I’m doing some corporate headshots for a small law firm near me, but as I usually do videography I don’t have photographic lighting. I have a speed light that goes on top of my camera and im a confident photographer - do you think this is adequate? What would your tips be for corporate headshots?
You’ll need a backdrop – these are great. If you’re going to do more headshots, they are essential. A white one even makes more sense. With a white one, its easier to erase the background and put in a custom backdrop.
I usually do corporate head shots with one light. I’ve used this one for more than five years and the results are fabulous. And use an umbrella and set it up as high as it will go on a stand so the shadows are behind and below your subject.
A speedlight might work with an umbrella or a softbox. You cannot just use a Speedlight aimed at the subject without a large diffuser.
You could probably use your video light but I’ll bet that will make your subjects squint which isn’t a good look.
The lower the ISO the better anyone’s skin is going to look, so bright lighting and low ISOs are the way to go… try 100 to start then adjust.
Shoot them all in RAW and definitely manual so all the headshots look uniform. If you shoot Auto program and Auto ISO, a dark skinned person’s shot will look a lot different than a light person’s shot.
I wouldn’t go into shooting multiple corporate headshots without the right equipment. Whatever you do, set up what you have and practice a LOT before you go to do it!
Can someone who’s pretty experienced with shooting headshots do it with one speed light? Yeah, absolutely. But if you’re asking this question in here, I’m thinking you’re not very experienced. Especially for corporate work. These are people who generally aren’t happy with how they look - #1 question is always ‘you’re going to make me look thin, right?’ - and they aren’t models, so they have no idea how to pose. So it’s up to you to infuse confidence in them that you know what you’re doing, and to impress them. When I do corporate work, I use a minimum of 3 lights, and a reflector. I’m tethered to a MacBook so they can see the photos and choose their favorites. It’s important to get it as close to finished as possible right in the camera, because you don’t want to have to edit a ton of photos just to make them presentable, especially if they’re only choosing one. Do you have a backdrop? Or do they want them taken in an office? Outdoors? If anything, I’d give the job to a more experienced headshot photographer and tag along to see how it’s done.
I also recently done headshots for a law firm lol, and this is 100% correct. I took one headshot of the CEOs PA and I got two shots that I really liked, to the point that I would consider both of them a portfolio shots. But she hates thrm, I had to convince her that it was a REALLY good headshot.
Most of them are corporate people, they have worked in corporate their whole lives. So they don’t understand what a good, or bad shot, looks like.
I shoot corporate headshots with 3 strobes if I’m not lighting the background, and 5 if I am. I would never roll into a headshot job with a single speedlight.
This is for a small business in rural England who would otherwise be doing it with their phone - but I will give it a go and if they don’t like the photos o won’t charge them
Do you have constant lights for video…? Because you could use those for the headshots… One speedlight for headshots is gonna be a tricky one without really knowing how to work with it.
You’ll need to put the speedlight on a stand and fire it remotely, preferably through a diffusion panel or bounced off of a larger reflector to get any kind of decent result.
If you only have a speedlight that can be used on camera, your best bet is to skip the artificial lighting and find a spot with some good natural light and shoot them that way.
Thank you - that’s helpful
would be pretty unprofessional to do that and your client would probably rightly feel ripped off and not confident in the moment that they’re in good hands. if it’s a job and you don’t own the lighting that you need in order to execute to the full extent of your abilities, you need to rent the lighting. that said you can def light still headshots with video lighting
This is for a small business in rural England who would otherwise be doing it with their phone - but I will give it a go and if they don’t like the photos o won’t charge them :)
What do they want for a backdrop? Here’s a good resource for your situation. “Self Headshot with one Speedlight featuring Seth Miranda” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcOXIC6xgu4
I don’t think they know having a backdrop is a possibility other than just a wall. It’s for a SMALL small business in rural England. They’d be doing the photos with their phones otherwise, it’s not a big corporate job by any means
