Summer is a great time of year to update your company's photography. Employees often have a healthy summer glow and dress a bit more comfortably and confidently. Many organizations bring their entire staff together for annual meetings, retreats, or company events, making it an ideal opportunity to capture images that can be used throughout the year.
The Advantage of Environmental Shots
While headshots have their place, environmental portraits tell a much richer story. They show people in settings that reflect your company's personality and culture, creating images that feel authentic and on-brand. Whether photographed in an office, manufacturing facility, laboratory, on a construction site, or outdoors, the environment becomes part of the narrative.
The Right Background
One of the most overlooked aspects of creating great environmental portraits is location scouting. A skilled photographer doesn't simply find an empty wall and start shooting. Instead, they look for backgrounds that complement the subject, use natural light effectively, and reinforce your brand. The same person can have an entirely different look and feel simply by moving a few yards to a new location. In the images below, you see the same subject with different backgrounds. Notice how the backgrounds create different moods, even though the subject remains the same and is wearing the same clothes.
Subtle Changes For a Different Look
The two photos below show how a change of clothes and the addition of a prop gives the subject a completely different air. It is always a good idea when shooting environmental shots to have subjects bring different outfits and to consider the use of props which can completely alter the tone of a shot.
Showcase Your Brand
Many companies, particularly service organizations, have gear or uniforms which often change every few years due to updated colors, logos, or suppliers. Dated uniforms in your marketing materials are never a good thing so if you have something new be sure to show it. This photo is designed to showcase company gear and the new logo so I purposely used a clean background to focus on the subject and what she is wearing.
Show the Team
Summer gatherings provide an opportunity to photograph your organization as a whole. If your entire team is already gathered for a meeting or company event, it's the perfect time to create an updated group photograph. These images are invaluable for websites, annual reports, proposals, recruiting materials, social media, and press releases. They also demonstrate the breadth of your organization in a way that individual headshots simply can't.
Planning is Key
Planning ahead makes the session much more productive. Never try to do this type of photography on the fly or assume it will naturally fall together. By scheduling environmental portraits and team photographs on the same day and then planning the shoot, you can efficiently create an extensive library of professional images that will serve all your marketing and communications needs.
If your website, marketing materials, or LinkedIn pages are using dated photos please give me a call and let's schedule a shoot. Summer is the perfect time to refresh your visual brand.