Corporate headshots & portraits in London

Ideally we want at least 5 minutes per person – ten minutes is great. I don’t recommend rushing a headshot session if you’ll use the photos publicly. I’ll also need 30-40 minutes to set up, 15 minutes to pack up, and a break during longer sessions.

With ten minutes I’ve got time for a chat to put people at ease and find out if they have any portrait preferences. Then we’ll check how they look on camera, take a few shots, review them together, and potentially shoot a few more before selecting their ‘keeper’. There’s no rush, no people waiting at the door, and fewer complaints later over details we could have spotted with more time.

If time or budget are an issue we can work with five minutes per person, especially if everyone arrives ready to shoot as there won’t be much time to adjust makeup or outfit. We’ll also have less time to review the headshots and re-shoot, and if there’s a lot of people to photograph then latecomers will have a bigger knock-on effect.

If the images need to represent your brand across multiple channels for years to come I do recommend ten minutes if possible. It pays dividends in terms of a relaxed session and a much higher satisfaction rate.

Everyone has their own idea of how they look, so it’s important each person chooses their own favourite before they leave. When I get to spend up to ten minutes with someone there’s ample time to shoot some and look through them together on my tethered laptop screen. We’ll also have a chance to quickly re-shoot if they spot something they don’t like in the first batch.

If the final choice is left to me I might choose something 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. And if I get it wrong it may cost you a bit more to replace with an alternative later.

Some clients ask if I can upload everything unedited so the staff can choose their favourite online later. That’s possible, but as standard everyone will be able to see everyone else’s full session, which may understandably make some people feel even more self-conscious so do bear that in mind. Making each person’s gallery private is possible but time-consuming so it’s available as a paid extra.

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.

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 (here’s an example). Others want a choice of ‘jacket and tie’ and ‘no jacket or tie’.

Whatever you want is fine by me but I recommend finalising everything first so we can factor it into our planning and the initial estimate of costs.

Editing each headshot takes about 5-6 minutes on average. 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 shiny skin, etc.

I keep these corrections subtle enough that everyone looks like themselves but on a really good day, rather than the fake plastic airbrushed look.

If you’d like a colour and B&W version of each image that’s no problem, and there’s a big discount on the alternative version as the time-consuming retouching is already done.

Pricing depends on where and when you need me, and how many images are delivered, and can vary depending on the details.

The typical office headshot session starts at £400, including 45 minutes setup time, a one hour shoot, and five edited digital images (this could be five images of one person, or one image each for five people).

Extra shoot time is £100/hr, and additional edited images from £15 each.

If you have a very large headcount – for example 30+ people – it may call for splitting the shoot up over a couple of days. In this case we’ll discuss your requirements before suggesting a schedule and preparing a custom quote.

One more thing! For longer shoots please include a 10 minute break for me every hour or so (useful for catching up with latecomers, or just nipping to the loo) plus a lunch break for all day sessions – thank you!