Corporate Headshots in Boston MA
David Shopper is a Boston-based commercial photographer specializing in Corporate Headshots.
As a corporate headshots photographer, I help companies present their honest selves.
What makes a corporate headshot stand out? The best corporate headshots are taken with natural light to give authenticity. The subject is comfortable and empowered. The businessman or businesswoman looks approachable and confident. These portraits are a good example of this.
Can headshots be selfies? No, professional headshots are more than selfies. A selfie glorifies the individual. iPhone compromise production values. A professional portrait celebrates the subject as a cohesive member of a branded company. A branded business has a certain look. It might use specific colors. It might use a certain photographic approach. But each team member looks their best and looks like a member of the group.
What makes a professional headshot good?
-This photograph is a great example of an effective corporate headshot. The headshot is clear and crisp, which shows the integrity of the company and its attention to detail.
-This headshot is taken at eye-level. Such a height shows directness and honesty.
-This headshot is well lit using natural light. No overproduction. It doesn’t look “manufactured.” There are no harsh shadows. There are catchlights in the eyes that imply engagement.
You might ask why headshots are so important. Well, Jodie Morrison above doesn’t have time to meet everyone face to face. So this is her substitute. It’s a powerful first impression of a successful Boston businesswoman and it gives an identifiable face to her company.
Can headshots be in black and white? Yes, this is a great example of how a successful headshot can be taken in b/w. David uses black and white to give a sophistication and elegance to his images. They are simple but classic. They don’t compete with the bio page copy.
For Cambridge MA’s Cadent Therapeutics website, David uses large b/w portraits for the leadership team. When you click on a portrait, the person’s bio is shown on a new page, with the person’s face filling the background. What a bold and personable way to present their leadership!
Taking a successful corporate portrait of a businesswoman presents the same problems as creating one for a businessman. The portrait should empower the person by using high production values. It should not glorify the person for their attractiveness. Instead, the photo should capture the person’s approachability and trustworthiness.
Behind-the-lens for David Shopper’s corporate portrait shoot:
What’s this for? A Kendall Square life-science company asked me to help them launch their budding company’s website. Cadent Therapeutics creates cutting-edge solutions to treat movement and cognitive disorders.
What’s so special about these portraits? Team Page portraits are the face of the company. At the earliest stage in a project like this, I ask: what should the portraits say about the team? Some companies simply want to show what their employees look like. Most want to present polished professionals.
The Win: Not Cadent. They’re all about the patient. The goal is to have their empathy, passion, commitment, and hope shine through.
The process: Normally, I photograph people at a comfortable distance. I want to be respectful of personal space, and normally position myself at a typical coffee-conversation distance (see, for instance, my creative portraits for Surface Oncology, a similar Kendall Square life-science company).
For Cadent’s portraits, though, I used a shorter prime lens, narrowing the shooting space to give intimacy and closeness. I worked with team members to be in touch with the motivations that drive them, to open up and show both strength and vulnerability.
If you think about it, that’s actually a pretty extraordinary thing to ask someone who may not be psyched to have their picture taken in the first place. But Cadent embraced the idea and ran with it.
The results: The simplicity, starkness, emotion, and optimism that shines through these portraits is really satisfying for me. Kudos to my client for asking pictures to work harder.
The portraits that can be seen on David’s blog are different than what they eventually used for their website, which you can see here.
In their words: David was recommended through another colleague in the biotech space and we could not be more pleased! We requested that he take both headshots and team page portraits, and man did he succeed. After a brief discussion of our goal he successfully translated our images into works of art. Cannot express how pleased we are!! –Amber Trzeciak, Cadent Therapeutics.
David Shopper Photography. Real Life, Only Better.
| David Shopper Photography 2 Central Street, Suite 17 Ipswich MA 01938 (978)-356-1011