“I thought we could do it here with the sign in the background. We can shoot while everyone is on break for lunch or at the end of the day (5 pm in the summer)”?
With every job, there is a challenge. My job is to find the solution.
The challenge: If we photograph at noon during the lunch break, the sun will be shining directly into their faces causing squinty eyes and harsh light. If shot at 5, the scene will be backlit with no light on the sign, and the sun will be directly in line with the lens. Having everyone standing in front of the building, where they suggested, is not very interesting.
The side of the Industrial Automation Co Building with logo sign. Photographed at 10 am with direct sun.
The solution: Shoot as early as possible before the sun gets too high and strong. Photograph the group at the front corner of the building, which was more interesting. Take advantage of the large tree in the parking lot that was providing shade to help eliminate squinting.
Everyone got to the office promptly at 9 am. At that point, the sun was moving fast, and I was losing the shadow from the tree. I had 15 minutes to get everyone together (Coffee and donuts had to wait until we finished.), pay attention, look at the camera, and relax.
It’s not always easy to get everyone looking at the camera and paying attention first thing in the morning. Fortunately, everyone was very cooperative. I was able to gather all 19 employees together, rearrange them, and look at the camera.
Group portrait straight out of camera, before retouching.
I wasn't able to get everything perfect straight out of the camera. I took a bunch of shots to increase my odds of getting everyone to look good, but sometimes that's not enough. Thankfully there is Photoshop. I was able to take two people from one photo and add them to the chosen photo. While we were photographing, a pickup truck pulled in and parked. It was off far enough to the edge I decided to let it stay. Spending precious time shooting was more important than waiting for the truck to move. I can remove that in post-production. I also didn't notice someone put their soda can down on the ground, thinking it was out of the way. It wasn't, but I could fix that too.
Final image of the Industrial Automation Co employee group portrait.
The final images turned out well. The client is happy and has it displayed on their about section on the Industrial Automation Co website.
Final Image used on the website about us section.