business. In contrast with the plumbing business, the law firm would likely have a greater emphasis on individuals, whereas the plumbers were shown more as part of a close-knit team.

These examples show that the approach to business portrait photos is not as simple as it may seem. Finding the best approach for different businesses takes time, often with confidence building, chatting and discussion to achieve the right expression appropriate for your specific business.