Planning Portrait Sessions
Here are some suggestions for organising a portrait photography session.
Purpose
Achieving the best outcomes for you requires good communication from us. We facilitate this by establishing the following prior to the shoot:
a. Where are the images destined for; website, social media profiles, annual report, other publications, private display?
b. Are there pre-existing style conventions that we need to obey to fit in with an established style, look or feel, to achieve consistency?
c. Will group portraits be desirable in addition to individual portraits?
Background
We can offer a variety of background options once we have understood your preferences: simple, solid colour backgrounds, professionally-lit indoor/outdoor backdrops using colour to enhance the effects and documentary style backgrounds in which we use the subject's everyday environment contexts "au naturel". Such decisions are best made prior to the day of shooting however the stylist and photographer can make recommendations about what works well visually in their experience.
For the sake of achieving consistency for photoshoots across multiple days we recommend a plain white backdrop for headshots; the images can be taken indoors against a white wall or we can bring a white backdrop. An indoor space of at least a minimum of 4 metres by 5 metres is required for individual headshots.
Location
Outdoors or indoors, in our studio or in offices, workplaces, building sites, urban streets, parks, gardens, against iconic locations or from hot-air balloons, we are flexible about where we photograph!
Outdoor portraits are best done with calm weather conditions and soft light, which makes a morning shoot preferable. Indoor locations for portraits are less likely to lead to cancellation due to bad weather, and the controlled lighting of an indoor shoot ensures superior consistency.