Professional Business Photos: Man – Tools – Vision

Creating professional business photos is a huge responsibility and challenge for the photographer taking them each time. But also joy and enthusiasm! After all, each client is a unique personality with unique character traits, the depiction of which using a business portrait is a fascinating journey to discover a newly met person.

In order to create a business portrait that we care about, a professional photographer should notice this uniqueness and understand what it means in the approach to the client as well as when taking a photo.

In my article, I would like to introduce you to the backstage of professional business photos, and more precisely the approach that a professional photographer should accompany during their implementation.

Who is behind the camera lens?

When we are looking for a photographer for a business portrait, we are often faced with questions: who is the person behind the lens? Is this a professional I can trust? Will it meet my expectations and take into account all the issues I care about?

It is very good that we ask ourselves these questions. During the photo session, we want to be under the care of a specialist who knows his stuff, giving us a sense of security, understanding and satisfaction with the result obtained. Thanks to the questions we ask ourselves, the process of selecting a professional has a better chance of success.

When taking a professional business photo, is the photographer’s experience most important? If I were to say yes, that would be too simplistic. In my case, 25 years of experience undoubtedly helps and affects the way I work with the client. But experience is not enough. Maybe passion is the most important thing? It would be a banal statement, although it sounds good. After all, it is obvious that behind 25 years of experience in creating a professional business portrait, there is a passion for photography and image, resulting from a passion for photos. So, what special feature should you pay attention to when selecting a photographer? My answer is: people’s curiosity.

As I mentioned at the beginning, each person is unique. But in order to capture a trait of uniqueness in a business portrait, a photographer should like people, enjoy contact with them, be perceptive, sensitive to nuances, and be able to listen, ask questions and answer them. In this way, clearly communicated needs and requirements on both sides will create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust. There are people who are intimidated by the lens. They do not feel confident in front of him. It is good for the photographer to be aware of this and be able to face such a situation, providing professional help and professional advice, thanks to which the intimidation will be replaced by certainty, openness and naturalness. In a good atmosphere, a photo session can turn into a new, almost magical experience not only for the photographer, but more importantly, also for the person being photographed and, as a result, result in exceptional photos.

What camera is the photographer hiding behind?

Business portraits are primarily people, their history and atmosphere during the photo session.

But would the synergy of these three elements be captured without photographic equipment? I’m smiling. Without photographic equipment, we could then speak not of photography but of painting. Photographic equipment and skilful use of it are indispensable attributes of a professional photographer in the implementation of business portraits. In order for the photographer to focus fully on the subject, they should not be distracted by technical issues such as camera operation. Here you need certainty, fluency and smooth operation. The lack of certainty affects the comfort of work, the duration and course of the session, and thus the quality of the photos. Therefore, a professional photographer should: know his / her photographic equipment, never hesitate to use it, always be prepared for unexpected technical situations and have more than one camera, lamp or lens on his sleeve.

In my case, the reliability of photographic equipment is a priority when taking professional business photos. Before starting the session, first I plan it in detail, taking into account all technical issues, so that during the shooting, I focus only on the photographed person and the image purpose of the photos that are to be created. I use a whole range of different cameras: from large format SINAR camera through the medium format PHASEONE to a small format Canon, and the choice of the camera depends on the application, the nature of the portrait and the photo session plan. The same goes for lighting. To achieve the optimal image effect, I chose Profoto lamps, which in my opinion are the best strobe lighting system on the market.

The excess number of cameras, lamps and lenses is my standard guaranteeing the continuity and efficiency of the session, and thus the optimal use of the valuable time that the client spent on taking photos.

Lamps, camera, glass and …

The awareness of the tools, their technical capabilities and the way they are used is the basis for obtaining the highest quality photos. But about the artistic and image result of photography, its uniqueness, whole and expression is determined by one “element”, which is impossible to obtain, buy or duplicate. It’s a human eye. It captures countless details in the blink of an eye, arranges the details into a complete picture and defines the shot. The trained eye of the photographer determines the aesthetics of the photo and the impression it creates. That is why the artistic sense of the photographer, his sense of aesthetics, form and shape plays such an important role in the entire process of creating professional photographs.

Creating professional business photos is a complex, challenging journey through all aspects of image photography, which includes the personality and history of the photographed person, the atmosphere during the session, the proficiency in using photographic equipment of the highest quality and the aesthetic sense of a skilled eye.

Result? Successful cooperation, satisfaction and the end result in the form of a unique photo.