Q: What’s the difference between an Executive Portrait and a Business Portrait?
A: About $500. (Old joke, but sometimes it’s true. Read on.)
Business Portrait:
This is usually a head-and-shoulders photo against a plain background. Eye contact with the camera is important and a hint of a smile never hurts. A plain background, while not absolutely necessary, won’t distract the viewer. It’s also easy for any photographer to duplicate a plain background in any future business portraits of other employees, should the need arise.
This type of portrait should never look like a passport picture, a drivers license photo or a family snapshot. On the other hand, depending on the company, a Business Portrait doesn’t have to be a serious suit-and-tie picture.
At its most basic, the purpose of a Business Portrait is to show the public with whom they are doing business. Bonus points if the picture makes the employee look friendly and honest. Customers don’t do business with an office, a company logo or a corporation; they do business with people*. This is why it’s very important for a business to have portraits of, at least, its key people, to help put a human face on the company.
* (The exception is when dealing with the phone company, cable company and gas company. Ask customers their opinion of doing business with these faceless companies).
A Business Portrait is sometimes referred to as a PR Portrait since the picture is given out for various media use and other public relations.
Executive Portrait:
This can be the same as a Business Portrait, but often it’s more than a head-and-shoulders picture. It may include some of the surroundings such as a desk, chair, nice window, fancy bannister, etc. As this type of portrait can be more involved, take longer to set up and shoot, and have a wider usage, an Executive Portrait may cost more than a standard Business Portrait.
Consider this portrait to be part of corporate image building. This picture should create a response in the viewer that says the executive is trustworthy, knowledgeable, confident and capable. It must show that the executive stands behind their work and is proud of their company.
The Executive Portrait is not just for the general public. It’s also for shareholders, potential investors, creditors and, for a large company, it’s also for the employees. Eye contact is important to help convey a sense of trust and strength.
For better or worse, we do judge a book by its cover. We form opinions about people based on their appearance. Politicians know this, as do celebrities. This means that a low quality Executive Portrait will not only make that person look bad but will also reflect poorly on the company.
Corporate Portrait:
This type of portrait, which doesn’t often get mentioned, is a photo of several people who run the company. This portrait can be made into more than just a group photo by including some of the office surroundings, the factory floor, showroom, office building, products, quality control lab, etc.
The purpose of this type of portrait is usually for branding. It tries to show the company’s attitude and values.
Environmental Portrait:
This is not a formal portrait as it shows the person doing something. There may or may not be direct eye contact with the camera. The existing location and surroundings serve as the background for the photo. Available lighting is often used rather than photo flashes. This can be a spontaneous picture, such as the person speaking at a conference, or it can be a posed photo where the person is asked to do something.
The purpose of this picture is usually for PR and media use. An Environmental Portrait provides the media with an alternative to a standard posed portrait. It has an editorial feel and will get more reader attention than a basic headshot. This type of picture tends to run larger in print than a headshot.
It’s important for a company to have both a Business Portrait and an Environmental Portrait of its key people.
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The best time to schedule a business or executive portrait is Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning. As you might guess, the worst time to schedule a shoot is early Monday morning, late Friday afternoon, or just before quitting time on any day. Immediately after lunch or just before a meeting are also not good times for a portrait session.
Best clothes to wear are a dark(er) suit jacket with no obvious patterns; shirts, ties and blouses should not have strong patterns or too-bright colours. A darker-toned jacket will always keep attention on the person’s face. A light-toned jacket, bold patterns or wild colours will draw away from the person’s face.
For portraits without a jacket, long-sleeved shirts should be worn. Shirts should be a dark(er) tone with no wild-n-crazy patterns. No turtlenecks please.
It should go without saying, but: no sunglasses, no hats and no large jewelry. I once photographed a company president who insisted on wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses. Yes, the company paid me a second time to return and re-shoot the photo after the president came to his senses.
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A Business Portrait is the minimum type of photo that should accompany every press release. If a company has the time, it can hire a photographer to do the necessary pictures. But if the media needs pictures right now, a business must have its own digital photo library from which to pull the necessary images.
If a company cannot deliver the required photos, the media will find pictures elsewhere. By issuing its own pictures, a company can control its image. Or, would that company prefer the media use a “party picture” or “vacation snapshot” taken from an employee’s Facebook page?
