Tips For Taking Effective Photos For Your Company's ID Cards

Providing your employees with photo ID cards can be an effective way for your building's security staff to assess who is who, as well as provide other identification-based benefits. If you've hired a company that will produce these cards for you, you'll often be responsible for providing the information that will appear on each card, including a clear photo of each employee. This means that you may find yourself holding a camera or a smartphone and snapping headshots of each person in your office. You want the photos to be as good as possible, so it's useful to keep these tips in mind.

Use Natural Light, Not The Flash

Using the flash on your camera or smartphone can wash out each person's face, resulting in a headshot that isn't clear. You don't want the turn off the flash and get shadowy images, either, so using natural light is your best bet. Position each person so that the light is shining on his or her face, rather than appearing behind his or her head. The latter situation will give you images that are backlit, which won't be ideal. You don't have to go outside to benefit from the natural light; simply shooting the photos in room with a window can suffice.

Get The Angles Similar

You want the photo ID cards to look professional, and one of the ways that you can accomplish this goal is for the headshots to be similar. This means that it's best to shoot the headshots from the same angle. Shooting straight-on is generally a good idea, so politely tell people to position themselves in this manner — even if someone wants to turn his or her head to show his or her "best side." Encourage each person to smile for the photo. This is especially important if customers or members of the public will see the photo ID cards hanging on your employees' necks or affixed to their clothing.

Watch Out For Glare

It's probable that some of your employees wear eyeglasses, so make sure that there's no glare in the lenses. You don't necessarily need to ask people to remove their glasses before you take their photo, but you may need to occasionally have someone tilt his or her head up or down slightly to remove the glare. Glare over the lenses can wash out the person's eyes, making it difficult for someone to identify the person on the photo ID card.