Staff Portraits for Dublin and International businesses
Getting staff portraits right is a combination of allowing people to ‘be themselves’, just to ‘be’ – to find a moment where they are happy enough to show themselves to the camera for a moment. For some people the staff portrait is no big deal – stand in, smile look up, look down, etc, and its done in a few minutes. But for others it can be quite an unnerving experience, and it’s a big deal to be there in the first place. Some people can hold it together for a minute or more and then it’s gone, and they start to feel awkward. I’ve learned from experience that getting people to relax into their bodies with a few simple tricks is the best way to get them to relax- hands, shoulders, feet, chest.
Lighting for portraits
These staff portraits are from 2 well known organisations, Rehab Ireland and Aviva. The brief in each case was to provide portraits of senior figures in each organisation, with a simple uncluttered background. Options were shot with formal and  informal. Although seemingly simple,  3-4 lights would have been used on each of these portraits. With this much clutter surrounding a sitter it can be easy for them to become intimidated or a bit stiff in front of the camera.
The trick is to allow people a little bit of time at the start to feel relaxed, and these initial few moments are vital. After allowing for all the technical elements to be checked its very important to keep a feeling of ‘flow’ for the subject, ie to always have them do simple little things, positioning of hands etc. and not to have any long lulls in the shoot or the conversation. Obviously when doing staff portraits its important to keep the conversation positive and not allow negative feelings and looks to occur on the face of the subject. Its best not to leave people still for too long.
