#BusinessPortrait #StudioPortraits #Portrait
Whether formal or casual, your business portrait should always make a professional statement about you and your business, as more often than you may recognize, potential clients get their first impression about you and your business from your business portrait.
As a business professional, it’s best to view your business portrait as your logo. Your portrait automatically becomes part of your branding, unifying significant aspects of your business: your newsletter, web site, business cards and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, it is, therefore, essential that it is as professional-looking as possible. This article expounds a little on our top tips for the perfect professional portrait
Your first decision is to choose between a studio or an environmental portrait.
Studio Portraits
Looking for a photograph to be used primarily for news releases or business cards? Then a studio portrait is right for you. “head and shoulders portrait” reproduce well in newspapers and at small sizes like.
Backgrounds: Choose a neutral-toned background.
Choose a neutral background as simple as possible, i.e., mid-tones in blue, brown or gray work well, either a solid or with subtle patterns. Bold patterns can be too distracting.
Environmental Portraits
As an alternative, have your portrait taken in your work environment. These are great at reflecting what you do, and hence, lend themselves to brochure, newsletter and web site use.
Examples of environmental portraits include executives or authors in their workplace or a construction engineer on the job with heavy equipment. Other examples include musicians with their instruments or doctors with lab coats.
Props: Choose your environment and your props carefully. Ensure you are the center of attention, not the environment. Too many environmental details lead to clutter.
Clothing
Choose appropriate attire that won’t be distractive. Your attire should reflect your professionalism and success.
A corporate executive, for example, should not wear jeans. Likewise, a carpenter would appear inappropriately dressed in a suit.
Colors: Avoid red, yellow, or greens unless they are your company colors, blues, and browns usually work best.
Pay particular attention to color combinations. Complementary-not contrasting-colors are best. If you’re wearing a dark suit, for example, avoid a white shirt. The white against dark contrast will draw attention from your face. A light blue or pale-yellow shirt is preferable.
Stay away from bold colors and prints.
Expression
Your photograph should express friendliness, sincerity, and honesty. Relaxed smiles usually work best. A full toothy grin might make you look not serious enough, where a too serious expression might make you look unfriendly.
Remember that the purpose of your executive portrait is to make potential clients want to do business with you.
At Productions Star Image, we take extra steps to ensure that your portraits come out looking as competent and professional as possible, ensuring your brand image sells at all times.