General Expectations

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.
  • The Schwab team has requested that people don’t cross their arms in these images. They can have them on the side/inside pant pockets and etc. 
  • Always shoot in vertical orientation and some sure the the fill light is sufficient (no significant shadows on either side of the faces). 

Schwab has very specific guidelines on how they want their headshots taken. You can view examples of how many images to take per person and such in this sample gallery. Make sure to be shooting tethered to your laptop via Capture One or Lightroom as the assistant will need to use the software to tagged people’s names. 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.
• Since we’re asking people to make a final selection onsite, some people may feel rushed if they are having a challenging making a selection. In such a case, you can ask them to come back at the end of the session to take their time to make the selection. We typically put in an extra 15 mins in your appointment time to account for this but if you stay longer than that allocated time, please let us know.
• The subject selection should be renamed EXACTLY to this format: LastName_FirstName.jpg  with uppercases in beginning. Failure to do this corretly will be asked to be redone.
• 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. Export the jpgs as full resolution from resolution you shot at.
• Steps to upload to our system
  • Go to https://www.zenfolio.com/orangephoto/e2/f336022414
  • Login with: username: orangeaff password: orangetier3
  • You should be in the “Associate Upload Area” (which you can see on the left side)
  • 
  • Select the appropriate year and quarter of the job
    1. Example: Q1= Jan-Mar, Q2= Apr-June, Q3=July-Sept, Q4=Oct-Dec
  • Create a folder with the Date and city of the shoot. Within this folder, create two galleries.
  • Firat gallery should be called selects and uploaded the selects in that gallery.
  • 2nd gallery should be named ‘all photos’ and upload every image from the shoot in JPG format into that gallery.