How to shoot 40 employee portraits in a row?

[Manfr3d]

Hi everyone,

I have a shoot comming up at the end of the week where I will be
photographing 30 to 40 employees in their offices. The photos will
be used for the companys online staff/contact list where they will
replace some snapshot quality photos. The offices are not very large
and there are windows behind each desk.

I would like to get some ideas on how to best shoot such a job.

Because there are so many people to photograph my plan was to
go around with a portable kit that allows me to use ambient light
while putting some fill on the person. (5D II w/Grip, 70-200mm f4 lens,
Flash with LightDome, and Monopod to allow slow shutter speeds).

Any suggestions?

[divamum]

Do they absolutely want them in situ in each individual office, or can you set up a "station" somewhere, and have them come to you? That would be a lot easier, I suspect, and give you more control over lighting, background etc etc etc. It will probably be a lot faster that way, too.....

[Manfr3d]

I agree, unfortunately that is not possible. They want a more casual
look in their images showing every employee in his/her own office.

[Sam]

OK, I have a question.......................is this a paid shoot or a volunteer shoot?

If it's a paid shoot it's hard for me to think the cost difference between a single setup where the employees travel to you versus you going to each office wasn't discussed.

With a single set up, (photo station) you will be able to set up strobes and control the background, producing a much better result.

If however it's a volonteer situation then it makes more sense. Because there is no cost to them they will not worry about you spending 30 or 40 times the effort.

Sam

[Manfr3d]

It is paid and the terms were discussed beforehand. They specificaly asked
for portraits showing the employees at their desk in order to give the images
a more personal touch. White this means more work for me, on the plus side
I get to bring less equipment and backup but also make more money.

[Mitchell]

This seems like a mistake. Many of these photos may wind up with the "snapshot quality" you are trying to replace.

Your choice of lens also seems to be a bit long for what you describe as small offices. You won't get much of the office in the photos even at 70mm in a small space. Watch for the reflection of your flash in the window behind the people you have described. This would certainly ruin the shots.

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos. Diva and Sam have better suggestions. A central station lit with strobes will produce a consistent, quality photo suitable for a corporate web site. Have them all come to you at assigned times.

[divamum]

This seems like a mistake. Many of these photos may wind up with the "snapshot quality" you are trying to replace.

Your choice of lens also seems to be a bit long for what you describe as small offices. You won't get much of the office in the photos even at 70mm in a small space. Watch for the reflection of your flash in the window behind the people you have described. This would certainly ruin the shots.

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos. Diva and Sam have better suggestions. A central station lit with strobes will produce a consistent, quality photo suitable for a corporate web site. Have them all come to you at assigned times.

Mitchell raises a good point. Do you have a shorter, wide-aperture lens that you could use or rent (eg 85 1.8, or even a 50 1.4)? That would give you greater light in what will likely be poor-light situations and will also enable you to blur out any seriously unattractive backgrounds you may encounter (while still providing the context of the employee in their surroundings).

Since it appears you do have to go office to office, I'd have thought the most important thing you'll need is a white card/grey card to ensure a decent white balance in what will likely be mixed lighting!

[Jane B.]

I'm NO PRO but thought of something that I think may help. Are there ANY kind of blinds on those windows that can be closed to cut down on reflections?

Jane B.

[bakerphotography]

What color are the ceiling and walls? Consider flash bounce, however take into account the ambient light. If the ambient is significant and modified by window tinting etc...you might get a less than desirable effect with 2 light sources at different K.

[Llywellyn]

Could you do something like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_N5lmSufOU)? Use one conference room with a one light set-up, and stage the table to look like a desk. Ask each employee to bring a couple of their personal desk items (e.g., family photos) for their session. Might be a decent compromise for consistent photos and lighting for you and personalized feel for your client. :dunno

If that's truly out of the question, here's a great Strobist behind-the-scenes (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/04/on-assignment-hero-fan.html) that seems very applicable to your situation.

[Zerodog]

What color are the ceiling and walls? Consider flash bounce, however take into account the ambient light. If the ambient is significant and modified by window tinting etc...you might get a less than desirable effect with 2 light sources at different K.

If you have a white ceiling and walls a flash bounce will really help out. Possibly even turn off the lights in the office to avoid and control bad lighting.
I wouldn't want to try to use a 70-200 in an office. You should try to borrow a much wider zoom so you can see their office. That was the intention of the gig right? If it is just zoomed in on only their head why shoot in their office at all.

[Andy]

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

[kdgrapes]

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

That's the kind of thinking that makes people a COO...

[Manfr3d]

The windows have blinds and there are some trees outside providing some
shadow and possibly nice background highlights. The walls are all white so
no problem bouncing. I'll be shooting desk to head portraits horizontal and
vertical. Since I shoot fullframe there is no problem getting full torso shots
at 70mm at a distance of 2-3 meters. Their offices are alot larger than that.

But of course I will pack some shorter and faster lenses (50, 85) just in case. I've seen the lighting videos from David. They are great but I won't have the time to setup an entire lighting scenario like this in each office.

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

Hi Andy, good to see you're having fun too. :thumb

[sweet caroline]

But is there a spare office room or conference room that could be set up as an office? One set up that everyone comes to, but use different props (like their personal items from their own desks), and angles to make it appear to be different offices.

Ambient office light is yucky, you are better off being able to set up your own lighting.

Caroline

[Nikolai]

I did that before. Offices are usually great in terms of bouncing the light. Just point the flash up or up-and-to-the-(window)-site and you should be ok.
The obstacles are:
1) hard to kill reflections from the whiteboards and windows
2) mixing flash light with ambient can be tricky.
3) setting this on the run is extremely difficult. Be prepared that you'll end up with the glorified snapshots taken with a very expensive camera.

PS
As many said, forget about 70-200/4. It's to long and too slow.
17-55/2.8 (or 24-70/2.8, or 50/18 or better, something like that) shall be your weapon.

[Scott_Quier]

Since the shoot in specified to be in situ, it would probably be safe to assume the client would like to see some of idividuals' office in each shot. I fear the 70-200 will be a bit long, even on a FF camera to do an adequate job. I would seriously consider the 50mm as a better alternative. And, the 50 will give you an opportunity for a narrower DOF, should the be desired.

Technique wise, if the office window is to be a part of the shot and if the scene outside the window is decent and contributes to the image, I'm thinking this should be a two or three shot effort for each portrait to dial in the exposure/flash settings. Shooting manual, dial in settings to get the scene outside the window 1 stop under-exposed (that's the first shot). If you miss it on the first shot, the second will allow you to fine tune. Now, set your flash to properly expose your subject - I would bounce it off the wall behind me to soften it a bit and that's the second/third shot. Now you can concentrate on the posing. Two or three different poses (and/or camera perspectives) and you're onto the next subject.

You may have trouble balancing the various ambient light sources ... depending on the amount of light coming in through the window and also depending on what other light sources you have in the office (note: I think I would kill the overhead flourescents).

If the view out the window is not attractive or is a distraction, you have just two options (1) don't include the window in the image or (2), close the blinds as others have already suggested.

Any way you cut it, I don't see this as being a big deal and I think the differences in setup from one office to the next should not be huge. Done right, this could be a huge success.

[Mitchell]

Since the shoot in specified to be in situ, it would probably be safe to assume the client would like to see some of idividuals' office in each shot. I fear the 70-200 will be a bit long, even on a FF camera to do an adequate job. I would seriously consider the 50mm as a better alternative. And, the 50 will give you an opportunity for a narrower DOF, should the be desired.

Technique wise, if the office window is to be a part of the shot and if the scene outside the window is decent and contributes to the image, I'm thinking this should be a two or three shot effort for each portrait to dial in the exposure/flash settings. Shooting manual, dial in settings to get the scene outside the window 1 stop under-exposed (that's the first shot). If you miss it on the first shot, the second will allow you to fine tune. Now, set your flash to properly expose your subject - I would bounce it off the wall behind me to soften it a bit and that's the second/third shot. Now you can concentrate on the posing. Two or three different poses (and/or camera perspectives) and you're onto the next subject.

You may have trouble balancing the various ambient light sources ... depending on the amount of light coming in through the window and also depending on what other light sources you have in the office (note: I think I would kill the overhead flourescents).

If the view out the window is not attractive or is a distraction, you have just two options (1) don't include the window in the image or (2), close the blinds as others have already suggested.

Any way you cut it, I don't see this as being a big deal and I think the differences in setup from one office to the next should not be huge. Done right, this could be a huge success.

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

[torags]

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

Maybe the client just wants embellished snapshots of the local wildlife in their natural habitat.

:dunno

Rags

[Scott_Quier]

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!
Yep, I forgot to include the word "financial" in my last sentence. This is probably a good 2 days worth of work. :deal

[Manfr3d]

Guys relax they will be happy with simple portraits of their employees.
They are not booking Micheal Grecco and they know that. The images
will be 180x120 pixels on their website hidden in the online staff list.

I can understand that many start to frown when a newbie asks for advice
for a job he doesn't seem to know anything about. But its all much
simplier than you think. Especially Scott made some very sound avice
regarding the shoot and It will be just as simple as that. I don't need to
show their office with a wide angle lens. I just need to take their photo
at their desk. If I manage to take photos without dropshadow and flash
being the main light they will be happy. Not very demanding, yea and I
understand that many of you would turn down such a low tech assignment.

But please dont make fun of me or how the client asked me to do it - the
client gets what the client wants and I made sure we both knew what
we were talking about.

It's only a small shoot, repetetive technique, very simple, many people,
lots of walking around, being friendly and making ppl look comfortable
and naturaly lit in those pictures .. is what it's all about.

[Art Scott]

I'm NO PRO but thought of something that I think may help. Are there ANY kind of blinds on those windows that can be closed to cut down on reflections?

Jane B.

This was my line of thought.....close blinds......

Do you have a camera / flash bracket.....if so...mount flash and cam and use a tripod to keep steady.....use small aperture to darken the background and flash for fill on subject.......use some thing for diffusion (yur lite dome).....using your aperture to create drama is a must........or else just hop in and pop the pop up flash and then hit the next office........and so on........and that is not an option........................

This is a situation where a handheld meter would be very useful............................

[sweet caroline]

Wait, did anyone make fun of you or the clients? I must have missed that. I just saw a lot of helpful advice and well meaning concern. Much of my concern was about how much work it will be for you to go from office to office.

If I were going to do this, walking around to each office, armed with my camera and a flash, I'd probably set my D300 to commander mode and hand hold the flash off camera with a diffuser dome on it. Possibly, I'd put the flash on a monopod or tripod so I could set it down and keep the light source up high even if I got down to a lower angle.

What ever you decide to do, please post your results!

[Mitchell]

But please dont make fun of me or how the client asked me to do it - the
client gets what the client wants and I made sure we both knew what
we were talking about.



Who made fun of you (other than Andy)? You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum. I think most here gave you thoughtful suggestions to your problem.

I still don't see how you are going to get a decent photo of people and their office surroundings with a 70-200mm zoom and an on camera flash. You asked the question, people gave you their thoughts and suggestions, and you are chosing to ignore them and just shoot the way you originally planned.:scratch

Andy makes a lot more fun of me, and I don't gripe about it.:D

[Manfr3d]

Who made fun of you (other than Andy)? You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum. I think most here gave you thoughtful suggestions to your problem.

I still don't see how you are going to get a decent photo of people and their office surroundings with a 70-200mm zoom and an on camera flash. You asked the question, people gave you their thoughts and suggestions, and you are chosing to ignore them and just shoot the way you originally planned.:scratch

Andy makes a lot more fun of me, and I don't gripe about it.:D

There seems to be a misunderstanding Mitchell. Make fun was probably
the wrong word for me to use. I wasn't clear enough about what
photos the client wants in the first place. This naturaly resulted in
comments to rethink my approach and investigating the possibility I
hadn't talked to and educated the client clear enough. All of this is not
the case. I am only seeking advice on how you would carry out a shoot
under these conditions and not what would you have done in the first
plac. And I am grateful for the numerous advices I got for the former.

Just to be clear:

I dont needt to photograph their surroundings. Just them at their desk,
not the entire desk just a part of it. So that the photos don't look all the
same. I am going to carry a 50mm and a 85mm as well as a 70-200 to
be able to shoot relatively tight and crop out the bunnies, chips bags and
stacks of files towering here and there. ;)

[pathfinder]

I might consider carrying a 42 Lastolite reflector with white scrim in it - have a VAL ( voice activated light stand holder ) hold it up above your subjects head to diffuse the room light, or off to the side to bounce your flash off of or through as needed. Lots of nice things you can do with a white scrim and a VAL.

[Angelo]

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)


:huh:huh:huh

:rolleyes:rolleyes:rolleyes

[Nikolai]

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)


:huh:huh:huh

:rolleyes:rolleyes:rolleyes
LOL
in fact I think it was called HAL (Human voice-Activated Lightstand/holder) originally :wink

[Scott_Quier]

LOL
in fact I think it was called HAL (Human voice-Activated Lightstand/holder) originally :wink
Nope, it's a SPVACBLS ... self-propelled, voice-activated, carbon-based lightstand. At least, that's what I called it the first time I posted something like that (but .... not saying I started it - not at all) and there were more than just a few people who actually started looking for that product on-line and then came back saying they couldn't find it and where did I get mine.

[pathfinder]

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)


:huh:huh:huh

:rolleyes:rolleyes:rolleyes

I put it in bold italic print in my post now so that it stands out more, Angelo:rofl :rofl

[Sam]

Manfr3d,

I think part of the disconnect here is you weren't (we didn't read) that you wanted 1" X 2" image for web use.

Most of us here strive for the highest quality possible, and our answers reflect that.

Had I known that I could have given you two different thoughts. One: take point and shoot run in office yell surprise and shoot. At 1" X 2" you would be hard pressed to see the difference between this and a great properly lit posed large format portrait.

Second: Depending on many factors of course, would this be a good opportunity to take really good high quality portrait shots that show your photography skill and make these available to each individual, or the company for other, (annual report, wall size portraits, print advertising)? At additional cost of course. If you get no takers on the high quality images you can always just complete the assignment and deliver the small images.

I shudder at delivering less than a high quality image. I have had several requests to print on site, and I have turned these down because printing on site requires too much of a quality hit for me.

Sam

[Nikolai]

Manfr3d,

I think part of the disconnect here is you weren't (we didn't read) that you wanted 1" X 2" image for web use.

Most of us here strive for the highest quality possible, and our answers reflect that.

Had I known that I could have given you two different thoughts. One: take point and shoot run in office yell surprise and shoot. At 1" X 2" you would be hard pressed to see the difference between this and a great properly lit posed large format portrait.

Second: Depending on many factors of course, would this be a good opportunity to take really good high quality portrait shots that show your photography skill and make these available to each individual, or the company for other, (annual report, wall size portraits, print advertising)? At additional cost of course. If you get no takers on the high quality images you can always just complete the assignment and deliver the small images.

I shudder at delivering less than a high quality image. I have had several requests to print on site, and I have turned these down because printing on site requires too much of a quality hit for me.

Sam

I concur. I did some corporate headshots with the website as a target, but since I made sure they know the originals were hi-res I also got a few personal orders.

[Manfr3d]

Most of us here strive for the highest quality possible, and our answers reflect that.

Advice for highest quality within the specs is what I was looking for.

Had I known that I could have given you two different thoughts. One: take point and shoot run in office yell surprise and shoot. At 1" X 2" you would be hard pressed to see the difference between this and a great properly lit posed large format portrait.

Thats flaimbait right there, I'm not going to seriously answer that, sorry :D

Second: Depending on many factors of course, would this be a good opportunity to take really good high quality portrait shots that show your photography skill and make these available to each individual, or the company for other, (annual report, wall size portraits, print advertising)? At additional cost of course. If you get no takers on the high quality images you can always just complete the assignment and deliver the small images.

I would've loved to do that but frankly I never saw a chance for that
happening within the specs. Just like everyone else in this thread.

I shudder at delivering less than a high quality image. I have had several requests to print on site, and I have turned these down because printing on site requires too much of a quality hit for me.

Did you think the same way when you started out?

[Nikolai]

One thing I have hard time understanding is why a person who's asking for help (=OP) and been given plenty gets defensive all of a sudden. Sam is a very experienced person, I would listen. :deal

I, for one, love the motto "fool me once - shame on you, fool me twice - shame on me". If, say, my advise is not appreciated, the solicitor will *never* hear from me again, neither on the original issue, nor ever. Internet is too big and life is to short.
Just my 2 pennies..

[Manfr3d]

What I am doing here is defending the clients wish (not mine). He asked me
to shot it this way. I dont need some advice on another gig. I know how to
light for individual portraits and premium quality. What I freaking don't know
is what's the best way to shoot the gig as I described it because I have never
done it before. What's so hard to understand about this?

[Cygnus Studios]

Wait, did anyone make fun of you or the clients? I must have missed that.

Let me see.

Here is the original question:

I would like to get some ideas on how to best shoot such a job.


Here are the some of the responses.

This seems like a mistake

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

Maybe the client just wants embellished snapshots of the local wildlife in their natural habitat

You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum

I have made this point many times lately. Someone comes to the forum seeking advice from those who should know more, and gets responses like this.

Yes good advice was given, especially by Scott and a few others, but what is the point of comments like those above?

Did it really answer the original question?

Does it inspire more newbies to come onto Dgrin and ask a question?

I really wish that someone could explain the point of these types of comments to me.

Is it really that difficult to help someone?

[Manfr3d]

The advice I got on how to shoot it was great, the advice I got why not to shoot it wasn't answering my question on how to shoot it at all.

[Mitchell]

Let me see.

Here is the original question:

I would like to get some ideas on how to best shoot such a job.


Here are the some of the responses.

This seems like a mistake

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

Maybe the client just wants embellished snapshots of the local wildlife in their natural habitat

You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum

I have made this point many times lately. Someone comes to the forum seeking advice from those who should know more, and gets responses like this.

Yes good advice was given, especially by Scott and a few others, but what is the point of comments like those above?

Did it really answer the original question?

Does it inspire more newbies to come onto Dgrin and ask a question?

I really wish that someone could explain the point of these types of comments to me.

Is it really that difficult to help someone?

I wasn't going to respond to this, but since you chose to highlight quotes from my original post in this thread as your example of how I made fun of the OP, I feel I must respond.

If you read my post without these lines taken out of context, you will see that I was actually trying to help this person. He came here asking for help. I merely pointed out that it would not be possible to achieve what he wanted given the limitations he provided. That is helpful. Don't waste your time doing something that is not possible.

The other quotes you listed were obviously jibes directed at others (scott, etc...)

I stand by my comment that you need thicker skin on the internet. This was all pretty tame, and I still fail to see where anyone made fun of the OP.

From where I stand, he never really had any interest in hearing what anyone had to say about this shoot. I'm not sure why he posted his question on this forum in the first place. People with far more talent and experience have given him suggestions which he has chosen to ignore.

I'm with Nick, he won't be getting any advice from me in the future.

[JMichaelK]

I would shoot each scene with two speedlights, one on camera and the other on a stand or a clamp. Probably bouncing the one on the stand off the ceiling and the on camera flash with some type of diffusion (fong lightsphere, etc). I would determine what the ambient light is coming from the window and over power it one stop. This could be done pretty quickly and will keep your color balance problems to a minimum. I would do everything I could to keep the skin tones free of color cast from the office overhead lights. All of this would be done with the settings on manual using at least 1/125 shutter to avoid color cast.

[Sam]

The heck with this, color me gone.

Sam

[SalsaFoto]

I'm going to post my favorite advice (request) in these types of posts.

Please post a few shots when you have completed your assignment so we can see how it turned out and possibly learn something. :thumb

Thanks,
Carl

[leaforte]

I would like to get some ideas on how to best shoot such a job.
I would suggest possibly spending a little chat time around the office beforehand, meeting some folks, introducing yourself, and learning some names. Learn the floor plan some, knowing where your going next. You will be more comfortable, and your clients employees will be more comfortable with you. When it comes time to shoot, you will be capturing more of the personality of the employees, thus the personality of the company, and no matter the web site resolution, the companies image(personality) will show, and the client should be happy.

Laugh a lot, get your subject to share a sincere smile, and have fun!

[moe22]

Hi, I'm a newbie here as well. It looks to me like you've got a pretty good handle on what you need to do. I'm no pro, but I take most of the pix as needed at my work place. Most of them are for the web. The people there are ecstatic with the results. Most of them wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my Nikon pix and a point and shoot until they see them side by side. But that's ok. What you do have here is a great opportunity to meet 40 people that may need a photographer in the future!
You know what your client expects and from what I'm reading, you will deliver.
Have fun with it!

[chrisjohnson]

Interesting thread - I am doing a similar project for our company. We want something that tells a different story than the normal string of corporate mug shots. We want to get across something about the dynamism, creativity, individuality - a more personal face that reinforces the customer belief that they can trust us because we are people.

The pro photographers we contacted have frankly no idea - they all want to set up mini-studios with all their gear and do mug shots. So we started ourselves using a team member who is a great amateur photographer (not me!) walking around. (In sympathy with the thread starter this is where we played with the 70-200, and then used more lenses because it didn't really work - not good in bad light, and too close often). Then we paused because, while the shots themselves were ok even good, the total impression was looking very messy and disconnected - different lighting, lenses, clutter. Similar effect to trying to read a book in which every sentence is written in a different font. Very individual but unreadable.

We went back to the basics - we want to tell a story about us, our connectness and commitment, our human face. And this is where we are today so please keep the ideas coming. Our current idea is to bring a strong stylistic formality into every picture - using kodak instamatic type frame, bw, the on-camera flash, the same prop appearing in every photo. Don't think we have it yet but that is the way we are going - even if we never finish the project it is create teambuilding and everyone is learning something about working together.

(By the way, on the finances, with this kind of assignment it is likely a misconception to think the client is only prepared to pay for x hours or y studio shots. Eg for our company it is an important part of our branding and communications activity - it is the idea and then the execution that counts.)

[Mitchell]

Interesting thread - I am doing a similar project for our company. We want something that tells a different story than the normal string of corporate mug shots. We want to get across something about the dynamism, creativity, individuality - a more personal face that reinforces the customer belief that they can trust us because we are people.

The pro photographers we contacted have frankly no idea - they all want to set up mini-studios with all their gear and do mug shots. So we started ourselves using a team member who is a great amateur photographer (not me!) walking around. (In sympathy with the thread starter this is where we played with the 70-200, and then used more lenses because it didn't really work - not good in bad light, and too close often). Then we paused because, while the shots themselves were ok even good, the total impression was looking very messy and disconnected - different lighting, lenses, clutter. Similar effect to trying to read a book in which every sentence is written in a different font. Very individual but unreadable.

We went back to the basics - we want to tell a story about us, our connectness and commitment, our human face. And this is where we are today so please keep the ideas coming. Our current idea is to bring a strong stylistic formality into every picture - using kodak instamatic type frame, bw, the on-camera flash, the same prop appearing in every photo. Don't think we have it yet but that is the way we are going - even if we never finish the project it is create teambuilding and everyone is learning something about working together.

(By the way, on the finances, with this kind of assignment it is likely a misconception to think the client is only prepared to pay for x hours or y studio shots. Eg for our company it is an important part of our branding and communications activity - it is the idea and then the execution that counts.)

Interesting addition to this thread. Your initial, unsatisfactory results were what several here had predicted.:huh Thanks for sharing.

[Nikolai]

Interesting addition to this thread. Your initial, unsatisfactory results were what several here had predicted.:huh Thanks for sharing.
+1
Very interesting indeed.
There is a many reasons behind the fact they do mass portraits (school pics, team sports portraits, corporate portaits, etc.) in a studio-like environment. Not only it's more effective, but it also allows to avoid the mess you've mentioned. Yes, VPs are often "taken" in their own offices, but the number of VPs is realtively small, so it's relatively easy to keep a level of individuality for each shot. OP case (and probably yours) has several dozen targets, most of which, probably, have a very similar working environment to limit the possible "poses" to just a handful, yet different enough backgrounds to create a "messy" feeling, since the background is constantly changing... In a situations like that a studio-like (i.e. same/uniform) environment is the key, since it presents a common ground and at least makes it clear the the only thing that changes is the face.
Good luck with your project however, it would be really interesting to see how/if you are able to pull it off:-) :clap

[Manfr3d]

Here are the results: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=140927&highlight=employees

:D

[Wil Davis]

Looks like it worked fine; nice job!

- Wil

[SalsaFoto]

I lost track of this thread for awhile...
Thanks for following up!

Great results!