April 25, 2008

Business Portraits: Formal Headshot vs. Environmental Portrait

I get a lot of calls from clients for headshots, and am seeing a trend moving away from the traditional executive headshot to clients looking for ways to compliment their personalities and businesses.

As both corporate and small businesses work to create approachable, customer-centric images for themselves, it's natural to reflect this positioning in your custom photography.As to which is right for you, formal vs. envirnomental, perhaps the answer is: both, depending.

WHICH ONE'S FOR YOU?

Formal Headshot
Environmental Portrait

Think of this: on your Web site, where you might have 3-7 key business member bios and photographs listed, a consistent, close-up view of the team is often the way to go. You can incorporate the feel of the business with colorized or black and white imagery, unusual cropping, unusual focus, etc. Magazines will often want a formal headshot image, and brochures and business cards generally don't have enough room for larger environmental images.

Alternatively, press packages and editorial articles, as well as the Web site, are often looking for that shot of the businessperson involved in the business.

Which one is right for you? When you're ready for a business portrait session, talk to your photographer about how you hope to use your photographs, what you want to represent, and what you style as a person and business reflects. Often, from answering those few questions, the answer is already solved.

Copyright 2008 Kimberley Bermender
maginei photography

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April 10, 2008

Professional Photographer's of America Workshop

What do photographers do when we're not on assignment? The answer: continue learning, playing with gear, photographing photographing photographing the world around us. I attended a PPA (Professional Photographer's of America ) workshop last weekend hosted by Marc Benjamin in Suisun, CA. Here a couple of the shots where we were playing with lighting:


Model on Pony
Classic Portrait Setup

Pretty Girl, Crazy Lighting. 'Harry Potter' Double Side-Lighting

Copyright 2008 Kimberley Bermender
maginei photography

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December 20, 2007

Bands, Babies, Chocolates and More

It's been a hectic few months, and I really have not kept up with my blog very well. So, in one giant post, I'll bring you up to date on the highlights of recent maginei activity.

Family Time

I've had the pleasure of photographing a number of families both in the studio and on location. Here are some of my favorite images from these family photo shoots:

Rob and Yolanda Look Forward to Baby

Rob and Yolanda

Mikey, Laurel and Quinn at the Beach

Quinn Discovers the Ocean

Mikey and Quinn Warm Up

Mark, April and Reyna

Reyna Moves Fast - Keep Up Folks!

Mark and Reyna - Quiet Time
Snack Time
Food photography is an entirely different beast from people, and I'm not sure which is more complicated. The technical detail needed to make meat and other food items look realistic and appetizing is quite the challenge!

Godiva Chocolates

Hoffman's Bakery - Beef On Pastry

Hoffman's Bakery - Crab Cakes

Hoffman's Bakery - Fruit Tarte

Hoffman's Bakery - Dessert Selection

Party Time
The following images were taken on location at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz, where the band Five Eyed Hand played on Dec. 8th.

Five Eyed Hand - Catalyst

Drummer/Singer Derek Bodkin, Five Eyed Hand

Chris and Jeb Rockin', Five Eyed Hand

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August 15, 2007

Twins Portrait Session

Twin babies create challenges I'd never dreamed of; this was a fun and challenging portrait session with highlights including how to get pee off the backdrop. Don't worry folks, it got washed! Seriously though, these two were absolutely sweet and real treasures to work with.


Double Vision

Twins

More Twins

Copyright 2007 Kimberley Bermender
maginei

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July 06, 2007

Studio Portrait

We've created four separate portrait light areas in the studio, and then were working on images using a center bare bulb strobe. Very interesting and effective. Here's a recent shot using the bare bulb with two kicker lights behind.

The Thinker

Copyright 2007 Kimberley Bermender
maginei

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