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.

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.

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.

green screen headshot shot in studio

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.

green screen headshot for realtor

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.

green screen headshot cropped

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!

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. Photography for Advertising Campaign in Vancouver

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!