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Business shots range from portraits and group shots, to conferences and working shots. Some of the environments I shoot in are beautiful and make for easy photo backgrounds, while others can be stark, or cluttered so can be a challenge to make attractive. Ultimately, the images are meant to catch the eye so lighting, color, and focus are my tools to make each image count. The next several images show how I use these tools to achieve that goal.

This company needed new images for their website, and one of the shots on the list was an engineering meeting. The company's offices are located in a large, 2 story house that's been converted into their corporate headquarters. They were using every cubic inch.. and it showed. To deal with the clutter, I softened the focus, directing your eye to the sharpest part of the image -- where the people are.

This is the CEO of Aaron's, shot in their main conference room. The background is a cabinet but I cleaned and cropped it to look like a paneled wall. Mr. Laudermilk avoids having his picture taken, but was pleased enough with this one to order several reprints for use beyond its original purpose -- the annual report.

The principals at Rock-Tenn (left), shot in front of a printing press at one of their plants, for the annual report.

The head of marketing for a medical electronics firm, shot in their home office (right).

The CEO of MDI group -- shot for a magazine article. The client wanted to have the MDI logo in the shot. I found the logo on the wall in their training center, so chose that location as my background. The color cast of this shot was added so the image would match the feel of other shots being used in the same article.

The primary goal of a business portrait is to instill a sense of confidence in the viewer. Other thoughts one might want to convey are friendliness, strength, and sincerity depending on the type of business being represented.

The image on the left is of Dave Hubbard; ex-football player turned exercise guru. His portrait was going into a training manual and onto product packaging.

The other was for a fraud analyst at a major bank who needed a new headshot for her speaking engagements.

Two chemists for a bio-fuel company, from the same shoot. I shot all of the executives and scientists that day, on location in their corporate headquarters.

An exterior business portrait of a school principal, taken in front of the school. This building is not one that is going down in history as a remarkable piece of architecture. By choosing an exaggerated angle, the right time of day to get some contrast across the front, and using selective focus, I was able to make a lot more of the background than my client expected.

This business portrait is of the principals at an architecture firm. We had discussed shooting them in their primary workspace in front of all their computer equipment but I liked the feel of this area and its casual atmosphere. I positioned them to reflect in the over-sized mirror, which also reflected some of the architectural details of their office space in the background.

Here's a great example of not having much of a background to work with. I wanted the environment I shot each executive in to relate to the work they did. This gentleman was in charge of all the franchises for Aaron Rents and Sells. He also had a remarkably tidy dry erase board! It displayed just how busy the company was, so it made a perfect background for this shot.

These images shot for webpage headers were for a communications management company called Verendus. Each of the executives was positioned in the right third of the image to leave room for text to be dropped in on the left side.