blog | Page 2 | Pro Headshots Vancouver – Headshots and Corporate Photography

11 Mar 2019

Vancouver photographer Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots, Photography tips, Tips No Comments Permalink

Vancouver Headshots – Best Outdoor Locations

Vancouver photographer March 11, 2019 No Comments

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)

This 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

West 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.

08 Feb 2019

Vancouver photographer Video No Comments Permalink

360 VR Interactive Video of Pueblo Bonito Blanco Los Cabos

Vancouver photographer February 8, 2019 No Comments

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1STspnwDyso&list=PLWyJWkKdxR0-JN3qR9qvPenhMhhdMN-Hy

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.

31 Jan 2019

Vancouver photographer Corporate Video No Comments Permalink

Corporate Training Video

Vancouver photographer January 31, 2019 No Comments

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196LTPX6LU0

(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.

08 Dec 2018

Vancouver photographer Advertising, Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots, Executive Headshots No Comments Permalink

Composite Headshots Portrait Sample

Vancouver photographer December 8, 2018 No Comments

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.

This 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.

07 Jul 2018

Vancouver photographer Student Headshots 1 Comment Permalink

CaRMS Headshot Photo Specifications

Vancouver photographer July 7, 2018 1 Comment

CaRMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service) is a program that matches Canadian medical students to one of 30 different programs across 17 medical schools in Canada. A part of your application will consist of a professional headshot digital photo that you will need to include as part of the residency matching program. These photos help programs to identify you during the ranking process, and only visible to the programs during the interview period.

We’ve worked with many medical residency applicants in the Metro Vancouver area to produce professional headshot photos for their CaRMS (and ERAS) application at affordable rates, and can also help you to produce a professional looking headshot photo as well.

The photos are taken at our studio with professional lighting and backdrops, but can also be photographed on-location for larger groups. Typically, photo sessions take about 20 – 30min at the studio, and you will be able to review the photo proofs and make you photo selections during the session.

After the photo session, your digital portraits will delivered within 2-3 business days online (rush services also available). You will receive an full copy of your selected photos, as well as a cropped and sized version based on the following:

CaRMS Specifications and Requirements

According to current CaRMS photo requirements, the digital headshots need to meet these specifications:

A professional headshot is recommended if possible
CaRMS photo are usually photographed as a head and shoulders portrait
Photos need to be submitted in digital format online under My Documents in the applicant web portal
Wallet sized photos should be approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″ (63.5mm x 88.9mm) – the photo may be resized to 3″ (76.2mm)
Make sure the photo file type is JPEG with the extension “.jpg”
The maximum photo file size should be 2.0 MB (Last updated January 2024)
Colour or Black & White headshots are accepted

You can refer to the CaRMS timelines for key dates for your application and more information on the application requirements. It is recommended that you book your photo session at least two weeks before the final deadline, but to get a studio appointment time, booking much earlier is better.

What to Bring to your CaRMS or ERAS Photo Session

Wear a well-pressed shirt or blouse; neutral colours are usually best
Bring a suit jacket or blazer in case it’s needed
Bring hair product to control fly-aways if needed
You may bring makeup, but please keep makeup to a minimum
If you wear glasses with transitions lenses, please choose non-transition lenses for the photo session if possible

To schedule a CaRMS photo session, please visit our contact page and send us a message to set up an appointment.

Click here to check the CaRMS Residency Match Applicant Timeline
Click here to check the ERAS Residency Timeline

24 May 2018

Vancouver photographer Tips No Comments Permalink

Encountering “Page Not Found” or similar errors when trying to access your photo gallery?

Vancouver photographer May 24, 2018 No Comments

We recently began to migrate all our business websites over to the HTTPS protocol from the old HTTP protocol that most of the web currently uses. The HTTPS protocol means that the website uses an SSL certificate for security authentication and verification, and is generally more secure. It is also promoted by Google and enforced by many web browsers as a safer way to surf the web.

Although most of this transition has gone over smoothly, there have been a few hiccups along the way.

You may have encountered a “Page Not Found” or similar error message when attempting to access your photo gallery with the domain “http://clients.dsoleil.com”. The reason why this sometimes occurs (depending on your browser and/or network’s firewall policies) is because the gallery is currently not hosted on server with our security certificate (SSL certificate). This doesn’t necessarily mean you are visiting an insecure website, instead, the problem occurs because the gallery’s security certificate is not one that belongs to us, but to our cloud-based image hosting provider.

Our image hosting provider is working on a fix, but the full implementation won’t take place until July 2018.

In the meantime, if you find that your gallery link is no longer working, here’s what you will need to do:

First, here is an example of a link to our gallery: http://clients.dsoleil.com/p12345678

Copy the last part of the link that begins with a “p”. In this example, that would be “p12345678″. This is your gallery ID.
In your browser’s address bar, enter this link “http://dsoleilphotography.zenfolio.com/” – but don’t press enter yet…
Append the gallery id (“p12345678″) to the link you just typed into the address bar.
The whole link should look like this: http://dsoleilphotography.zenfolio.com/p12345678
Now press enter and the gallery screen should begin to load.

If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please feel free to email us at: info@proheadshots.ca

Thank you!

01 Feb 2018

Vancouver photographer Advertising, Business Headshots, Real Estate Agent Headshots No Comments Permalink

Green Screen Headshots for when Photographing on Location Isn’t Possible

Vancouver photographer February 1, 2018 No Comments

Many of my clients ask for unique backgrounds for their headshots or group portraits that feature beautiful office spaces, venues, or homes. These backgrounds are popular because they draw attention and interest, but capturing business portraits in these spaces isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons (e.g. access, logistics, weather/lighting limitations, etc.). So another option is to produce green screen headshots (also known as Chroma key) in the studio and replace the backgrounds in post production.

Here is a sample of a business headshot I photographed in-studio for a local realtor.

After this was photographed, we chose a background of a beautiful residential space and placed his business headshot into the background with some Photoshop magic. The background was “blurred” to draw attention to my client. It also allows his graphic designer to drop in a logo and a title in the space on the right of the image. Alternatively, the photo can be cropped closer if just the head and shoulders headshot is needed for web advertising or business cards.

Another background was selected as well, and it was easy to place the headshot into a new space with little additional Photoshop editing required.

Some of the keys to making this all work are: the studio lighting placement, background selection, and colour grading. Knowing what the background will be in advance is important to making the final composite image look as realistic as possible.

Most of the backgrounds I prefer selecting have a brighter and/or generally muted colour palette, which helps to minimize the contrast between the headshot and the background. Knowing that the background is going to be generally brighter means adding some back lighting or rim lighting to the subject’s photo.

Colour grading or matching tones is another important ingredient. Compare the top image with the bottom one. Notice that the warmer skin tone of the top image fits better with the residential background due to the similar warmish tone.

Headshots from the green screen process rarely look as good as shooting in the actual space, but it’s an acceptable compromise when certain access or seasonal limitations keep us from shooting on location. One way to add fidelity to the image is to apply a tighter crop. This can usually help because it removes much of the background distraction, but includes just enough of the background to maintain context.

If you would like more information about producing headshots, group photos, or commercial images using this green screen technique, feel free to drop me a line!

17 Jan 2018

Vancouver photographer Business Headshots, Corporate Headshots No Comments Permalink

Dramatic business headshot

Vancouver photographer January 17, 2018 No Comments

This is a dramatic business headshot taken for a Randstad tech recruiter at the studio using the new Canon 5D MK IV (Mark 4) using a mix of natural ambient lighting and strobe lighting by Elinchrom and their Rotalux light modifiers. This dramatic business headshot are influenced by actor headshots often seen in hollywood portfolios. Lighting is darker edgy and is intended to draw attention to the shape and contour of the face. If you would like to produce similar headshots for your own business use, contact me for rates and availability.

11 Jan 2018

Vancouver photographer Advertising No Comments Permalink

Photos for an Advertising Campaign

Vancouver photographer January 11, 2018 No Comments

This is a photo I produced for Dominion Lending Centre’s recruitment advertising campaign last winter for Metro Vancouver. This photo was produced on a frozen Como Lake in Coquitlam featuring one of their top mortgage brokers.

This photo was taken on a cold afternoon on one of the coldest and snowiest winters we’ve seen on the West Coast in decades. It may be one the last times we see a local lake safe enough to skate on while frozen.

If you would like help producing photos for your next promotional campaign, please get in touch!

02 Mar 2017

Vancouver photographer Uncategorized No Comments Permalink

Corporate Lawyer Headshots On Site

Vancouver photographer March 2, 2017 No Comments

Here are some sample images of Corporate Lawyer Headshots photographed on-site in downtown Vancouver. These headshots were photographed at my client’s office. We used the lawyer’s lounge for our lighting setup and used part of the window as the backdrop for these corporate portraits.

What makes these headshots stand out is the out of focus background, which puts the headshots in context, while placing my clients in sharp focus. The combination of soft lighting with a subtle rim light gives these headshots a clean and bright feel with minimal shadows and soft tones. All my headshots are edited in Photoshop, where a light skin retouch is applied, but the images are not overprocessed. If you are a business in Metro Vancouver and need corporate headshots for your website, social media, or for print marketing, contact us for more a custom quote and availability for on-site or in-studio sessions. Please ask about our group rates if you are inquiring for your company staff.