Creative Commercial Headshots

Commercial headshots do not need to look stuffy or boring. My favorite way to create unconventional headshots is to use an environmental background. This would be anything other than a studio background. There are lots of interesting ways to make use of indoor or outdoor backgrounds in headshots. Below are a couple of recent shoots that are great examples of creative headshots that are out of the box and not cookie cutter.

Indoor Environmental Headshots

Working inside on environmental portraits is an interesting creative challenge. You have to balance the existing light inside with studio lighting and you may have to adjust to changing lighting conditions outside. For example, the images I shot below were taken in the early evening as the sun was nearing sunset. The first set of photos below have a different color cast in the background than the second set of color photos. This is because the second set was taken closer to sunset time. If I wanted to correct the color and make it more uniform, I certainly could have, but I like the amber glow in the second set of images. Also, this client only needed B&W images for their website, so the color differences were not a big deal.

Outdoor Environmental Headshots

Outdoor environmental portraits are great because using natural light along with fill flash has such a soft and natural look. The background can influence the mood of the headshot, so I explore a variety of location options with clients before the session to make sure we get the right look and feel for their headshot. When people want to have an edgy or modern headshot, shooting in a city location like the one below is a great option.