Case Study: Corporate Portrait Photography

Case Study: Branded Corporate Portraits

The Brief

dpix had first photographed this client’s team three years earlier. By the time they came back, a lot had changed: new team members had joined, the corporate brand had been refreshed, and the existing portrait library no longer reflected the organisation accurately.

The brief had evolved too. Rather than a straightforward round of replacement headshots, the client wanted something more considered — formal portraits that projected the professionalism and credibility of the organisation, alongside a set of more relaxed, personality-led images that individual team members could use on their own professional social profiles.

It was a dual-purpose brief: serious enough for the boardroom, warm enough to feel like people rather than job titles.

The Creative Process

The request for both formal and relaxed portraits in a single session shaped the entire approach. Getting both to work well together meant thinking carefully about consistency — the two styles needed to feel like they belonged to the same shoot, not two entirely different briefs.

Darren’s plan was to shoot the formal headshots first. Working through the formal shots early serves two purposes: it settles subjects who might feel nervous, and it gives the team something solid before the session moves into less predictable territory.

For the relaxed portraits, the creative brief was to capture genuine personality without tipping into the forced or gimmicky. The images needed to feel like the people themselves.

Preparation

The setup was configured to give consistent, flattering results across a full team — which means lighting that works across different faces, skin tones and heights without constant adjustment between subjects.

Backgrounds and framing were planned to give the formal and relaxed sets visual coherence, so the final library would sit together well in use, whether on a website team page or a LinkedIn profile.

Execution

The session started with formal headshots. Working through the team methodically, Darren guided each person into the frame — managing the slight self-consciousness that most people bring to being photographed professionally. The key is putting people at ease quickly: a calm approach, clear direction and enough pace to keep energy in the room.

When the session moved into the more relaxed portraits, a small creative insight made a significant difference. One of the first team members photographed — a well-respected figure within the organisation — threw themselves into the brief with real enthusiasm. Showing their results to subsequent colleagues acted as a creative unlock: once people could see what was possible and how good the images looked, buy-in to the more expressive brief came naturally.

The result was a session that moved well, produced both deliverables, and left the team feeling good about the experience.

The Result

Both the client and the team were delighted with the outcome — a professional portrait library that balanced the organisation’s credibility with the human character of the people in it. The formal shots went to the website and corporate communications; the relaxed portraits gave individual team members something they were genuinely happy to use and share.