How do you get the most value from your corporate photoshoot?
Now the UK economy has tipped over into recession expectations are that it will be neither long nor deep. But even if the UK quickly moves back into positive territory, both the Bank of England and the Office of Budget Responsibility are forecasting GDP growth of under 1% for 2024 which won’t set many pulses racing among people in business.
Whenever growth is hard to achieve, one of the first things business budget holders will be doing is looking at their cost bases and working out which cuts can be made. Just last week Barclays Bank announced a large programme of job cuts. On top, businesses will also be looking at extracting maximum value for money from their suppliers.
In terms of corporate photography, there are several ways of achieving the maximum bang for your buck and getting the best results from your professional corporate photography providers. It’s important to remember that the cost of a photoshoot is more than the professional photographer’s fee. You will have to factor in the opportunity cost of the time spent on non-client-facing or fee generating work, or the general inconvenience of having a lot of people away from routine operations, which means making the most of the day is crucial.
Keeping up with competitors
Staying competitive means keeping up with trends, and corporate fashions constantly change, so to look outdated or out of sync with the times risks losing out to rivals.
Saving costs: Get as many people photographed in the same photoshoot
Try and get as many colleagues as possible photographed on the same day. For a standard headshot photograph, an experienced photographer can process one person every 10 to 15 minutes.
On a well-organised shoot, you will have already discussed with your professional photographer where to hold it, and you’ll have received their recommendations on size of room, lighting, interesting backgrounds and props etc.
On the day of the shoot, have someone on hand to meet the photographer and ensure he or she has access to the chosen room. A professional photographer will want to arrive early in order to work out the potential best camera angles and where to locate the tripod and lighting kit. This means they are ready to roll for as soon as the first person comes through the door.
In terms of people management, we recommend that you ask attendees to attend their individual sessions at least 10 minutes in advance so if they are slightly late your photographer won’t have to waste shooting time waiting for candidates to arrive.
Professional photographers value someone at the client firmly in charge of logistics for the day. Ideally this is someone with the seniority to ensure as much as possible that colleague arrive on time and have been appropriately pre-briefed about the purpose of the photoshoot, and are wearing the right clothing and have been made aware that they might need a bit of personal styling in terms of some light make-up or a little hair grooming.
Different images captured at the same shoot
The way to get the best value from each photoshoot is by ensuring that each person being photographed adopts different poses and facial expressions, from neutral smiles to broad grins.
By the end of each shoot, there will be images suitable your colleagues’ separate personal LinkedIn and social media feeds, as well as a mix of formal and relaxed images for corporate use on your company website, annual report or any marketing documents.
If you are getting competitive quotes from several potential photography suppliers (which we recommend), be careful that you are comparing like with like. Be a little wary because some photographers add on unit costs for every separate image supplied, while we at Piranha provide large numbers of portraits as high resolution jpegs within our fees, allowing our clients to choose as many of the ones they like without costs escalating.
Reserve photography dates in an advance, especially if your organisation has regular new joiners
If your business has new personnel joining reasonably regularly consider prebooking photoshoots over the year (allocate a session approximately once a month). This means new joiners are photographed on set dates and reduces the number of separate visits a photographer has to make, again saving money. These ‘joiner’ shoots are often tied in with induction days for new staff members and we think works well as a bonding exercise as part of the general joining process.
We also recommended prebooking well in advance event photography like annual conferences, parties, and company away days. This ensures availability and avoids disappointment if your regular photographer is already committed at likely busy times, especially around Christmas.
The same pre-booking applies to board photography which is often booked to be on the same days as board meetings. Most firms will have set out these dates well in advance, so it’s so important to book the photographer at the same time to be sure he/she is available on those days.
If you want to discuss any logistics around planning corporate photography in an advance, we are always delighted to hear from you.
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Professional corporate photographer, providing company headshot photography and video for businesses in London, the rest of the UK and Europe. Piranha are commissioned by FTSE100 companies and start-ups alike, for numerous projects, covering a wide range of work and styles. Portraits and office photography for use on websites, events coverage and PR shots for press and publications, as well as Board and location photography for annual reports. Using top of the range Leica cameras and lenses. We process the images promptly and to an extremely high standard.