Are you looking to capture your team through professional staff photos? As a seasoned professional photographer, I’ve had the privilege of photographing numerous staff photo shoots, including large corporate companies and school staff. Drawing from this wealth of experience, I’ve put together ten invaluable time-saving tips to streamline your preparation for the shoot, ensuring a seamless experience on the big day. Let’s dive into these tips and pave the way for a successful and efficient staff photo session – do let me know if you think there’s anything else I can add.
Determine the Usage of your Staff Photos
Determining how you will use your staff photos will help us plan your shoot more efficiently. Are you looking to update your ‘Meet the team’ page on your website, organise a staff photo board or use them for lanyards and ID cards? Knowing the intended use of the images will help determine the location, background choices, styling, composition and final crops for your photos.
Choosing a Style
The final usage of your staff photos should help you choose a style. Whether you opt for a formal, polished look or a more relaxed and contemporary vibe, ensure your chosen style reflects your organisation’s values and standards. If matching previous portraits is necessary, plain background portraits tend to be easier to replicate across different locations or future shoots.
Co-Ordinate Wardrobe Choices
Clear communication about the dress code before the shoot is essential for achieving a cohesive look in your staff photos. Providing guidelines on clothing, such as colours or styles that align with your company’s brand, ensures a unified appearance across the team and boosts employee confidence on the day of the shoot.
Organise your Props
If you’re looking to add a personal touch to your staff photos, consider incorporating your employee’s hobbies or interests into the photos to highlight their unique personalities (you can see an example on this page). This may involve organising props ahead of time to bring your vision to life. Whether it’s capturing a team member’s love for music, their passion for sports or a more crafty hobby, incorporating these personal touches can greatly enrich your images. However, careful planning beforehand is essential to ensure the elements all come together on the day of the shoot.
Choosing a Date for your staff photos
To avoid the need for multiple photo shoots, it’s worth gathering your whole team together on one day. Since lockdown, co-ordinating a date for your staff photos has become more challenging with more employees working remotely. Scheduling your photoshoot on the same day as a conference or your annual convention, when everyone is on site, can streamline this process. This approach not only ensures full team participation but also helps your photographer maintain a consistent and cohesive look across all of the staff photos.
Create a Schedule for your staff photos
Create a shooting schedule in advance, assigning specific time slots for each staff member. This approach ensures that every employee receives the attention they deserve without unnecessary waiting. Additionally, allowing staff to arrive in small groups of 4-5 people maximises efficiency, reduces downtime and maintains a smooth flow throughout the day.
Reserve the space in advance
When planning for staff photos with studio lighting, particularly for plain background shots, ensure your photographer has adequate space to work in. Ideally a minimum space measuring 3 metres by 2 metres (preferably with high ceilings!) would ensure that they have sufficient space to achieve the best lighting conditions. If you’re renting an event space for a conference, consider booking an additional private room to use as the photo studio. Be cautious with boardrooms, as often immovable tables can restrict flexibility and affect the ability to set up – please check beforehand!
Set up a mirror
Setting up a mirror near the photoshoot area allows employees to check their hair and make-up before their session. This helps ensure they look their best and saves the photographer time on minor adjustments.
Collect Necessary Information
Securing permissions such as model releases ahead of time will eliminate potential delays.
Assign a point of contact/assistant
And lastly, but certainly not least – if possible have someone on hand to manage the flow of staff, tick off names and answer any last-minute questions or issues. The extra help ensures the photo shoot runs smoothly, allowing the photographer to focus on capturing high-quality images.
Each time she has nailed it!
We have used Alex three times for our Staff Photos in our ten-year history and each time she has nailed it! Alex truly understands the brief, then converts it to images that help us tell our story and reflect the business that we are. Thank you Alex!
Jon Byers, Anderson Rose, London
If you’re looking for Staff Photos please get in touch for a bespoke quote, I’d love to hear from you.
