Capturing Confidence

With his Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 zoom, Justin Haugen, a corporate photographer, creates corporate portraits that aren’t all business.

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By Jenn Gidman
Images by Justin Haugen


Justin Haugen has seen some major changes in his life over the past few years. He’s back in Tucson, Arizona, after a brief move and is now chasing after a toddler with his fiancee. Careerwise, he’s also made a big pivot—away from his wedding work and toward a rebranding that focuses on commercial and corporate photography.

Toward that end, Justin recently pulled together locals from the business community as stand-ins for the type of client he’s trying to attract. “I had a hair and makeup stylist for this shoot, but these folks already run their own companies and know how to dress, so it was just a matter of me attempting to capture them as their best selves at the office,” he says.

Key to Justin's shoot as a corporate photographer was the Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD all-in-one-zoom for his Sony mirrorless camera system. “I love shooting photojournalistic and documentary types of portraits, so 35mm is a preferred focal length for me,” he says. “It’s how I tend to see things. With this lens, I can take more environmental shots without a lot of distortion. For portraits, I tend to hover in the 85mm range, so having that flexibility to also shoot at 85mm and even higher is really nice. Being able to shoot at F2 on the wider end, and having the F2.8 aperture available throughout the range, helps me immensely in low-light situations and when I want separation between my subject and the background.”

JUSTIN’S QUICK PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Lift the shadows.
I try to take advantage of natural light where it’s available, but I’m also obsessed with my additional lighting setup. First, unless you’re intentionally going for a moody look, you don’t want deep, dark shadows in your corporate photos. For these portraits, I wanted very soft, polished light that had enough “spread.” For much of my other work, I use smaller modifiers where the light is a bit harder, but for these photos, I used large umbrellas ranging from 5 feet to 6 feet to modify the light.

In the photo of the woman with her arms crossed, I augmented the natural light coming in through the windows with a large V-flat reflector just out of frame to her left. With the gentleman on the couch, I used a 60-inch softbox that was 10 to 15 feet away. I was able to light that scene up well but still get some interesting shadow play on the wall behind him.


35-150mm (70mm), F2.8, 1/160 sec., ISO 400
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35-150mm (48mm), F5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 400
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Select the proper background.
As a corporate pphotographer, it’s all about achieving contrast and effectively managing exposure. Specifically, I want to have a balance between my subject and their surroundings. If the subject is much darker than their environment, they’re going to get lost in that environment. You also want to scope out the office and find where your subjects can appear at ease but still look professional.

Compose to draw the eye to your subject.
For this photography tip, I’m partial to using a lot of negative space and symmetry in my images, as well as leading lines that direct the viewer’s eye to my subject’s face. What I’m keeping a lookout for as the photographer is making sure there’s no awkward cutting off of limbs in the frame, or intersecting lines that might distract from the subject. Deliberate placement of the subject’s head is especially key to visual clarity in my photos.

Strike an organic pose.
You want to find that balance between guidance and a natural look. In the case of many of the individuals here, I was lucky in how comfortable they were in front of the camera. They often came up with their own poses, and then I just had to fine-tune things.


35-150mm (50mm), F2.8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100
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It’s important not to overcomplicate posing, especially in situations with a lot of negative space, where you have to manage every part of the subject’s body with no real anchor points. In those cases, I often just draw out the subject’s natural body movements by asking them to simply have a seat or lean against a wall. Often, the way their body naturally falls is the way I end up photographing them, with only minor readjustments.


35-150mm (77mm), F2.8, 1/160 sec., ISO 100
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Envision a backstory.
This photography tip is what makes the whole image. The young woman with the jacket thrown over her shoulder? Maybe she just confidently finished a job interview. The guy sitting on the sofa? It looks like he just acquired a wine company. The man in the blue shirt? Perhaps he just created some cool new code for Facebook. It helps you to immerse yourself more fully into the shoot if you create a narrative in your head about each subject.


35-150mm (48mm), F4, 1/200 sec., ISO 250
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To see more of Justin Haugen’s work, check out his website and Instagram.


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