The Importance of a Great Portrait

David Higginbotham

If you own a landscape company you will likely notice the weeds and wild monkey grass in front of my house. If you own an obedience school for pets you will probably be unable to ignore me as I chase the dog around my neighborhood. If you are an english teacher you might find it difficult to continue reading this article. So, being a photographer, I notice photos. As a business person you should know that the photos that you choose to represent you and your company are important. Let’s use billboards as an example. In the Decatur, Alabama area you can expect to pay between $2000 and $4000 for a large billboard to advertise your business for a month. However after accepting that cost as a necessity far too many business owners decide to take care of the photo themselves. That’s when you have business portraits that look like this…

This is Dwight, a client of mine, who agreed to let me use his recent session as an example. Before we got started I stood him against a wall and shot the flat, uninteresting “portrait” you see above. Dwight is an artist and professional speaker. Is there anything about that photo that calls you to action? Do you feel like rushing home to hire him to speak at your next event? Are you interested in learning more about his latest painting? I’m not. Heck I know Dwight and that photo makes me question whether I should even be friends with him anymore!

Now that’s better! I feel like accepting phone calls from Dwight again.

See how much more approachable he seems? When you put your portrait out there as the face of your business please make sure you give yourself the best chance at success by choosing the right photos.

David Higginbotham is a professional photographer in North Alabama.  View his work at davidhphotography.com.