So you have a day of corporate headshots booked for a new client. What can you expect? I took a bit of a dive into a few things that I think are often overlooked. I am not addressing what lens is best, how to light the portraits, or the politics of how much time to give each subject as those things will all vary on a case-by-case basis. Instead I am going to mention the fun stuff: having proper liability insurance, pre-production, dressing appropriately, budgeting time, and consistency.
We do thousands of corporate headshots in NYC every year. They range from low-budget shoots getting a whole 100-person team photographed in one day to working with C-Suite executives where we might budget an hour or two per person and bring a four-person crew to keep things moving as efficiently as possible. So speaking of efficiency, let’s jump right in.
Corporate Headshot Tips: At a Glance
This guide covers the essential non-technical aspects of running a successful corporate headshot day, from the paperwork that gets you in the door to the consistency that keeps clients coming back.
- Have Your Paperwork in Order – Why liability insurance can make or break a booking
- Get a Clear Idea of What Your Client Is Looking For – Pre-production planning for different shoot types
- The Way You Dress Matters – Matching your attire to the environment
- Know What Your Day Will Look Like – Scheduling, volume, and time management
- Budget in Post-Production Costs – Pricing and workflow for editing and delivery
- Consistency Makes Life Easy – Maintaining a uniform look across all images
- Frequently Asked Questions – Common questions about corporate headshot shoots
Have Your Paperwork in Order
Here is a real story that happened to me recently. At 2 p.m. on a Tuesday I received a frantic call from the friend of one of my long-time clients. They had a full day of portraits booked for their team, but they just found out that their building would require a Certificate of Insurance from the photographer. The person they hired was a freelancer, a friend of a friend, a good photographer, but they did not have the liability insurance needed to enter the building as an outside contractor. Most commercial buildings in NYC require anywhere from $1 million to $5 million in general liability insurance depending on the building and its management company. Fortunately, in this case we were able to save the day.
We have staff photographers and a few freelance assistants on call, so we shuffled a few things around and arrived at 8 a.m. the next morning ready to go. Having proper insurance goes a long way. Every building and client will have different requirements, but if you have a solid policy you will not have an issue getting the proper documents sorted out so that you can get to your client’s office and get them what they need.
How to Get Your Insurance Sorted Before the Shoot
If you are just starting out in corporate photography, getting a general liability policy should be one of your first priorities. Most commercial buildings and corporate offices will ask for a Certificate of Insurance (COI) before they allow any outside vendor into the building. The process usually works like this: your client’s office manager or facilities team will send over a COI request form listing the building as an additional insured party, and your insurance provider will issue the certificate directly to the building’s management company. This can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of business days, so always confirm insurance requirements at least a week before the shoot date. In my experience, it is far better to have your COI ready to go before anyone asks for it than to scramble the day before.
Get a Clear Idea of What Your Client Is Looking For
When heading into a client’s office for a day of corporate portraits, it is a good idea to know exactly what the photography is supposed to look like. A day of photographing 100 portraits of first-year associates on a white background is a much different beast than a day photographing 5 or 10 senior-level executives environmentally in multiple locations. For a day of quick headshots it should be as simple as setting up a white background with a light on the background, a light on the subject, and a fill card. Shooting environmentally with more senior-level people will be much more involved, with an assistant or two, a makeup artist, and someone from the firm’s brand team overseeing the shoot and reviewing images as you go.
It is not unusual to have a couple of sets ready to go at all times. We often do higher-level shoots with two photographers on hand, one shooting and the other acting as a first assistant. This way we can get multiple shots ready to go at the same time and have an extra set of eyes looking for other angles, backgrounds, or scenarios to use the executive’s time most effectively.
Questions to Ask During Pre-Production
Before the shoot day, I always recommend having a detailed pre-production call or email exchange with your client. The key things you need to nail down include the total number of people being photographed, the style of portraits they want (studio backdrop vs. environmental), whether there is a brand style guide you need to follow, and what the final images will be used for. A headshot destined for the company website has different requirements than one going on a billboard or into an annual report. You should also ask about the physical space available for your setup. Some offices have large conference rooms or lobbies that work perfectly, while others might only offer a small corner near the elevators. Knowing this ahead of time lets you plan your gear accordingly and avoid surprises on shoot day.
The Way You Dress Matters!
Yes, I realize we are photographers. We are supposed to be artsy or edgy or cool or whatever the stereotype is, but the reality of the situation is that you should dress as if you belong in the environment you will be working in. If you are walking into a large bank, law firm, or Fortune 500, you should look like anyone else there. That does not mean you need a suit and tie, but a nice pair of chinos, a button-down shirt, and clean simple shoes will go a long way as people will feel like you are one of them when they first walk into the room. That said, the rules change based on the client, but even still I tend to lean on the business casual side of things because I would rather look like a professional than some guy off the street.
There is a practical side to this as well. When your subjects are already a bit nervous about having their photo taken (and plenty of people are), seeing a photographer who looks put together and professional helps put them at ease right away. You are essentially a guest in their workspace, and dressing appropriately signals that you respect their environment. I have found that people open up more quickly and are more cooperative during the session when there is no perceived disconnect between you and the rest of the office. If you are heading to a creative agency or a tech startup, you can obviously dress down a bit, but when in doubt, business casual is always a safe bet.
Know What Your Day Will Look Like Before You Get There
Try to get an exact idea of the schedule of the day beforehand. This seems like a given, but some clients are less organized than others and plan to just let people stop in whenever works best for them throughout the day. That scenario is destined to be stressful. A true story that happened to us recently was that one of our clients requested we have two photographers with two mini studios set up as they wanted to get around 100 people photographed in the day. Fifty per photographer for the day is on the border of what we would consider the top line. It was only when we got into the day that we found out that they had meant 100 people per photographer, and actually had 2 people arriving every 5 minutes for their photos.
This is when you have to kick into overdrive and let your expertise do the work for you. Confidence in your lighting setup, knowing what to adjust on people, and managing to get them comfortable as soon as they are on set will keep the flow of things moving along. It helps keep all of the people being photographed happy and your client elated that you managed to make their day pain-free.
Adjusting Your Approach Based on Seniority
Just because you can handle a huge volume of people does not mean that you always should. As a banker or lawyer moves up the food chain, looking good in their portrait matters more and more. Often their corporate bio or LinkedIn page will be the first impression that someone has of them. It is not uncommon to budget out 20 to 30 minutes per person when the people you are working with have more senior roles. For partners and C-Suite executives, I usually recommend allowing even more time if possible. These sessions benefit from a more relaxed pace where you can try different expressions, adjust wardrobe details, and experiment with a few different compositions. Rushing through an executive headshot is a missed opportunity for both you and your client.
Don’t Forget to Budget in the Cost of Post-Production
Post-production and the digital age are a blessing and a curse as a professional photographer. In the film days we would simply send out a contact sheet of each person and they would let us know what prints were needed, whereas now we review everything immediately on site. As a studio we began to make the change in the late 1990s when the first professional digital cameras were being introduced (about $20,000 for a 4-megapixel body at the time). When we moved to digital we kept things structured the same way for a while; we would print contact sheets of 20 images for each person to select the final from. We have evolved our workflow continuously over the past 20-plus years, and clients increasingly want more value for every dollar they spend. On the flip side, we can do much more work with much less staff.
Efficiency is increasingly important, and dialing in your post-production and billing accordingly for it (usually on the front end) is still critical. This will vary by the shoot, the client, and the budget. We like to build in a half day of post-production into the price of any full-day shoot. This generally includes renumbering everything to our naming structure, processing out the raw files to JPGs, and uploading all of the files to our PhotoShelter database for the client to access. From there they can either review the images to make selections for retouching or simply download the files for use on their company database, LinkedIn, and so on.
Retouching and Turnaround Time
Beyond the basic processing that we build into our pricing, we charge per image for formal retouching and we do all of the work in-house at our NYC studio. This allows us to directly address any concerns someone might have as well as make alterations that might be requested after seeing the final image. Typical retouching for a corporate headshot includes skin smoothing, removing blemishes, cleaning up stray hairs, and evening out skin tones. For larger orders, we can usually turn around basic processed files within a couple of business days and retouched finals within a week. Setting clear expectations with your client on turnaround times before the shoot day will save you a lot of back-and-forth emails later.
Consistency Makes Life Easy
Not only will being consistent keep your clients happy and returning to you, it also makes post-production much easier. If I am shooting a day of headshots where 50 people might step in front of the camera, it is very rare that I will move my lighting aside from adjusting for slight differences in height. This is the kind of shoot where you want to be able to do as much editing in bulk as possible. If you have to spend an extra 5 minutes on post-production for each person, you have just spent the full half day that you had budgeted on doing something that could have been done in an hour.
For shoots with a bit more production value, a different type of consistency is needed. For environmental photos, for example, the background will be changing and you will be moving your lights pretty often. In those scenarios the goal is to keep the overall look of the shoot consistent. You do not want one person to have a light and airy look and the next dark and moody. When you look at each individual together in a gallery it needs to make sense and they need to look like they belong together.
Building a Repeatable Lighting Setup
One of the best things you can do for consistency and efficiency is to build a go-to lighting setup that you can replicate every single time. For our studio headshots on white or gray, we have a setup that we have refined over the years to the point where we can break it down, travel with it, set it up in a client’s conference room, and produce results that are virtually identical to what we shoot in our home studio. I recommend documenting your settings, your light positions, and even the distances between your lights, background, and subject. Take a photo of the setup with your phone so you can recreate it quickly. This kind of repeatability is what separates a photographer who can handle a 100-person shoot day from one who gets overwhelmed by the 20th person.
Frequently Asked Questions About Corporate Headshots
How much should I charge for a corporate headshot day?
Pricing varies widely depending on your market, the number of subjects, and the level of production involved. A good starting point is to calculate your day rate, add in the cost of an assistant if needed, factor in a half day of post-production time, and then include your per-image retouching fee on top of that. In a major metro like New York, day rates for corporate headshot photographers typically start around $2,000 to $3,500 for a full day, with retouching billed separately per image. In smaller markets those numbers will be lower, but the structure should remain the same.
Do I need liability insurance for corporate headshot work?
In most cases, yes. Almost every commercial office building will require a Certificate of Insurance before allowing an outside vendor to work on the premises. Even if a particular building does not ask for one, having general liability coverage protects you in the event that something goes wrong on set, such as a light stand falling or a tripping hazard from cables. The cost of a basic photography liability policy is relatively affordable and well worth the peace of mind.
How many headshots can one photographer realistically shoot in a day?
For standard studio-style headshots on a clean background, one photographer can comfortably handle 40 to 50 people in a full day, assuming each person gets about 5 to 10 minutes in front of the camera. If you are doing more involved environmental portraits, that number drops significantly, sometimes to as few as 8 to 12 people depending on how many locations and outfit changes are involved. The key is to set realistic expectations with your client during the booking process so there are no surprises.
What background works best for corporate headshots?
White and light gray are the most popular choices for corporate headshot backgrounds because they produce a clean, professional look that works across virtually any platform, from a company website to LinkedIn to printed materials. Some firms prefer a darker gray or even a navy blue to align with their brand colors. The most important thing is that the background is consistent across all subjects and does not distract from the person in the portrait.
How do I make nervous subjects feel comfortable during a headshot session?
Conversation is your best tool. Talk to your subjects about something other than the photo while you are shooting. Ask about their weekend, their role at the company, or something casual that gets them out of their own head. Playing music at a comfortable volume can also help set a more relaxed atmosphere. The less it feels like a formal photo shoot, the more natural and approachable the final images will look. Showing people a few good frames on the back of the camera as you go can also help build their confidence and loosen them up.
At the End of the Day…
Corporate photography might not be the most interesting type of photography, but it is nice to be able to pay your bills and afford a decent living. Doing corporate work means that you will have most of your evenings and weekends free, a pretty reliable and flexible work schedule that will allow you time to do your own thing at your leisure. There will definitely be times when you are busy every day for weeks on end, but you learn pretty quickly which weeks in the year are traditionally slow and can plan trips and excursions without the fear of losing a client. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or leave them in the comments below.
