Socially distanced headshot photography for exterior shoots
After two months of lockdown and keeping my eye in by taking enough self-portraits to diagnose positively for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, it’s been a blessed relief to be able to start shooting other people again.
There’s been a fair amount of uncertainty in the photography world about what’s been permissible since the lockdown measures were relaxed, especially for headshot photography where there are obvious risks, given that personal engagement and establishing a close rapport with clients is such a fundamental part of getting great results.
But thankfully, the phone has started ringing again, with clients wanting to find out how they can update their portfolios, whilst still complying with the Government guidelines. So I thought I’d share a few thoughts here on how I’ve been handling acting & corporate shoots over the last couple of weeks.
Keeping Your Distance
It’s looking like studio shoots should be able to go ahead again around mid-June, as long as social distancing and strict sanitising measures are adhered to, but so far I’ve only been able to take portraits outside.
Luckily I work with a lot of child actors, where I think a more natural look is often ideal anyway - so much so that I’ve written a separate blog post about it here.
Shooting outside makes it easy to socially distance, as I’m generally positioned a minimum of 2 metres away from my subjects anyway. As you can see from the behind the scenes shot at the head of this post, featuring Chloe from The Young Actors Agency, using a telephoto lens - a Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 - puts me at around twice that distance, with the ability to shoot even further away if I needed to (the shot in the header was taken at 155mm).
And from an aesthetic point of view, shooting with a longer lens works really well for headshots anyway, where the extra compression shooting wide open at longer focal lengths can create some lovely effects with otherwise uninspiring backgrounds.
In the second behind the scenes shot here, featuring Isla, also represented by YAA, I’m using a fixed length lens - the 85mm 1.4G - which still puts me well over 2 metres away, but that’s probably still the very closest I’d want to get to ensure that my clients feel comfortable, and that we’re working to the guidelines.
The lighting and reflector that I’m using in this set up are obviously a bit closer, but clients are asked to be super-careful about not touching anything (if you look closely you can probably see Isla dutifully clasping her hands between her knees!), and all equipment is cleaned with a disinfectant spray between shoots.
There’s no need for physical contact between the photographer and the subject as I’ll illustrate many of the posing instructions with hand gestures that we talk through at the beginning of the shoot, which is also fairly standard practice anyway. And as younger clients always come with a family chaperone, adjusting hair and clothing can also be done safely.
2. Working the Location
As well as considering my own and my clients’ safety, it’s paramount that we don’t make anyone else feel uncomfortable - partly out of respect for other people’s well-being, but partly also because, like any normal shoot, it’s important to have as few distractions as possible to ensure that the sitter is fully engaged in the process.
Shooting in outside spaces always seems to generate a bit of curiosity from passersby, who normally seem to be mostly interested in whether I’m shooting anyone famous! But in these times of heightened sensitivity, people are also understandably curious as to whether anyone is being put at risk by the shoot, including themselves; so the more I can do to make it visibly clear that the guidelines are being followed, the more unlikely it is that anyone might be tempted to interrupt the shoot.
Fortunately one of the locations I regularly use - shown in these pics - is usually pretty quiet, and anyone using the area can see there’s a shoot going from some distance away, and can choose to steer clear of us. Although I did consider it briefly, I’ve stopped short of measures such as using tape to demarcate the shooting area, or using a mask, as I ultimately decided that both really were more for show rather than strictly necessary for an outside shoot.
I personally think that using a mask would seriously inhibit my engagement with clients, and unnecessarily so when working at a safe distance. Without wanting in any way to get all Donald Trump about this, I do think there’s got to be an element of personal choice involved here, combined with a healthy dose of common sense; unless, of course, any clients were to insist on such measures, in which case I’d happily comply.
What’s also great about this location that I can shoot three or four different backgrounds without having to move my equipment more than a few metres for each set up. So although I’m working within a fairly small space, I’m still getting a strong variety of looks which, as any actor will tell you, is essential for their portfolio in terms of helping them to broaden their casting potential (something I’ve written about in more detail here).
And anything that helps avoiding having to move around too much at the moment is obviously very much a priority for us all.
3. Working your Wardrobe!
The fact that I seem to have seamlessly segued from Donald Trump to Gok Wan aside, shooting in open spaces can mean being a bit imaginative wardrobe-wise, given that private spaces to change in often aren’t easily available.
Obviously that’s something I’ll always let my clients know about in advance, and although, perhaps unsurprisingly for actors, many don’t seem to have the slightest concern about a bit of public disrobing, I’ve been suggesting that the simplest solution is just to wear layers (t-shirt, blouse / shirt, jacket), so that we can experiment with different looks that way for the slightly more inhibited.
Lots of clients have been asking about splitting their shoots in two and coming back to the studio when we’re able to do that to ensure they’ve got plenty of range overall, which I’m very happy to do at the moment, but I’m still aiming to give them as much variety as possible from the outside component of the shoot.
4. Shooting volume
Although the Corporate side of things has been a bit slower to pick up, as most companies are still working out how to adjust their working practices to accommodate social distancing, all the wonderful weather we’ve been having means that I’ve still been able to shoot smaller teams in outside locations.
I think the days of shooting upwards of 50 staff in a single day are still some way off, with some of my jobs that were booked in prior to lockdown now having been tentatively rescheduled to August and beyond.
But I was delighted last week to be asked to go to the offices of Sherrards Employment Law, who have an outside space that was perfect for the natural, friendly, approachable look they wanted to achieve as a firm of rural solicitors.
We agreed to split to shoot over two mornings so that only half the team, shown here, had to come in at the same time, with another session to be scheduled to accommodate the rest.
I normally recommend a minimum of 10 minute time slots per person to ensure that everyone has time to feel comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera, and for me to give them some posing tips to make sure they look their best.
And although I think that would probably still work with some tight scheduling if I needed to shoot larger numbers of people over the course of a day, we decided on 20 minute slots to ensure that everyone was guaranteed not to be in too close proximity to their colleagues throughout the shoot. It also meant that it was the most relaxed shoot I’ve had in a long time - if that’s the new normal, I’m all for it!
