Portrait Photography in Hadapsar, Pune

You, and whoever asked for it

A portrait commissioned by an employer has two people to satisfy and only one of them is in it.

The organisation usually wants consistency with everybody else. The individual usually wants to look like themselves.

Those pull in different directions, and the person in the photograph is generally the one who gives way because they were not asked.

It is worth asking. A brief that says plain background and consistent crop still leaves considerable room for how somebody is photographed within it.

Where the requirements are genuinely rigid, say so and we work within them properly rather than pretending there is latitude that does not exist.

Where there is room, taking a second version for the person themselves costs almost nothing while everything is set up.

Most people never think to ask for that, and most organisations have no objection at all.

Where an organisation is commissioning several portraits, it is worth asking whether individuals get any say at all.

Frequently they are told when to turn up and nothing else, which produces exactly the stiff, resigned photographs everybody dislikes.

A single sentence to each person — here is what it is for, here is what to wear, tell us if you have a preference — changes the results noticeably.

It also reduces the number who ask for a retake afterwards, which is where the real cost of a rushed portrait session appears.

Organisations that do this get better photographs and fewer complaints, and it takes almost no effort.

It is worth suggesting to whoever is arranging it.