Commercial Photography

Professional Business Headshot done in office in Tampa Dale Mabry Florida with John

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Business Headshot made on location in the Dale Mabry area of Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly & SB-600 in shoot-through umbrellaI packed up my portable photography studio equipment and headed to the north Dale Mabry area of Tampa to make an on location headshot of John in the lobby of his office building.  I was sent examples of headshots other staff members already had made and was told to make his headshot as close to that as possible.  The examples were not shot on a photography background of any type, just using existing walls or areas.  So we went out into the large atrium/lobby in his office building and I arranged my lights and produced a headshot very similar in look to all the others already on the employee page of the company website.  For the shot above, I cut out the darker background and placed the subject onto a digital white background to compliment the modern style of the over headshot.

Professional Business Headshot done on site in Tanglewood St. Petersburg Florida with Bill & cat!

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Professional Business Headshot made right in this client's home in Tanglewood St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in 43" brolly each

I went over to the nearby Tanglewood area of St. Petersburg, Florida to make a professional business headshot for a client right in his own home.  My portable studio setup requires little space and sets up in just a few minutes.  Even my collapsible background can simply be balanced against the edge of a couch as it was this time!  The client wanted to change ties between shots and in that time there was a visitor to my portable photography studio setup . . . the family cat!

This cat snuck into my headshot setup between takes!

The client was actually sitting on that ottoman the cat is peering over.  She was curious about the big 43" brolly just to frame right.  I grabbed my camera and took a photo as quickly as I could not knowing how long the cat's curiousity would last.

This cat was a good stand-in until the client changed ties for his second shot!

Then the cat noticed me and I got the above shot with her looking right at me.  For a few minutes, I got to feel what it must be like to work at Cat Fancy!

Global Investor Attorney Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Sarah

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Attorney headshot for a global investor in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame leftThe third attorney in as many weeks visited my home photography studio in St. Petersburg Florida for a professional business headshot.  Sarah was starting a new job and all the employees for the global investor company that hired her have their own profile page on the company's website.  There were guidelines to follow for the type of shot so that it would have a consistent look with the other headshots made previously for the rest of the staff.

The shot you see above is not the one following those guidelines of course, it is one we did for our own creative look.  After making the needed corporate headshot, I turned off one of my speedlights to introduce more dramatic shadowing and then in editing adding a digital background.  I tried the usual white and black first, but then decided to try orange.  Thankfully Sarah liked my bold orange choice as well!

Attorney Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Christine

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In my home studio I made this photograph of St. Petersburg Attorney Christne - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in 43" brolly - digital background Another attorney visited my home studio this month for a professional business headshot.  Maybe it is the season for lawyer's to get a new headshot?  Even though a headshot shoot is relatively straight forward I find there is still quite a bit of room for variations and creativity.  There is the lighting style, the aspect ratio of the headshot, the kind of background and more.  So even though I use the same spot in my apartment for each headshot I do, there is always something I end up changing (or improving) from the previous shoot.  It is my practice to always try and out do the previous shoot I do of any kind.

Christine liked the blue-gray gradient background I used in another portrait, so I photographed her on a white background then in Photoshop "removed" her from that photo and placed her onto a digitally created background, as seen above.

Corporate Headshots for Wealth Management in Tampa Florida Photography

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Corporate Headshot for wealth management in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in 43" brolly each @ 1/2 power

After the longest period from first contact to actual shoot date (almost 6 months!) I was glad to finally head to Tampa to make corporate headshots for the staff at a wealth management company.  One or more are often out of the office so I was in contact about every two weeks in that six months period trying to find a date everyone was available on.  Following up is key sometimes!  

They requested my standard neutral gray background for their headshots, and a traditonal vertical rectangle composition.  I used two speedlights, each in a 43" brolly.  One about 45 degrees to frame front right and one half closed to the rear of frame left.  

Smiling for a corporate business headshot in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in 43" brolly each @ 1/2 power

I had each person sit on a small stool and lean forward a bit with their right elbow on their right thigh to create depth and a more natural look overall.  Shooting in this kind of controled environment using the existing background means minimal editing needs to be done other than a little touching up and contrast tweaks.  

Having fun on location in my portable headshot studio in Tampa Florida. Collapsible gray background used on a stand and clipped to the wall hanging and a 43" brolly left & right with speed lights inside.

My portrable headshot studio fit nicely right in their office lobby!  It was a fun shoot and everyone did a great job in front of the lens.   

Executive Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Elwood

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An executive came to my home studio in St. Petersburg Florida for a professional business headshot - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 43" brolly to frame rightAnother business professional visited my home photography studio in St. Petersburg Florida this week for a professional business headshot.  Elwood needed a headshot to be used on the corporate website and had guidelines from the home office for lighting, pose, etc.  The above headshot is not the result of following those guidelines that were rather bland.  Instead, this is a headshot I made just for his own personal use in a more modern and creative style.  I used only one speedlight to frame right in a 43" brolly to create the shadow and light falloff on the right side of his face.  Having shadow defines the look of the person in the headshot much more for a modern look that is still professional.

Elwood was seated for this shot with his right forearm on his right thigh to create depth in his posture.  To avoid glare in his glasses, I positioned the speedlight higher on the light stand than I normally do.  I also had him look just about one centimeter lower too.  Poof, glare and reflection in his glasses was gone.  The background was a white sheet, and in Photoshop I removed that and replaced it with a pure white digital background for the final look.

Lawyer Professional Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida with Jason

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Insurance lawyer in St. Petersburg professional business headshot on white background - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power & SB-600 @ 1/16th power both in 43" brollyOn a rainy Florida afternoon it was a good time to have an indoor professional business headshot shoot.  Jason is a Florida insurance attorney (website) and wanted a headshot for use on his website's profile page.  He came over to my home studio in St. Petersburg and after a little greeting from Kiki, it was down to the business of making a headshot well suited for his site and for his image as an attorney.  

Attorney professional business headshot make in St. Petersburg Florida - for setup see aboveJason decided on a traditioinal vertical style headshot (above) and a square-style headshot (top image) that is being used more and more on sites like Linkedin and really all social media.  I think the former looks good on web pages and the latter looks best as profile photos on other websites.