portrait photography

Child photography on location

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I really enjoy photographing children. They are generally more spontaneous and less self-conscious than adults, displaying their thoughts and feelings plainly in their faces and their gestures. It’s a special privilege to photograph the same child at different stages of their development.

I recently met up with this little boy and his mother for our third session together. The first shoot was in their home, the second in the studio, and this time we met in a local park. It was a beautiful day, and we chatted and strolled and photographed for just over an hour. The park has a vegetable garden, farm animals, a fishing lake, and orchards carpeted with wild flowers, so there was plenty to distract and entertain my subject.

If you are thinking of booking a professional shoot for yourself and your children, do consider the option of doing this ‘on location’. I can recommend beautiful places in Brussels suitable for children of different ages, not far from where you live.

Putting the portrait subject in context

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A successful portrait must concentrate the viewer’s attention on the subject’s face, of course. But it can also provide additional information about their profession, passions or interests.

There are plenty of different ways to provide this context. Many people wear uniforms or other special clothing in the course of their work, or to practice their favourite sport.

I’ve photographed artists with their works, musicians with their instruments, and one time a chef with a huge kitchen knife.

Of course, many of us don’t have distinctive clothing or equipment. In this case, the contextual elements of a portrait need to be symbolic or suggestive. Living in Brussels, I’m often asked to make portraits for people who work in the EU institutions. Here, we can integrate obvious symbols such as logos or flags, or go for a more impressionistic backdrop of the ‘European district’.

Perhaps you’d prefer a set of studio portraits with neutral backgrounds. That’s great! I promise we’ll make some beautiful ones. But if you’d like to add a bit of contextual richness, give me a call and we can discuss how we might do this. You like reading? We can make some shots of you with a book. Your job involves environmental protection? Let’s do the shoot in the woods. You’re a tech entrepreneur? I recommend a modern architectural background. Into music? Why not make some portraits with your earphones or the cover of your favourite album? Movie buff? Brussels has some amazing retro cinema architecture we can use.

Why you really should upgrade your online profile image today

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Many clients send all their new staff members to my studio to make professional portrait photographs within days of starting. Since they are asked to work from home, it may be months before they meet their new colleagues face to face. It’s therefore vital that they have good, up-to-date portraits that can be used on the company intranet and website, for their Teams or Slack profiles, on Zoom or Webex, not to mention on LinkedIn and in their email signatures.

As more and more communication takes place online, the quality of our profile images is becoming ever more important. Who wants to present themselves as a faceless placeholder like the ones below? In this post, I’ll take a light-hearted look at some of the mistakes to avoid.

A professional portrait helps you to stand out among default profile images

A professional portrait helps you to stand out among default profile images

High-resolution

Gone are the days when a grainy 25kB profile image was the most that the platforms allowed. So show the world your smile in high-definition!

“What’s up with the Marketing Director? His profile image looks like it was taken in an airport photo booth in about 1980!”

The photographer should deliver an image file of at least 1000 x 1000 pixels, optimised for the web – that is, of not more than 250kB. Store this file safely as the master, then copy and resize it for each platform, using the maximum resolution allowed on that particular platform.

Keep it appropriate

Be certain to check and comply with any profile image guidelines issued by your employer – with regard to dress, for example. It’s also a good idea to take a look at the profiles of existing staff. You may want to express your personality, but you should probably avoid being the only member of the team who is seen raising a glass of piña colada in their profile picture.

“Whoa! I just got a call from Gary in accounts. Why does he have to show us so much chest hair?”

Consistency across platforms

Whether you’re a freelancer or work for a large organisation, growth in the number of platforms on which it’s necessary to maintain a profile shows no sign of slowing.

“Vanessa in sales has great profile pictures on all the platforms. But in some she’s blonde, in others brunette, and on Slack her hair is purple. It took me months to figure out they were all the same person.”

Make sure to get a really great portrait photograph that you love, and use it for all your profiles – at least, for all the professional ones.