When James Moore & Co asked me to do headshots for their new website, I was excited at the opportunity. They have three great offices in three different cities (Gainesville, Daytona Beach, and Tallahassee), and wanted environmental headshots for each of their employees, all while incorporating the decor from each respective office. From an artistic standpoint, I knew this would look great. From a photography standpoint, this was going to be tricky, and I couldn’t wait to give it a shot.

Lighting-wise, this project would involve getting just the right mix of ambient to flash ratio, which differs for every scene. Overhead florescent bulbs cast green and/or pink tint, and were either turned off, covered by a boom stand, or simply overpowered with a darker exposure (lower ISO, faster shutter, smaller aperture, etc) while adding more light. Outside windows affected overall exposure and ambient to flash ratio, and a 20-ft high skylight in one of the scenes gloriously laughed at me as clouds would pass between the sun and I, dramatically affecting the background – which required the use of gels and constant adjustments of lights to match exposure.

In the end, some scenes were lit with over six (6) light sources. Yet, my goal was for each scene and environmental headshot to look at natural as possible, as if lit by natural light.

After a test or two, and with proper lens selection that gave just the right amount of compression and background bokeh, we were off!

Here are some highlights from this 4-day photoshoot!

All images © 2016 by Jimmy Ho Photography, a Gainesville Photographer.