Proud Photography Blog

Corporate Photography is an area that many professional photographers specialize in.  This type of photography covers a few different areas but it is mainly focused on capturing images of businesses and their staff.  Some people think that corporate photography is boring and repetitive because there is less of a need to be creative but in fact it can be exciting and challenging.

Who needs corporate images?

The type of companies that usually want professional photographs can vary but you will be surprised at how much variation there is in the work!  It can be a public sector company; for example, a charity commissioning images for their brochures and websites or it could be, quite often, large corporate companies who need to give off a polished image.

Larger companies or any business that produce newsletters and reports, especially internal staff will tend to use their own images as it encourages a sense of being part of a team.

Using a professional to take the images means that they can get the best possible photograph and capture their staff in the best light.  It also means that they can get a uniform feel and look to the pictures – quite often a client may request that you use a certain angle or background because it matches their company ‘look’.

In short – all kinds of business will want ‘corporate’ images.

How do you find these businesses?

Do your research!  Look in the local papers and phone directories to find some medium to large sized companies.  Look up their websites – do they use their own images or stock pictures?

Do they have pictures of their own staff and not stock images?  If they already have their own photographs do you think you can improve on these?  If they don’t have their own images can you perhaps pitch to them or at least send along some information should they want pictures taking in the future.

As always there’s no harm in producing a professional leaflet or flyer (but do make this extremely polished because remember you are dealing with business people) and perhaps an offer of a few free images and a test shoot.

Ultimately people can be vain, and may be tempted by your offer especially if you can do the work quickly in their office.

You can then forward the images taken, by picking the best 3 and sending them over with a watermark so that they can purchase the photographs or hire you properly to shoot the key people in their team.

To get portfolio images in the first place, you may want to offer your services to a local business, at a reduced rate or even for free if it means you will get some examples as this is very important.

It will also help you get used to the types of environments that you will be shooting in because every office is different you need to be able to adapt quickly and efficiently.