Our Process
Our Process
Thank you guys for all your awesome work and flexibility that has gotten us this far more quickly than I thought we could.
Maggie O.
What we do
We’re professional commercial photographers, and our process for photographing your team is streamlined to make everything as easy as possible for you.
Posing and smiles
A professional headshot should show someone looking relaxed, confident, and approachable– which can be difficult with a giant camera lens pointing at you. We will never drop someone in front of a camera without helping them get the best smile. Each person is coached into different poses and angles to get the most flattering look from shoulders to hip, and is given cues, tips, and instructions for getting different types of natural-looking smiles and facial expressions. Everyone is different, and can look more like themselves from different angles and in different poses, so we get multiple smiles and angles to choose from- making sure we get it right the first time, and each person walks away with a professional profile photo they can be proud of.
Photo options
Before your shoot, you will choose a look for your photos, including a backdrop color or environmental backdrop (using an area in your office such as a lobby or a window as the backdrop). We’ll help you design a look for your team headshots and executive portraits based on your marketing needs; for example, choosing a backdrop color that compliments the colors in your website, or cropping the photos to fit in printed materials. We also work directly with web designers and graphics departments often, so feel free to connect us with your team if you have specific file size, cropping, or framing needs.
Photo Day
There are many options for how we can run the photo day, depending on your staff’s needs and schedules. You can schedule each person into short time slots, or groups of 5 to 10 people in larger time blocks if that’s easier, and we will send you some sample schedules. Some small groups with flexible schedules can even drop in at their leisure as we finish the person before them. After the shoot, your office will receive all the photos taken (which averages about 10-20 per person) in an online photo gallery which you can share with everyone to choose their favorite photo. Or, you can opt to have each person view their photos in the office on a laptop immediately after taking them, and the photographer or a photo assistant will help them choose the best photo right away.
Photo delivery
Photos will be delivered as high-resolution JPGs (approximately 350dpi and about 3840px x 5760px in size), but let us know if your production department requires any specific file types or image dimensions and we’ll be happy to accommodate. We work directly with web designers and graphic designers on a regular basis to create photos that fit into the final vision of marketing materials.
Adding staff later
Organic Headshots makes it easy to take photos of new team members added after everyone else is photographed, or to photograph anyone who can’t be there for the scheduled photo day. Individuals can schedule a time to stop by the studio for matching photos- the backdrop and lighting will match, and their photo will look like it was taken on the same day as everyone else’s. We can also return to the office for environmental photos and new groups of people. See how onboarding headshots works here.
Additional services to add to your shoot
To get the best photos possible, we have some options you can add to your shoot, which are completely optional and priced separately, so you can add only what you need.
Hair and makeup: You can have a hair and makeup artist present at the shoot for light makeup and hair styling. The stylists we work with are specifically trained in makeup for photography and will lightly touch up each woman’s existing makeup to make sure it shows up well in a photo, style men, and manage distracting elements like skin shine or discoloration. The stylist will also bring hot hair tools and products to smooth flyaway hairs and make sure everything is in place. We ask that everyone come with their hair and makeup how they usually style it on a regular day, so the stylist can see their everyday look and translate it to a great on-camera look. For men, the makeup artist will control shine and touch up any redness that can be corrected before their photos.
Retouching: After the photos are taken they can also be retouched– which you can add after receiving them if you want to look at them first to see if it’s necessary. Our professional retouching includes basic smoothing and optimizing (instead of heavy airbrushing like the cover of a fashion magazine). We will eliminate temporary flaws like blemishes, flyaway hairs, redness in the skin and eyes, shine, etc. Then we minimize some shadowing and other distracting elements of the photo, while making sure the final image still looks like the person photographed without drastically changing their age or appearance, and you can choose the amount of retouching you want.
Immediate photo viewing/choosing: This is a great option if your team has been unhappy with their photos with other photographers in the past. Each person will get to view their photos on a computer immediately after they’re taken to make sure they like the photos before the session is over. We can also have them choose a favorite, so that you’re getting one photo per person delivered and won’t have to chase everyone down to choose them online later.
Remember, all of the above are optional add-ons. We price everything separately so you can create a custom photo shoot and only pay for the services you need. Check out more info on our pricing here:
I just want to say how much everyone LOVES the photos. You knocked it out of the park and really impressed them. There was so much excitement from those that I shared them with and I just wanted you to know that.
Nicole C.
