While each headshot shoot may have different creative expectations, the type of headshots we do 90% of the time is pretty simple from an execution point of view. Accordingly, your demeanor and professionalism will go a long way in making the project successful. Here are a few pointers to be aware when shooting for us:

• Typically we provide 1-hour of set up time in the ‘start time delay’ for the appointment but really we recommend being early and being set up 15-minutes before the first subject is scheduled to arrive. Arriving earlier to setup is less stress for you and our client.
• Don’t promise anything on-site in terms of retouched images/delivery turnaround. If you don’t know or weren’t told the specs, the best answer to to say “I will check in with the producer on the shoot and they will convey those details to your company contact.”
• We recommend that for you have a long lens, at least 100mm (ideally a 70-200mm) and shoot at 1/125 or 1/160th at f8-f16 at ISO 100-400 (Unless the client requested shallow depth of field, which you can tell when you look at the examples we send.

Once you have the lighting set up, the headshot/portrait is more about coaching the client, guiding them through poses and making it a fun, relaxed experience.  Try to have a few jokes or funny stories on hand to relax the client and keep the energy up throughout the whole shoot.

• We like to shoot everyone from both sides of their faces and in a variety of appropriate poses.  Because of varying heights we always like to bring an apple box with us in case there are very tall people, you don’t want to be too high or too low and shoot at eye level.
• Be vigilant about things that are out of place
  • For women make sure their hair is not stuck on their shoulders, bra straps aren’t showing, their necklace is not askew.  Always ask if you can “adjust” their hair, fixing means there is a problem but adjusting sounds fine.
    • Always ask for permission before you touch anyone!
  • For men make sure their suit is buttoned properly, their tie isn’t askew, hair and glasses are fine, shirt is tucked in properly.
  • When people wear glasses make sure that you keep an eye on the glare and adjust the subject and light accordingly.

Here are some important tips when you’re shooting tether into Lightroom (for subjects to select their favorites) or for activations where guests can email the photos to themselves right after the session.

• Be sure to bring gaffer tape and tape down the cable on your camera and also the cable near the laptop port. This way, sudden movements don’t break the connection and damage your camera/laptop port. Also bring a MOUSE for the laptop, makes things go much more smoothly.
• If there are schedule breaks for lunch/etc, you will need to manage the line and tell guests who is the last person for that session. Best to communicate at least 15-20 mins before your schedule break.
• Recommend that people use their person email address (tell assistant to tell this to subjects) as sometimes corporate firewall prevent them from getting attached images in their email. Also, if people come back because they didn’t get their images, tell them to check their spam folder. out 
• We usually recommend taking about 8-12 photos of each subject from both angles. Have the assistant simply select the good shots as the images are coming in so that when the subject comes to them, they just need their email address.
• The kiosk sharing program out a lower res file to the subjects and you can tell assistants that we typically send a follow up email a week later where they can download the high res file and order retouching (if it’s not include already).  
• If a ‘favorite’ selection is required, have the assistant narrow down to best 3-5 shots and ‘recommend’ the best one as this process can slow down the queue quite a bit. 

Watch the videos on how to set up tethering and use the kiosk use to share images. 

Schwab has very specific guidelines on how they want their headshots taken. Please download this PDF with the instructions. You can view examples of how many images to take per person and such in this sample gallery. Here are additional requirements since the document was created:

• When you’re working with an assistant, they want the subjects to make ONE selection for retouching. If they can’t decide between two images, we will make the one selection for them but it’s best they pick.
• The assistant should rename the selected file with the naming convention of FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME.
• You will deliver two sets of images to our gallery system. First set is just the selections of images in JPG format in one gallery. The second set is in another gallery with all the rest of images in JPG format.