My friend, Jack, was in need of some new business headshots, so I recently shot these of him with the understanding that I was going to use him as kind of guinea pig in regards to how I went about shooting them – and the gear I used.

What do I mean by guinea pig? Well, I’ve noticed over the years that people often simply can’t justify paying what I need to charge just for business headshots of themselves – or two or three employees – with the level of service I usually provide for such jobs. What do I mean by this? Well bare with me while I explain the whole process for such assignments as briefly as possible:

The Pre-Production

First, there is the time spent consulting with the client on the phone and putting the quote together for them. Assuming there is no back and forth on this, they will approve the quote and we set a date for the shoot. Sometimes it can be a few emails back and forth just to get the date set, though. Then I need to hire an assistant – so there’s the time on the phone spent doing that. And if the client has the budget for it, I also have to get a makeup artist lined up for the shoot.

The Shoot Day

On the day of the shoot, there’s the whole process of getting all my gear loaded into my truck, the time it takes to get it to the location, unloading all the gear, setting up whatever lighting I decide on using, and getting my camera tethered to my laptop. So, at this point – I’ve usually will have already put three to four hours into the job.

Then – I do the photographs.

For straight on business headshots, I usually only have people in front of the camera for five minutes or so per person.  So, this is where some of the problems come in: A lot of people look at this short period of time that they, or their employees, are in front of the camera and feel that I’m charging way too much. And I get that.

Believe me – I do. More on that in a minute.

So, once I’m done shooting, all the gear must be broken down, packed back up, and loaded back in my truck. I then have my drive time back, and then have to unload the gear, get it back inside and put up.

The Post-Production

As I mentioned earlier, I shoot tethered to a laptop on such jobs so I can get a better feel for my lighting, check image sharpness, and let each person briefly look through what I shot of them to say “yes” I think you got something in there I’ll like or – “no” – I don’t think we go something I’ll like – for whatever reason. In this case, I’ll shoot some more of them until we both feel we got some we both will be happy with. They don’t have to choose any particular image at that time – I’m just looking for them to say they feel I got something they’ll like based on what they see on the laptop.

So, the post-production starts with me editing through all the images I shot of them and their colleagues. I throw out all of the bad ones so as to not embarrass them by others seeing shots of them that are not flattering at all. I then apply basic global adjustments to my selects. Then, I usually will pick a single image that’s a standout favorite of just one of the employees and give it some extra TLC in Photoshop as I do to all the requested / ordered files before delivery.

When I’ve been lucky enough to work with a makeup artist this doesn’t take as much time due to the people not needing as much work in post-production. But, in general, I usually clean up blemishes that I know aren’t usually there, make bags under their eyes less apparent, soften up wrinkles, brighten whites of the eyes a bit, remove red from eyes when needed, brighten teeth a bit and remove any yellow discoloration in them, put a little bit of a vignette on it, and then save it out as color, black and white, and toned image in both high-res and low-res for delivery to the client. This process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more per image. This is why I charge a per image fee for all images the client selects for final delivery on such shoots. And it’s also why I often select just one image to process on out so they can get a better idea of what their image will look like once polished up.

From there I generate a web photo gallery – that starts with that sample image and continues on with all the selects of each person. I then upload this gallery with a company and job specific URL that I send a link for to the client. This allows each person to not be pressured to make a decision on which image(s) they want to select for final delivery on the day of the shoot, and instead be able to take their time and even get the opinions of loved ones and coworkers before picking one out.

I go ahead and send an invoice to the client with a link to their web gallery because it can sometimes take a week or two before I hear back from them in regards to which files have been selected for final processing and delivery. Once I do get this info I spend the time needed to get the requested files polished up, and then send them electronically via the internet through a service that I have to pay for to send large files.

Then, I’ve got to wait on payment if it hasn’t arrived yet, and once it does, I’ve got to go into my invoicing / accounting system and mark it as being paid.

Then – and only then – is the job finished.

At this point I may have had  — wow — who knows how much time has gone into it all at that point? I’m not complaining about this – it’s just the way it is. And as long as I’m charging as I should for it I don’t mind a bit. But when I have people that call me that just don’t have the budget for me to put in so much time for what they often think of as a “simple quick portrait.” Well. I always have to explain to them that such jobs are anything but quick for me. Both the time involved with shooting delivering their portraits – and the years invested in getting where I can walk in and make the whole process look easy to them.

I usually deliver the finished files as a color image, a B&W, and with a toned look that is one of my signature looks I’ve been doing for years that you can see in the shot below. Additionally, I deliver them as both high and low res JPEGS so they’ll have one that can be uploaded online with no problem, and then instruct them to hang onto the high-res version for printing purposes.

And that’s my point behind me explaining all that I have here. It is expensive to have a photographer on my level come out to do portraits of you and your employee’s – especially when you start factoring in an assistant and makeup artist – and that it can sometimes take a couple of days for me to catch everybody. But, the more employee’s I’m there to photograph, the less you’re going to pay per employee.

A More Time Efficient Alternative:

I also often try to capture shots of people with a good neutral and more serious expression. Yes, nine times out of ten a great confident smile is going to be what somebody wants because they want to appear friendly and approachable in their shot. But, there are certain times when they may want to send a different message. Jack, for example, is an IT professional. So with a shot like this, he could potentially make a company employee’s think twice before pestering him with their petty IT related issues. It could send the message of, “Do you really want this man coming to your desk and giving you such a death stare?” I kid. I kid. But, I really do always try to capture the serious option – for attorneys in particular. Get a great shot of them looking like they’re your best friend – which they can be when you need one. And then give them the option of having one to use that gives the impression that they’re best not to tangle with in court. And, there are some people that you just can’t get a good smile out of without it looking very forced. It’s rare that I can’t pull one out of them, but it does happen. So, in that case, a confident neutral expression may work better than what is clearly a forced and fake smile. Forced and fake are two attributes you don’t want to convey as a business person in a headshot – or anywhere else for that matter.

Now, back to where I started about doing these photos of my friend with the understanding that he was going to be an experimental guinea pig. For years I’ve had people call me wanting a business headshot just for themselves, or them and just one or two other employees of theirs. More often than not, it’s small business owners, or individuals looking to update their business headshot due to being at a point of transition in regards to their job or career.  They often get sticker shock when I tell them how much it will be to have me come out to do the shots for them – at a minimum – and provide the level of service I’ve described above.

I don’t blame them. Because I’d have sticker shock if I were in their shoes too. I often would have to let them go on their way and find somebody else to shoot the portraits for them within their budget – which sometimes wasn’t unreasonable. There was just no way I could really provide the level of service I usually do for such jobs and come out ahead.  I was having to turn potential long-term clients away – which is never a good idea from a business perspective. I can’t stand turning jobs away – even small jobs that I think some people seem to think I’m too good for. I’d rather go out and make $300 bucks than turn that work away due to only wanting to shoot bigger jobs that pay more and sit at home and make nothing as a result.

So, this got me to thinking about a more time efficient – less expensive – approach for these people. What I came up with is offering them an “express” type option that is much less expensive and time consuming for me:

I mentioned in the serious shot caption above that I can most always pull a genuine smile out of people. Well, this is one of me pulling an all out belly laugh out of Jack. It’s an “outtake” and is too candid for a business headshot – but it is still my favorite of what I got of him.

For the “express” option, I will shoot with my little Lumix LX100 camera. Sure, it may not look like the most professional of cameras due to it not being much bigger than some point-and-shoot cameras. But it’s a very capable camera in the hands of somebody that knows what they’re doing with it – which – in this case – would be me. Click here to see what I’m talking about. Yes. I love that little camera. And, it’s got a razor sharp Leica 24-74mm lens on it that’s sharper and faster than the 24-70 2.8L Canon lens I usually shoot jobs as I’ve described above with.

Rather than taking in multiple cases of lighting gear, my rolling camera bag, a couple of c-stands, sandbags, a stepladder, a 4′ roll of seamless, and a hand truck to get it all in with. Well, I’ll walk in with something that I can throw over my shoulders and get into the shoot location with one trip – and no assistant. My LX100 camera, a compact tripod, two or three compact light stands, two or three battery powered shoe mount strobes, a couple of light modifiers, a collapsible background, and no laptop to tether to.

My idea is to have a set quote template for such jobs ready to go where I can just fill in the business info, address, date, and shoot time – and then send it to the potential client for their approval. Then, for the shoot day, have my very basic kit already together where I can throw it over my shoulder and show up. No time consuming and back-pain-inducing loading and unloading process of a bunch of gear – some of which I never even use.

Once I’ve done the shots I’ll  have the subject select the image they want to have delivered to them – right then – by reviewing what I’ve shot right on the back of the camera. This will eliminate the time spent editing the images, uploading them to a web gallery for them to select from, and then waiting for their response before I can process their selected shot(s). Instead, I can simply grab the file(s) they have requested, polish them up in post-production, and then email them to them. Payment will be required the day of the shoot, and if they can’t decide on an image that day, then I will charge an additional fee to post a web photo gallery for them to select from. I even plan to only schedule the shoots from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm to avoid the frustration of having to spend more time driving in rush-hour traffic to and from their office.

If all this goes as planned, it will justify me accommodating those that I know really want to have me shoot for them, but just can’t afford for me to without me dropping my fee and feeling like I’m shooting myself (and the photography industry) in the foot by doing so. I plan on making this “express” option available only to those that are self-employed or run a business along with one or two others due to this express option likely becoming a problem when it comes to larger companies in which I’m covering multiple employees over the span of a full day – or multiple days – as I often do.

So, these shots of Jack were done with the express approach in mind. I used my LX100, a compact tripod, a single strobe, a softbox, a reflector, a gray collapsible background, three light stands, and an A-clamp. It was me experimenting to see what I could do with one light and a reflector for fill for business headshots. Yes, it is a bit more dramatic and Rembrandt looking than most people might want for business headshots, thus being why I intend on taking a couple of additional speedlights to such jobs to use as needed.

My goal will be to still deliver great business headshots that in no way shows they were done in a very minimalist streamlined way from start to finish – and not have to turn those away that I truly want to be able to work with more. All in the name of giving clients options and being easier to work with – while still being fare to myself and the photography industry.