Business Branding, Portrait Sessions & Headshots

What’s the difference!?

What’s the difference?

Business branding session is you marketing a product(s). This could be selling real estate, cars, beard oil, etc. It’s a mix or you and your product with marketing materials in mind. So, there might be negative space to the left or right of you or your product(s) for you to overlay with text later for website use, flyers, billboards, social media, etc.

Portrait Sessions are all about you. You will be centered in frame and we will focus on light, naturalistic photos to capture your personality. These are perfect for integrating with a branding session or a stand alone product session. The intention is to market you and bring out your personality through candid and naturalistic images. That way, your prospective client feels as if they know you before you even meet. These session are often paired with your favorite things or hobbies as well as tools of your trade. There is plenty of warm up time and no rush in the session.

Headshots are generally quick and feature a left right and a somewhat centered shot that you can use for LinkedIn, Resumes, Business cards or for Cataloging or building a Directory of employees. These are more professional and not as personal as a portrait session. It can be hard to read personality through them.

Just say NO to head-shots

OK, maybe that’s a little harsh. They have their place, but make sure that is what you’re really after. Don’t try to force a square peg in a round hole. Think about CEOs and actors/actresses. What type of photos do you normally see, outside the paparazzi shots… One of my personal favorite and inspiring photographers is Jeff Lipsky, check out his work and approach and then come back to the question of, what type of photo(s) am I after.

Just about every week I receive an email from a small business owner or business professional looking for a head shot. That head shot then turns into a Photoshop nightmare because the client wants to use it for various things and numerous platforms that a head shot isn’t designed to be used for. So, lets talk it over with a quick consult to make sure that’s all you need or want.

What’s the experience?

  1. It starts with a consult. What do you do? What are your likes? What are you wanting to accomplish and which platforms are you planning on using the content.

  2. Expect a 1-1.5 hour session for branding and portrait sessions. Photos will be captured with the platforms discussed in mind. Maybe you want to write over a photo, that photo might need negative space for ads or posts. There might be a mix of product images. These things take time.

  3. Expect dialog vs poses. A portrait shouldn’t be forced. Rather natural, warm and inviting.

See the difference below and be sure to send an inquiry if I can help shape your business and brand.

What is the difference in price?

Nothing. Understand, for a headshot, I’m still loading $20-30,000 of equipment and with 15-30 mins of set up/teardown time, travel time and then session time. The number of photos isn’t as much relevant as the time put into the session and editing on the back end. I often hear “I just need a couple of shots” or “I just need one or two”. If this is the case, often time, I will be priced much higher than someone with a studio. I have no problem referring local studios that can do quick 1 or 2 shots. At the end of the day there isn’t any hard feelings, I just want to make sure you get what you are looking for and both of our time is spent in the best light.