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!

The team photo below is an example of another composite corporate group photo created in Adobe Photoshop CC from 7 separate digital business headshot portraits. These types of photo composites are great for company websites and print marketing when the option to add or remove people is needed. It was shot against a pure white background in studio for the specific purpose of maximizing flexibility in the future to modify the team size over time.

How often have you scheduled a corporate group photo only to have one or two people become unavailable for the photo session? Do you reschedule and hope to find another date and time that works for everyone? Composite team photos offer you flexibility in these types of situations. You can photograph everyone that is present, then add team members missing from the photo at a later date.

Composite team photo created from separate headshots taken at my Vancouver photo studio.
Composite team photo created from separate headshots taken at my Vancouver photo studio.