travel – St Louis Business Portraits

Executive teams want brand-consistent headshots, minimal downtime, and zero drama. Here’s a proven, production-grade plan we use to photograph entire departments—fast—without leaving your building.

The winning setup

Decide the look: background color, crop/aspect ratio, lighting style, and retouching level.
Reserve one room (12’×18′ ideal), plus a small staging area for wardrobe and final touch-ups.
Book in blocks: 6–10 people per hour with a rolling sign-up to avoid bottlenecks.
Approve on-site: tethered capture with immediate selection speeds things up and reduces post-shoot revisions.
Deliverables defined: filenames, crops (LinkedIn, intranet, press), turnaround, and retouching policy documented up front.

Phase 1 — Pre-Production (Alignment that saves you hours later)

1) Creative brief (30 minutes)

Usage: LinkedIn, website bios, ID badges, pitch decks, PR.
Visual targets: 2–3 reference images for lighting, energy (smile vs. neutral), background (neutral gray, clean white, branded color, environmental).
Consistency rules: crop line (mid-chest vs. shoulders), headroom, and eye-line.

2) Space plan

Primary set: 12’×18′ or larger; 9′ ceiling minimum preferred.
Staging: nearby conference room or corridor for last looks and queuing.
Power & noise: two dedicated outlets; away from loud HVAC and foot traffic.

3) Scheduling logic

Cadence: 6–10 people/hour depending on approval flow and wardrobe changes.
Priority lanes: give executives and client-facing teams reserved slots so they’re never stuck waiting.
Overflow buffer: hold 10–15 minutes every hour for late arrivals.

4) Communication kit (copy-paste)

Email (75 words):
“Headshots are on [DATE] in [ROOM]. Please arrive 5 minutes early. Wear solid colors; avoid tight stripes and shiny fabrics. We’ll photograph you in 5–7 minutes, review on screen, and you’ll choose your favorite. If you wear glasses, bring them. Grooming kit will be on site. Questions? [CONTACT].”
SMS (160 chars):
“Reminder: headshot today [TIME] in [ROOM]. Arrive 5 min early. Solid colors, bring glasses. 5–7 min per person w/ on-screen selection.”

Phase 2 — On-Site Workflow (Zero-friction, high throughput)

Set footprint (typical):

Key light on boom with large modifier for flattering wrap.
Fill via reflector or controlled soft source for precise contrast.
Background: 9′ seamless (white/gray/brand color) or environmental zone with distance for bokeh.
Tethered capture to a calibrated laptop/monitor for instant review.
Grooming station: lint rollers, blotting papers, combs, clips, translucent powder, basic hair spray.
Accessibility: seated option ready; camera height adjusts; ADA-friendly room path.

Timing benchmarks:

Individual standard: 5–7 minutes including review/selection.
Leadership/PR (more options and micro-coaching): 10–12 minutes.
Team hero shot: 10–15 minutes if scheduled at set change.

Flow controls that keep you on schedule:

QR check-in to confirm names, titles, and preferred name spelling.
Live image review; subject picks 1 primary + 1 alternate immediately.
Consistency overlay (ghost framing) to lock in eye-line and crop across the day.
Backup camera body and strobes on site to eliminate single-point failures.

Sample day schedule

12 people (1.5–2 hrs): 9:00–11:00 AM with 10-min buffer each hour.
25 people (3–4 hrs): 9:00–1:00 with a 15-min reset at 11:00.
50 people (full day): 8:30–4:30 with lunch 12:00–12:45 and 10-min resets each hour.

Phase 3 — Look, Wardrobe, and Coaching (Where portraits become “on-brand”)

Wardrobe guidance (send beforehand):

Solid mid-tones; avoid micro-patterns, high-gloss fabrics, and busy plaids.
Bring a jacket/cardigan as a quick polish layer.
Company pins or subtle brand color accents photograph well.
For beards: edge clean-up the night prior; for close shaves: do it at least 2–3 hours before to reduce redness.

Pose & micro-coaching:

Open stance, long neck, slight lean toward camera for engagement.
Chin adjustments and shoulder angles tailored per face shape—small changes, big results.
If anxiety is high, a quick “test frame” breaks the ice before finals.

Phase 4 — Post-Production (Fast, consistent, and audit-ready)

File delivery & specs (define once, reuse forever):

Master: 4000px+ JPG (sRGB)
Transparency needs: PNG with clean, natural edge extraction
Crops: 1:1 (LinkedIn), 4:5 (bio pages), 16:9 (slides), 3:4 (directories)
Naming convention: Lastname_Firstname_Department_YYYY
Metadata embedded: name, title, department, copyright, usage.

Retouching policy (sane and respectful):

Standard: flyaway hair, lint, minor blemishes, under-eye brightening, specular control.
Executive/PR: optional teeth polish, vein/bruise softening, shirt line cleanup.
Integrity: no structural face changes; final images should look like the person—on their best day.

Turnaround SLAs:

Proof gallery: same-day or next morning.
Final delivery: 2–3 business days for up to 50 portraits (faster available when needed).
Revisions: 1 round included for crop or selection swaps.

Distribution ready:

Separate folders for Web, Print, and Transparent.
Spreadsheet (CSV) with filenames, people, roles, and URLs to each final for easy HR/IT ingestion.

Add-Ons That Multiply ROI

Leadership editorial portraits (in-office environmental looks for press and investor decks).
Video intros (15–30s talking-head clips in the same lighting for About pages and recruiting).
Team hero images for proposals and org charts.
Branded backdrops (exact Pantone) for franchise-level consistency across locations.
Office B-roll captured the same day—yes, even indoor drone passes in large atriums and corridors for a slick capabilities reel.

Common Pitfalls (and how we prevent them)

Inconsistent crops across divisions: we lock a framing standard and use an overlay on-set.
Last-minute no-shows: buffer windows each hour + a short “make-up” block at day’s end.
Shiny foreheads under LED cans: powder and flagging; we bring cutters to tame overhead spill.
Back-to-back meetings: we schedule micro-windows (e.g., :05, :12, :19…) to minimize wait and keep calendars aligned.

Why this plan works for decision makers

You get consistent, on-brand portraits, minimal disruption to operations, and a file package that drops straight into your web, HR, PR, and sales workflows. Your people feel taken care of, and your brand credibility rises everywhere those faces appear.

About St Louis Business Portraits

St Louis Business Portraits is a full-service professional commercial photography and video production company with the right equipment and creative crew for successful image acquisition. We offer full-service studio and location video and photography, as well as editing, post-production, and licensed drone pilots. St Louis Business Portraits can customize your productions for diverse types of media requirements. Repurposing your photography and video branding to gain more traction is another specialty. We are well-versed in all file types and styles of media and accompanying software. We use the latest in Artificial Intelligence for all our media services. Our private studio lighting and visual setup is perfect for small productions and interview scenes, and our studio is large enough to incorporate props to round out your set. We support every aspect of your production—from setting up a private, custom interview studio to supplying professional sound and camera operators, as well as providing the right equipment—ensuring your next video production is seamless and successful. We can fly our specialized drones indoors. As a full-service video and photography production corporation, since 1982, St Louis Business Portraits has worked with many businesses, marketing firms, and creative agencies in the St. Louis area for their marketing photography and video.

314-913-5626

stlouisphotos@gmail.com
Mike Haller

Studio – 4501 Mattis Road St Louis, MO 63128