Digital Commercial Photographic Workflow

Digital Commercial Photographic Workflow

by William Lulow

Since I have been teaching many students the art and science of mastering exposure with digital cameras, and others studio lighting techniques for portraits, I thought I would run through one of my typical portrait sessions and describe the workflow.

This last client was a lawyer who needed a quick headshot. I was able to squeeze her in among a number of other appointments and things I had to take care of prior to our trip to Switzerland. Since I am a sole proprietor and work out of my apartment/studio loft in Livingston, NJ, I have to move furniture out of the way and set up my basic studio arrangement which usually consists of a five-light array so that I am prepared for any person who comes in, no matter what they look like. Most of the time, I can look them up either on one of the social media platforms or I can view the company’s website where there is sometimes an older picture of my subject. It helps to have an idea what my subject looks like beforehand but it is certainly not necessary as I am prepared for just about anything.

I then make a preliminary decision about how I will photograph the person. If the image is wanted for an existing website, I will look at the site to see how others in the same company were photographed. In this particular case, there was no clear method with the existing photographs. Sometimes a company will just ask their employees to get their own, individual headshots or portraits done. Other companies describe the requirements of their portraits so that various photographers will come up with similar results. Still others will contract the process out to website designers who may have their own photographers with whom they work.

Whatever the arrangement, my job is to provide my clients with images they like and that work for them. Here is a layout of my initial studio setup:

Here is my five-light setup. My MAINLIGHT is a large umbrella. The FILL-IN LIGHT is a medium sized softbox placed on the opposite side of the subject as the mainlight. I use two ACCENT LIGHTS, one on either side aimed at the side of the subject’s head, and finally, a BACKGROUND LIGHT designed to create some depth to the background by adding a gradient lighting.

The actual setup looks something like this, (the umbrella is in the very top left of the frame and the softbox is at the very bottom right of the frame):

Within this setup, I can vary which lights I use at any given time. I can use all of them to produce an image like this:

or I can choose to use just one light to produce an image like this:

Here, you can see a slight shadow on the right side of the subject’s face. Shadows are helpful in portraiture if they add depth and some contrast. They are usually not helpful in commercial, website portraits as they are usually designed to show what the person looks like, and headshots for actors really need to be fully lit so that casting directors can see what the person really looks like.

So, within these parameters, I will shoot what I think is enough images from which the client can make a choice (usually around 100 frames). I then bring the client up to my office where we sit in front of the computer and make the choices of which images will be retouched, cropped and printed. I do this right on the spot because I have been doing it a long time and know how to do retouching on faces quickly and effectively. I also like my clients to choose a minimum of two images which I print out for them during the session.

The workflow consists of bringing all images up in ADOBE BRIDGE (which I tend to prefer rather than LIGHTROOM, although I use both, because I can easily tag each image liked by the client, copy all those images to a new folder called FIRST SELECTS and then go over the same process again while weeding out those that aren’t quite good enough:

When doing the editing and retouching I am careful to save each image worked on in a different folder called FINALS. It is these photos that will be used to make the prints. I should note that when the session is finished (it usually takes between one and two hours to complete), all images are transferred to a flash drive with all the original folders so that the client can find them easily. These are the final images that will be used for uploading purposes.

I have spoken before about particular business models for portrait photographers. Some studios use a model that includes a very modest sitting fee and then charges what I think is an exorbitant amount for prints. These are usually family portrait studios and what they are selling is the finished print, sometimes framed. So, if the final product will be a print that will hang on someone’s wall, then it is appropriate to charge accordingly. Most of my customers are corporate individuals or advertising agencies where the final photograph will be used for something else. Art directors in advertising companies usually like to see every image in a shoot. They then take those images and use them for print ads that run in newspapers or magazines. That has been my business model pretty much since I started in business in 1980. Although I have had many private clients, my fees include the retouching and transfer to digital delivery.