Last spring, I spent a full day at Google’s Sunnyvale campus photographing 90 employees for updated professional headshots. It was one of the most logistically satisfying shoots I’ve done — and a good example of how a well-run headshot day actually works when the stakes are real.
This is what went into it, start to finish.
The Brief
Google’s team needed updated headshots for a specific group of employees — a mix of engineers, managers, and senior individual contributors. The ask was straightforward: consistent, professional, usable across LinkedIn, internal directories, and the occasional press bio. Clean backgrounds, consistent lighting, natural expressions. No theatrical drama.
They had 90 people scheduled across the day. I had one setup, one location on campus, and a hard end time.
Setup: One Light, One Look
For a headshot day of this size, consistency is everything. Every person who walks in front of my camera needs to walk away with a result that looks like it belongs in the same set as the 89 people before and after them.
My setup: a simple two-light configuration — key light in a large softbox, fill on the opposite side, clean background. Enough room to work quickly, enough light to shoot at a depth that keeps eyes sharp without locking everyone into one pose.
I don’t use a complicated multi-light rig for headshot days. The more complex the setup, the slower the pace and the more things can go wrong mid-day. The goal is a look that photographs well, reads as professional, and takes about 5 minutes per person to execute.
The Pace
Ninety people in a day sounds like a lot. It isn’t, if you’re organized.
I scheduled the sessions in 8-minute blocks — 5 minutes shooting, 3 minutes for the next person to get situated and settled. That gave me a small buffer for anyone who needed a moment to relax (engineers, mostly — not used to being in front of cameras), and it let us run slightly hot on the schedule without creating a backlog.
By the end of the day, we’d seen everyone on the list, and the shots we’d captured were clean enough that selections the next day were easy for the team to make.
The Edit
Corporate headshot turnaround is different from editorial work. The priorities are:
- Consistency across the batch. Color temperature, exposure, and crop should all match.
- Clean but natural retouching. No one should look like they’ve been through a beauty filter. They should look like themselves — polished, not plastic.
- Fast. A team of 90 people has decisions to make based on these headshots. I don’t sit on a corporate edit.
The Google batch was delivered in two rounds — a rough selection for the team to make picks, then finals on the chosen shots. From shoot day to final delivery: a few business days.
What Makes a Corporate Headshot Day Work
I’ve done this enough times — for Google, Salesforce, UCSF, Axonius, and a long list of tech and professional services companies — to know what separates a smooth headshot day from a chaotic one.
Logistics beat talent every time. The photography is the easy part. Getting 90 people through a camera in one day without a queue backing up, without anyone feeling rushed, and without anyone walking away with a shot they hate — that’s the job.
Brief subjects before they sit down. Two sentences before someone steps in front of the lens makes a measurable difference. Tell them what to expect. Tell them it’ll be quick. Tell them they’ll have a chance to see the shots. Then do it fast.
Keep the vibe low-key. A corporate headshot day should feel like a professional appointment, not a photo shoot. The moment people feel like they’re “doing a photo shoot,” their posture stiffens and their expression goes wrong. I work quickly and quietly. No unnecessary direction. No big camera energy.
Why It Matters for Your Team
Inconsistent headshots across a team send a subconscious signal about how organized and put-together the company is. When your leadership team’s LinkedIn photos range from a blurry conference shot from 2018 to a recent professional portrait, it undermines the brand — even if everything else looks great.
A headshot day fixes that. One day, one look, one delivery.
Working With Me on a Corporate Headshot Day
I’m based in the San Francisco Bay Area and available throughout Silicon Valley, the South Bay, and San Francisco proper. I travel for larger headshot days — if you’re bringing your team together in Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or anywhere else, I can be there.
I’m also FAA Part 107 licensed, so if your campus shoot calls for aerial coverage of the facility or outdoor event space, I can handle that too.
Headshot day logistics start at a half-day booking for groups of 20–30, and scale up from there. Larger days (50+ people) are typically full-day bookings.
If you’re planning a corporate headshot day for your team, get in touch. Tell me roughly how many people, when you’re thinking, and where you’re located, and I’ll come back to you with a plan.
Looking for the full picture? View all photography services offered by Josh Edelson.