Professional Photos in DC
Professional photo Session
Takes place in studio.
Perfect for busy executives looking to upgrade their online presence.
Headshot / Portrait styles available.
Take place at your business.
Perfect for companies looking to modernize their online appearance.
Fast and efficient, with great results every time.
On Location Headshot Session
Happen at your place of choice.
A surcharge is added for location based sessions.
Kristina brings professional lighting for the best possible portraits.
Group Portrait Session
Small groups are welcome at our photo studio.
Large groups require an on-site shoot.
Email us for a curated quote for group photoshoots.
Choosing your Professional Photographer in Dc
Warning Signs to Avoid
Too frequently, Kristina hears horror stories from her clients of experiences they’ve had with other ‘professional’ photographers. Unfortunately from the client’s point of view, it’s hard to know just what to look for when choosing an experienced headshot photographer. Here are some important things to consider (and steer clear from) when choosing your photographer.
Uneven facial lighting: The most important skill a headshot photographer needs to know how to do is light a face. If you see things like raccoon shadows under eyes, hotspots of direct sun on the face, or too much light shining from the bottom (illuminating the underside of the nose and chin) these are all signs that the photographer of choice doesn't know how to properly manipulate light to get you the best headshot possible.
Harsh, uneven light
Unflattering Angles
Photographer shooting from too high an angle: Photographing people from too high an angle can not only cause your headshot to fail, but can make you look worse than you actually look in real life! No one wants that! If the photographer photographs you from too high of an angle, you will come across as submissive and ‘less than’ in your headshot. You will look as if you are looking up at whoever is viewing your headshot. If you’re wanting to portray expertise and experience in your headshot, this is an easy way to screw that up.
Photographer shooting from too low an angle. One of the magical tricks experienced photographers understand is to use lens distortion to their advantage. Whatever is closest to camera will appear larger and whatever is farthest away from the lens will appear smaller. So if your headshot is taken from too low an angle, your body will be closer than your head to the camera lens and your body will look larger than your head proportionally. This will actually make you look larger than you are in real life. No one wants that!
No catchlights in the eyes: Catchlights are the reflections of the light sources used to illuminate the person in the headshot. If you can’t see catchlights in the eyes of the people in the headshots, something is a-miss, and I would steer clear of hiring that photographer.
Great Catchlights
Bunched clothing: In Kristina’s eyes, bunched clothing is such a rookie mistake. It can be taken care of in just seconds if you’re an experienced headshot photographer and you know how to tuck, fold and clamp clothing in the right ways. Kristina feels that if the clothing the person is wearing in the headshot is too big, it will look like the clothes are wearing the person instead of the other way around.
Distracting backgrounds: This is another rookie mistake Kristina spots in a lot of other headshot photographers portfolios. The whole objective of a headshot is to be a pictorial representation of meeting that person face to face. If the headshot background is so detailed that it distracts from the person’s face in the photo, then the headshot photographer has failed. A perfect example of this is a brick wall. Setting your subject in front of a brick wall to use as the background of their headshot is the worst thing a photographer can do. The high contrast between the red bricks and the white group make the viewer immediately look at the wall instead of the person in the photo. As photo viewers, our brains are wired to look at the brightest, most contrasty, sharpest and most saturated part of an image. So that’s everything Kristina avidly avoids when choosing her headshot backgrounds. Noone wants a headshot where the background is the first thing people see, and then they see your face second.
Worst. Headshot. Background. Ever.
No separation of subject and background: Kristina calls this ‘floating head syndrome’ and it happens when the client wears a similar color to the background they are being photographed on. If a company has a standard white background for their headshots, and someone wears white on a white background, it will look like a floating head surrounded by white. Similarly, if a person is wearing black and is photographed on a black background, they will also look as if they’re fading into the background. Experienced photographers can pull off having their subjects wear black on a black background if they use a rim light to separate the the person from the background. But if you’re considering a headshot photographer and you see either of these things creep up in their portfolios, Kristina would recommend choosing a more experienced headshot photographer.
In closing, when you consider hiring an inexperienced photographer to take your headshots, you risk having the aforementioned problems present themselves in your final photos. So when you’re reviewing photographer portfolios, make sure to look out for these signs. They represent everything you should try to avoid when finding the right headshot photographer for you.
With 20 years experience shooting exclusively professional photos, Kristina knows a thing or two about the space. She prides herself in lighting and posing her clients in order to get the most amazing headshots out of the session. Additionally, she tends to see things that other professional photographers might miss. Like an out of place hair, or a pesky clasp that has made it’s way to the front of a necklace. She always treats her clients as if it were her in front of the camera, and thats why she cares so deeply about making them look absolutely perfect before she starts the shoot.
She is also a world renowned photo retoucher, who has taught over 1 million people how to retouch their photos better. Her brand SharkPixel is known by photographers around the world as a one stop shop for retouching and Photoshop education. Companies like Adobe and Canon have hosted her to speak on the subject.
She is also the author of LinkedIn Learning’s wildly popular course called On-the-Spot Business Headshots where she educates other business professionals on how to take better headshots of their staff. She’s also the author of KelbyOne’s online learning course; Pro Quality Headshots using a Simple Setup.
By combining both areas of expertise; professional headshot photography and high end retouching, you’ll be blown away by your final shots. You'll be eager to share your remarkable portraits with the world. Plus, we offer a 100% money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied for any reason.
