Corporate & business headshots in London
Need a new corporate headshot for LinkedIn, your company website, or a press release? I’ll come to you with my portable studio kit, no travelling to a studio required.
Whether you’re looking for individual business headshots or a full team refresh, the goal is always the same: a professional portrait you’ll actually enjoy using. Packages start at £440 plus VAT, more details below.
The Style
What headshot background works best for you?
A plain background is the traditional corporate headshot look; I can provide a light or dark background or we can use a plain wall at your office. A 'location' background can add some personality and feel more relatable. Or I could even remove or replace the background completely in editing.
Light backgrounds – the more common choice for plain backgrounds, and can be edited to appear more grey, or add a gradient.
Dark backgrounds – a mid-grey background can be lightened or darkened using lighting on the day, or editing later.
Location backgrounds – for example if there’s a good view out the windows, or you’d like to capture your office space.
The Style
Tie on or tie off?
Little differences in how you pose can make a big difference to professional headshots. Some clients like to have options to choose from later, such as tie on and tie off, or smiling and not smiling.
The Style
Professional headshots don't have to be boring
Sometimes clients want a 'fun' alternative to their regular LinkedIn style headshot, which you'll often find by rolling your mouse over their image on the company About Us page. Sometimes we use one of the funniest out-takes, other times they pose for it.
The Time & Place
How long is a corporate headshot session per person?
For a good balance of quality and options I recommend at least ten minutes per person; but if you have the time fifteen minutes is ideal. Five minutes is possible but risks a number of compromises on quality and experience, especially with larger headcounts.
15 mins each
• Ensures the most relaxed experience and best results
• Ideal for high profile organisations with visible headshots
• Luxurious session for one shot each, enough time for two
• Allows each person to relax, shoot, review, and select, or fit in up to two reshoots, without feeling any time pressure
• Late arrivals barely affect the schedule, no need for a buffer
10 mins each
• A good all-rounder for most clients and headcounts
• Perfect when you just need one great shot per person
• Enough time to shoot, review, select, and potentially fit in one reshoot
• With larger groups clear 1 session per hour to accommodate over-running
5 mins each
• Can work for small orgs with internal headshot use
• Not suitable for public-facing headshots
• Rushed shoot & selection, with limited choice
• Late arrivals disrupt the whole schedule quickly
• Clear 2 sessions per half hour to accommodate over-running
Scheduling
Experience a relaxed corporate headshot session
I recommend most business headshot sessions schedule at least 10 minutes per person, and for higher profile organisations 15 minutes is even better.
With ten minutes I’ve got time for a quick chat to put people at ease and find out if they have any business headshot preferences. Then I’ll take a test shot to check for any tweaks, before we make half a dozen real ones, review them together, and hopefully pick a keeper right there. If it’s not quite right there’s usually time to have another go.
With 15 minutes or more every person has ample time to relax into it, review as we shoot, and reshoot once or even twice without any time pressure at all. It’s perfect for higher profile organisations, or for leadership.
It can be tempting to rush everyone through with 5 minutes but this involves a lot of compromises. If the images need to represent your brand across multiple channels you’ll get the best results with at least 10 minutes per person.
Selecting images
Everyone selects their own favourite headshot from the session
It’s important that each person chooses their own favourite business headshot, ideally before they leave the session. With at least 10 minutes per person there’s plenty time to shoot a few headshots at a time and look through them together on my tethered laptop screen. We’ll also have a chance to quickly re-shoot if we spot something we don’t like in the first batch.
I might choose a headshot that I think looks great but they hate, and the difference between a keeper and a reject can be as personal as a slight tilt of the head, so I always recommend you choose your own favourites!
It’s possible to upload everything to a web gallery for people to choose from in their own time later, but it’s an either/or choice for the whole shoot and only available as a paid extra. For privacy we ensure each person has their own private business headshot gallery, and once everyone’s made a selection we’ll edit everything together.
Finally, if anyone changes their mind about their favourite after delivery it’s usually fine to request a replacement within four weeks, charged per image. However, after four weeks rejected photos are usually deleted.
Delivery
Every selected image is edited & delivered to meet your needs.
It’s highly recommended to decide the image format you need before the session, in case it affects how I shoot on the day, or the editing & delivery element of the quote.
For example, do you prefer horizontal or vertical, colour or B&W? Some clients like to have a ‘sensible’ one and a ‘fun’ one for their website. Others want a choice of ‘jacket and tie’ and ‘no jacket or tie’. Every alternative adds to the shoot time so let us know what you’re thinking and we’ll make some recommendations.
Retouching is subtle – it should look like you on a good day, after a good night’s sleep! After balancing the exposure and white balance across the full set I’ll look at each image individually to gently correct things like small blemishes, bags under eyes, oily or shiny skin, etc.
If you’d like a colour and B&W version of each image that’s no problem, and there’s a significant discount on the alternative version as the time-consuming retouching is already done.
Pricing
Fees cover the session, retouching, licensing, and travel.
Sessions are based on an on-site fee, including setup and de-rig time (about an hour usually), plus a per-image fee to cover the editing and licensing, plus travel, and VAT at 20%. Images are licensed in perpetuity for just about everything except advertising and commercial products.
Most corporate headshot packages shot at your office or business start at £440 plus VATincluding my portable studio kit, one hour to setup and derig, a one hour shoot, and up to six edited headshots. Longer shoots enjoy discounted on-site time.
Corporate headshot FAQs
What do you need to know from us when booking headshots?
For best results try to get in touch at least a week or two before you’d like to shoot. We can execute a shoot with less notice if we’ve worked together before or you know exactly what you need, otherwise it’s best not to rush it.
For an estimate we’ll need to know the following upfront: how many people you want to shoot; how many edited headshots per person; the shoot location; and if there’s a time limit on-site.
Before booking we’ll also need to finalise these details: the format the headshots should take (horizontal or vertical, looking to camera or off-camera, etc); indoors or outdoors; if you need a plain background (light or dark) or prefer an environmental background; and if you have any existing headshots you need to match.
We’re happy to discuss the style details with you, but numbers and time available are the absolute basics we need to know up-front for an estimate – thank you!
Who chooses the final images?
I’ll typically bring a laptop and ask each person to select their favourite image(s) before they leave the session, then I’ll edit and deliver those images afterwards. If this isn’t practical I’ll provide a private gallery for each person’s unedited images afterwards and ask you to select the images you want me to edit, but this costs a little extra.
Do you have a studio?
My London corporate headshots are shot entirely on location. For office-based headshots all I need is a decent-sized room with space to set up lighting and my camera. I can provide a simple background, but I can also create environmental headshots using your own office or preferred location as a backdrop. Please note, some outdoor locations may require a permit.
How much does a corporate headshot session cost?
Headshot photography fees are composed of a time-based shoot fee, plus a per-person edit fee. Pricing varies depending on how many people I’m shooting, where the session will be, how many options and/or variations you’d like per person (e.g. horizontal/vertical, outfit changes, angle, pose, etc), and how you want to use the photos.
Is editing included in the corporate headshot fee?
Yes, all quotes include a basic round of editing to correct for exposure, clarity, and colour balance, plus light re-touching as required, for example to correct shiny skin or blemishes. If you need extra re-touching this is charged at an hourly rate starting at £75/hr.
Can we use the images for anything we want?
Just about everything you’d need to use a headshot for is covered: unlimited editorial and organic PR use on your website, social media profiles, press releases, etc. Use in an advertising campaign or a commercial product isn’t included as my clients don’t tend to need it, but you can upgrade to include it any time.
Do you charge for travel?
For shoots in central and SW London if I can travel light on public transport (i.e. cameras, lenses, simple lighting) travel is included. If I need to drive or take a taxi to carry equipment I charge related expenses such as parking, Congestion Charge, or taxi fees. For shoots outside London I charge a combined fee for travel time and expenses.
Do you do headshot photography sessions outside London?
Absolutely, I’m based in Kingston Upon Thames and I can go pretty much anywhere you need me, charging a combination of travel time and expenses.