Headshot Resources: Getting Ready for Your Corporate Team Photo Shoot

Jan 13

Preparing for Team Headshots | Victoria BC Professional Portrait Photographer

Whether you’ve already booked your company’s team headshots or are starting to think about scheduling a headshot day for your team at your office, it can feel like a lot of moving parts to organize a group and get everyone ready for the day. That’s why I’ve created a list of tips for planning your team’s headshot day to help ensure everything runs smoothly and that no details are forgotten.

1: When to Book Your Team’s Headshots

I recommend beginning to plan and schedule your team’s headshot date at least 3-5 weeks in advance (and even further in advance if you’re planning headshots around a scheduled team gathering or event to ensure your date is available).

3-5 weeks lead time (or more) gives your team plenty of notice to start planning their outfits, schedule meetings around the day, book hair and makeup appointments (if desired), as well as plenty of time for me to prepare for your session and visit your office to review setup options.

2: Choosing an Office Area for the Headshot Setup

The backdrop and lighting setup does require some available open space in your office so I normally request an area of approximately 12 ft x 15 ft. Meeting rooms, empty offices, and warehouses are all great spaces! If you don’t have an area this large at your office or offsite event space, we can review alternative options.

3: Have your group sign up for time slots in advance

For team headshot sessions at your office, I recommend having your staff register for a desired headshot time in advance of your company’s headshot day so employees know when to arrive and are better able to plan around meetings.

Some companies I’ve worked with prefer to schedule their staff’s scheduled headshot times internally and then send the finalized schedule to me a couple of days beforehand, but I also offer the option to share a custom registration page for your employees to sign up to save you time.

Example of the online scheduling system for Erin Clayton Photography team headshot bookings.

4: Review parking and building rules

It’s helpful for your photographer to know where to park to unload the equipment as there will be multiple trips to and from the car with heavy (and awkward!) gear in tow.

I also recommend sharing any building rules, such as entry access and who to contact upon arrival in case of any issues in order to avoid any setup delays.

5: Share tips for what to wear with employees

Once your headshot session is booked, I will send you my getting-ready guide to share with your team members. The guide includes general tips for getting ready and what to wear. If your company has any additional dress code requirements, such as colour palette, jackets/no jackets, tie/no tie, etc, it’s important to share these details with your team early on so there are no unexpected surprises for employees on the headshot day.

6: Send email reminders to all employees

Don’t forget to remind your employees about their scheduled headshots 1-2 days in advance. This ensures enough time to have outfits coordinated, tried on, and steamed/ironed as needed.

If your team has scheduled their appointments through my online booking software, they will receive an automatic reminder 24 hours in advance.

7: Shoot Day

I arrive early on your scheduled headshot day to start setting up and answer any questions that may have popped up.

During each individual headshot session, I like to spend a bit of time reviewing the captured images to make sure your team members are loving their image results.

If you have any additional questions about the team headshot process, please feel free to contact me to discuss.