Virtual Backgrounds for Headshots

• Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots, Executive Headshots

Sometimes producing a headshots outside or on-location just isn’t possible. Weather and access to a specific location are just a couple of challenges. Virtual backgrounds for headshots is just one method of producing headshot portraits that look like they were photographed on-location. In Vancouver, weather is often a limitation for outdoor headshots during the Fall and Winter months. Within our Virtual Headshots option, you can have your photos shot inside against a seamless background and have the photo composited with realistic looking backgrounds and lighting.

Virtual Backgrounds for Headshots

Above is a sample of a headshot that was shot at my photo studio. Using a custom lighting set up, I shot headshots for my client with the intention of compositing it onto a virtual background in Photoshop. I used a background of downtown Vancouver which I photographed on another day and composited the photo to produce a shot that looks like it was shot against an office window or on a patio outdoors overlooking the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Virtual Backgrounds for Headshots is a convenient way to produce unique looking headshots for corporate use, real estate, editorial publication, social media, or profile photos for Zoom or Microsoft Teams. The possibilities are endless with virtual backgrounds.

Outdoor Vancouver Natural Light Headshots at Vanier Park

• Executive Headshots, Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots

Vancouver outdoor executive natural light headshots Vancouver corporate natural light headshots

Vancouver offers many outdoor locations for natural light headshots. One of my go to places is Vanier Park, there there are a variety of looks you can offer.

Here are a couple of outdoor Vancouver headshots for a local executive. My client wanted natural light photos on a bench for your consulting business, and also wanted water in the background.

A specific spot was located at Vanier Park, and despite the wind that day, we were able to get some great photos for her website.

Even within the hour or so that we were on-location, we got a couple of different lighting looks. One is the typical Vancouver overcast sky, which produces a soft white backdrop, and the other is with direct sunlight. This produces a more contrasty look against a blue sky.

If you are interested in producing corporate executive headshots with natural light, contact us today for more details!

 

 

Headshot Photos that look On-Location

• Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots, Photography tips

Amid this CORVID-19 crisis, these are indeed challenging times for businesses in Vancouver and around the world. Many people who need photos for business are finding it challenging to produce them on-location.

We offer a solution for headshots that need to look like they were photographed at an office or outdoors.

Using green screen at our studio, we can produce headshots that look like they were photographed on-location.

So even if the weather is bad, or you want realistic business photos that look like they were photographed at an office, workplace, or home we are here to help.

Green Screen studio Headshots in Vancouver

Green screen sessions are done at our studio, and we’re practicing safe social distancing by limiting photo sessions to one or two people within the studio at a time.

If you need your headshots done for business, contact us today for studio availability and rates!

And we wish you the best of health, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Environmental Staff Portraits

• Uncategorized

One of the types of portraits I love producing are corporate environmental staff portraits. They are a somewhat special category of portraiture because they are photographed on-location to better contextualize the subject. While most corporate headshots I do are produced on a plain backdrop (which has its benefits as well), environmental staff portraits help to tell a story. In other words, they are a form of editorial portraiture.

environmental staff portraits of an architect holding a model home They can be as simple as a smiling face within a workspace, or a photo of a staff member or group of people engaging in work activity. Sometimes it’s a mix of both.
corporate headshots on location Vancouver of a women at work corporate website photos of architects working in a team inside a boardroom

 

This type of photography is also great for teams. In additional to the more traditional team portraits, a group photo of the team engaged in real work activity can be a useful for a number of advertising and corporate communication uses.

The above sample headshots and team photos were photographed on-location at a Vancouver architectural design firm. The photos were taken were each individual worked, and offer a sense of space, depth, and context. For this company, every person was photographed in a different location. Choosing the best locations for each staff member was the most challenging part of the project. These corporate environmental portraits had to look clean, but also be representative of the company’s office work space.

Most of the photos were produced with a mix of natural and ambient light, studio lighting, and reflectors. Planning for a good lighting day was a key factor in photos that look bright, but soft and natural.

Before photography took place at their office, a site visit was done to identify different locations. Another important consideration was how the natural and ambient light looked at different times of the day. This can be challenging for offices located in downtown Vancouver buildings because of shadows casted by other buildings at specific times of the day. This planning helped things go smoothly on the day of the shoot, thereby minimizing disruptions to the business and their staff.

If you are interested in planning a on-site environmental-style staff portrait session for your company, please contact us today for details, rates, and availability.

Small business headshots – Vancouver Dental Studio

• Business Headshots, Advertising, Photography tips, Tips

small business headshots Vancouver dentist

These small business headshots were photographed on location at a Vancouver dentist office. Upon arrival, the challenge before me was finding a location within the office that had enough depth and width for the equipment and to serve as a suitable background. The best location turned out to be their reception area, which had just enough space for all the lighting equipment needed to create modern branded business portraits.

Choosing a good time of day turned out to be an important factor in planning for these small business headshots for a Vancouver dentist. Dental offices can be very busy depending on the time of day. Had it been a busy morning, it would’ve been nearly impossible to photograph these headshots in the reception area.

Once the Elinchrom lighting and camera were set up for the look I wanted to produce, the rest was fairly straight forward. Each person was coached on how to pose and on their facial expressions. Then we went through the different angles and various poses I do for most corporate photo sessions. This helps most people feel at ease and increases the number of good shots we get from the headshot session – most business people I work with want their headshots done as quickly as possible, but still want their best looks possible

The final headshot photos turned out great even with the small amount of space I had available for lighting the photo shoot. These are going to look great on their website, for social media, and other print marketing materials!

If you would like to learn more about planning for your small business headshot session or promotional video or video blog, contact us today for further details and quote.

Ground Breaking Event in the Fraser Valley

• Corporate Events

We’ve been busy this Spring with a lot of photo shoots. One of my favourite recent corporate events was a groundbreaking event in Surrey, BC. This groundbreaking event was for the development of a new corporate headquarters. It was exciting to see a new building for a growing service company. The new location was chosen as a central site for their employees, who are spread across the Metro Vancouver region. Much thought was put into minimizing commute times for their staff. Such planning has become a way to attract and keep great employees in Metro Vancouver.

Ground Breaking Event in the Fraser Valley

The event began with a welcome speech announcing the start to the building phase of the development. Employees and family were on hand to witness the breaking of ground – a traditional ceremonial start to every great development. Food was served and lots of photos were taken to be a part of their company’s history.

corporate ground breaking event photoGround Breaking Event in the Fraser Valley

If you are planning for a ground breaking event or other corporate events and need a professional photographer on-site for ground photos and candid images for your website or social media, please contact us today for rates and availability!

Vancouver Headshots – Best Outdoor Locations

• Tips, Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots, Photography tips

If shooting headshots in studio isn’t an option, or you’re looking for something different, Vancouver offers a number of great outdoor locations for headshots. By ‘great”, I mean outside locations with great ambient lighting, unique backdrops, and are easy to access. Whether you’re looking for modern urban, rustic or vintage urban, or the best spots for a great view of the mountains, below are three of the best downtown Vancouver headshot locations to consider.

North False Creek Headshots (around the Roundhouse Community Centre and creekside)

Vancouver headshots OutdoorsThis is one of my favourite corporate headshot locations in downtown Vancouver. The location around the Roundhouse Community Centre offers a good mix of older brick walls and modern glass buildings. The sun is south of this location, so you’ll want to time the headshot sessions to ensure you don’t get too much lens flare off the water if you’re shooting closer to the creek.

Headshots at Jack Poole Plaza

For Vancouver headshot locations, this is one of the best places with an unobstructed view of the north shore mountains. Check out the top of the Cactus Club Cafe for a great shot of Georgia Straight and the north shore in the distance. When shooting towards the north shore mountains, the sun may be directly in the face of your subject, so make sure you have a scrim or some way to block the sun from your subject’s eyes. A off-camera mixed lighting setup is definitely recommended for this location.

Headshots along West Hastings

business headshots outdoors in downtown VancouverWest Hastings Street between Burrard and Howe Streets offer some of the best urban backgrounds that feature a quintessential classic metropolitan look. There are a number of buildings that, if shot from a distance and with the right lighting are reminiscent of old urban America. Buildings such as the Sinclair Centre, the Vancouver Club, 850 West Hastings (Montecristo), the Marine Building, offer a classic look at street level.

There are also a number of modern backgrounds along West Hastings. New buildings can be found just west of Burrard Street, and offer a unique bokeh (blurry background) effects with the right depth and light.

These are just a few of my favourite spots for outdoor headshots in Vancouver. I’ll be adding some locations and providing more tips on how to shoot in these spots in upcoming blog posts. In the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to drop me a line.

 

360 VR Interactive Video of Pueblo Bonito Blanco Los Cabos

• Video

I recently enjoyed a vacation in Los Cabos, Mexico at a beautiful resort call the Pueblo Bonito Blanco. This is a Mediterranean style resort, centrally located in Cabo San Lucas. While there, I brought along a VR camera and captured some 360 degree views of the resort.

You may be family with Google’s Street view, which gives you an interactive virtual view of a location on a map. Now, 360 degree virtual experiences are growing in popularity for business, and are being used for promotional purposes to feature or highlight both interior and exterior places.

Here is a sample of a view from inside Cilantro’s Restaurant looking out to the beautiful beach on the Sea of Cortez.

You can move around the video using a mouse on your computer, or by moving your smart phone:

The resolution of 360 degree videos on YouTube is reduced, but for promotional use on your own website, these videos can be displayed in much higher quality. To learn more about producing 360 degree interactive videos or photos for your business, contact us for more info.

Corporate Training Video

• Corporate Video

Corporate training videos have come a long way. Years ago, I recall watching a variety of corporate training videos, which were usually on VHS tape or DVDs, and lasted for at least 20 minutes, but often much longer. They were usually watched at the office and were sometimes difficult to watch due to all the nearby distractions.

More organizations are now putting their corporate videos online. Whether they are internally accessed or available through public or semi-private websites such as YouTube, these videos are often much shorter and can be accessed anywhere.

We recently did a short 3 minute training video for an environment testing lab. The purpose of the video is to present best practices for submitting environmental samples to their laboratories. The video was produced in English, but a French subtitled version was also produced using the same English video.

Here is the corporate training video published online on their channel:

(click here if the video does not appear: https://youtu.be/196LTPX6LU0)

If you would like to produce corporate videos for your business, contact us to discuss the requirements of your project and to get a no obligation quote.

Composite Headshots Portrait Sample

• Business Headshots, Advertising, Corporate Headshots, Executive Headshots

When the weather outside is frightful, composite headshot portraits are so delightful! If you need social media headshots that feel like they were photographed on-location, but can’t produce good photos outdoors because of the bad weather, you can produce a composite headshot at my studio. A green screen composite headshot is quick and easy to produce and gives you the flexibility to choose the background for your images. You see it in Hollywood movies, and can now use it to produce a custom look for your own business photos. It is also much more cost effective than shooting on-location.

composite headshotThis sample shows what the headshot looks like before and after it’s composited and edited. Using the right lighting, the final image has higher fidelity and works great for advertising use or social media.

Contact me today to find out more about booking a composite headshot session at my Vancouver photo studio using green screen technology.