Professional Head Shot of Business Woman Michelle
Taking portraits of people in a business situation can be simple if you have plenty of natural light. In this shot of Gold Coast business woman Michelle, we have an abundance of soft, natural light pouring in through large office windows.
The position of the sun was perfect as it had just moved overhead and away from the windows, meaning we didn’t have any glare from reflected patches of sunlight.
The background of these images is actually a large promotional poster advertising one of the company’s star products, and blurred nicely into the background of the shots when I had my camera set to a small aperture of f2.2.
Professional Portrait of Business Woman Michelle in natural light at her office
It’s a great idea to take a small step ladder with you on photo shoots, in case you want to get a higher angle on your subject. Being slightly higher and looking down onto your subject gives a “friendlier” feel to the image. It’s a flattering angle for women also – making the body look smaller.
The angle of view can make an incredible difference to a portrait. A low view point, looking up to your subject, will create a sense of power – often used in political shots, and very good for men.
Have your subject do something with their hands in their portrait shoot. Placing them on the hips or with fingertips touching lightly together in front. Anything is better than just letting them hang at your subject’s sides.
Professional Portrait of Business Woman Michelle in natural light at her office
In this last image, I had Michelle lean over the back of a white leather couch that was in the office foyer. We spun it around so that the back was facing the windows. Michelle is talking to someone off to the side – it’s not a bad idea to have a distraction, especially if your subject is feeling nervous. Having someone to talk to can take their mind off the photo shoot and that “deer in the headlights” look out of their eyes.
With clothing colour, Michelle stayed with classic black and white. Nice and safe for a business photograph and shows strength. Be careful with black though, it can wash your subject out – in fact, most people don’t wear black well around their faces.