Twelve faces that look like twelve different companies. Here’s how to make your team page look like one business, and keep it that way as people join.
Open most small business team pages and you’ll see the same thing. A studio shot from 2019. A holiday crop with someone’s arm still on a shoulder. A grey silhouette where the new marketing exec should be. Three people against white walls, two against a bookshelf, and one squinting into the sun.
Nobody planned it that way. It just happened, one new starter at a time.
What’s the simplest way to get matching team headshots?
Have them taken at your office, in one session, by one photographer who how the shot was set up. A meeting room is enough space. A team of 15 takes about a morning. And when someone new joins, the same setup can be rebuilt so their photo sits neatly alongside everyone else’s.
That last part is the bit most businesses miss, and it’s the bit that keeps a team page looking right for years rather than months.
Why do team headshots stop matching?
Because they’re taken in different places, by different people, at different times. One person used a studio in London. Another had a friend take theirs in the garden. The new starter used the photo from their last job, which had a blue background and a very different crop.
Each photo on its own is fine. Side by side, they quietly tell visitors that your business hasn’t quite got itself together, even when the opposite is true.
And people do look. Prospective clients check who they’ll be dealing with. Candidates check who they’ll be working with. Journalists and partners check who’s behind the name. I’ve written before about why first impressions from a headshot matter so much, and a team page is that first impression multiplied by everyone on it.
How does an office team headshot day work?
It’s three stages: a short chat beforehand, a morning at your office, and a set of finished photos a little while after. Here’s what each one involves.
Before the day
We have a quick call. I’ll ask how many people, where the photos will be used (website, LinkedIn, pitch documents, press), and whether you have brand guidelines. If you already have headshots you like, send them over and I’ll use them as the starting point.
I’ll also send you a simple booking sheet with five-minute slots, plus a one-page guide on what to wear. You share both with the team. People pick a time that suits them, so nobody gets pulled out of a client call and the morning keeps moving.
Setting up in a meeting room
You don’t need a studio, and you don’t need a big room. A meeting room of around 3 by 4 metres is plenty. All it needs is a door that closes.
Meeting rooms are rarely built for photography. Strip lights, glass walls and half-open blinds all work against you. That doesn’t matter, because I bring my own backdrop and lights and control the rest. For a few hours the room becomes a small studio. By lunchtime it’s a meeting room again.
I arrive about 45 minutes before the first slot, so everything is set up, tested and ready when the first person walks in.
Doing the whole team in a morning
Each session takes around five minutes. That’s long enough to relax, try a couple of angles and get a shot the person is genuinely happy with. For a team of 15, one morning is usually enough, with a few spare slots at the end for anyone who runs late.
I like mornings for a reason. People are fresher, diaries are emptier, and the room is handed back before the afternoon fills up.
Most people walk in saying they hate having their photo taken. Most walk out surprised. I spend the first minute talking, not shooting, and I show people the back of the camera early on so they can see it’s working. Conversation does far more than “say cheese” ever has.
After the day
I send you a PDF contact sheet so everyone can choose their favourite. Each chosen image is then retouched to the same standard: stray hairs, blemishes, the odd reflection in glasses. Nothing that makes anyone look unlike themselves.
The finished photos arrive by download link, sized for where they’re going. That means a web version for your team page and a square crop for LinkedIn, all with the same framing.
How do you keep new starters matching the rest of the team?
This is where most team shoots fall apart. The day goes well, the photos look great, and six months later someone new joins. Nobody remembers who took the originals or how, so the new starter goes back to the holiday crop.
So after every team shoot I keep lighting notes. Not a rough memory, a proper record:
Backdrop: the colour, and how far it sits behind the person
Lights: where each one stands, its height and its power
Camera: the height, lens and distance from the person
Settings: exposure and white balance, so the colour matches
Crop: where the top of the head sits and how much shoulder shows
Retouching: what gets tidied and what stays as it is
I also photograph the setup itself, so there’s a picture of exactly where everything stood.
When someone joins, I rebuild that setup, ideally in the same meeting room, and photograph them to match. It can be one person on their own or a few new starters saved up for a single visit. Either way, their photo drops into the team page and nobody can tell it was taken months later.
One practical tip for office and marketing managers: add “book headshot” to your new starter checklist. It turns a job you’d normally chase into one that just happens.
What does a matching team set actually give you?
When I photographed the team at Drake & Co at Saint & Sinner in St Albans, the aim was a set of photos that felt like one business, not a collection of individuals. That shoot was in a pub rather than an office, but the principle is exactly the same. Consistency in the setup, personality in the person.
For an office team, that adds up to a few very practical wins:
A team page that looks planned rather than patched together
The same faces on your website, LinkedIn, proposals and press releases
New starters looking part of the team from their first few weeks
One photographer who already knows your setup, so there’s nothing to re-brief
If it’s just you, or one or two people rather than a whole team, my page on working as a LinkedIn headshot photographer St Albans covers individual sessions.
Planning a team headshot day?
If your team page has more silhouettes than faces, I’d be happy to talk it through. A short call is usually all it takes to work out numbers, timings and cost. I photograph teams at offices across St Albans, Harpenden, Hertfordshire and London.
Tell me a bit about your team, or give me a ring on 07947 533104.
Questions office and marketing managers ask about team headshots
How many people can you photograph in a morning?
Around 15 in a morning, and 30 or more across a full day. It depends on how many looks each person wants and how well the booking slots are filled.
Do we need a studio or a big room?
No. I bring a portable studio to your office. Any meeting room of around 3 by 4 metres with a plug socket and a door that closes will work.
What should people wear for team headshots?
Whatever they’d wear to meet an important client. Plain colours work better than busy patterns, and it’s worth bringing a second top if anyone is unsure. I send a short guide before the day so everyone knows what to expect.
What happens when someone new joins the team?
I keep lighting notes and photos of the setup from your original shoot, so I can rebuild it and photograph new starters to match. That can be a single visit for one person or a few people saved up together.
Can you match headshots taken by another photographer?
Often, yes. If you send me a few of your existing photos, I can usually get very close to the lighting, background and crop. The more examples I see, the closer the match.