Should Staff Photos be Serious or Fun? Choosing the Right Style for your Business

Staff photos often create the first impression potential clients have of your team. Before anyone picks up the phone or walks through your door, they’re likely browsing your website, checking out your social media or reading your team bios. Those images shape perceptions quickly and powerfully.

Businesses across Aotearoa use imagery in vastly different ways to communicate who they are. A law firm in Wellington might opt for traditional, polished headshots that convey expertise and trustworthiness. Meanwhile, a creative agency in Auckland could choose vibrant, personality-filled portraits that showcase their innovative culture. Neither approach is wrong, they’re simply different tools for different purposes.

The core question you need to answer is: should your team photos be formal and serious, relaxed and approachable, or something more creative and distinctive? The answer depends entirely on your brand, your industry and the message you want to send.

Start with your Brand Personality

Your visual style should naturally reflect who you are as a business. Before you even think about booking a photographer, take time to consider what your brand personality actually is.

Ask yourself some honest questions. Are you aiming to appear professional and polished above all else? Is being friendly and community-focused central to how you operate? Do you want to come across as innovative, youthful or perhaps a bit quirky? The answers will guide your approach to staff photography.

Customer expectations within your industry play a significant role too. People expect certain things from certain sectors. A dental practice has different visual requirements than a surf shop. A financial advisory firm operates under different assumptions than a boutique yoga studio. Understanding these expectations doesn’t mean you can’t push boundaries, but you should know what they are before you decide whether to challenge them.

Traditional Professional Headshots

Traditional professional headshots follow a fairly standard formula. Clean, neutral backgrounds, consistent lighting across all images, and polished, composed poses create a uniform, professional appearance. These are the classic business portraits you see on corporate websites and LinkedIn profiles everywhere.

Best for

Professional services like law firms, accounting practices and consulting businesses rely heavily on traditional headshots. Medical and dental practices use them to help patients feel confident in their practitioners’ expertise. Real estate agents need them to appear trustworthy and established. Government organisations and corporate entities typically default to this style as well.

Pros

Traditional headshots are timeless. They won’t look dated in a few years the way trendier styles might. They create consistency across your team, which helps present a unified, organised front. Most importantly, they convey trust and expertise, which matters enormously in fields where credibility is everything.

These images work perfectly for websites, professional profiles and LinkedIn, where that polished, serious tone is not just appropriate but expected.

Considerations

The main challenge with traditional headshots is keeping them from looking too stiff or intimidating. Nobody wants to appear unapproachable or robotic. A skilled photographer knows how to encourage natural, relaxed expressions even within a formal framework. A genuine smile and comfortable posture make all the difference between a headshot that looks professional and one that looks cold.

Casual or Lifestyle Portraits

Casual or lifestyle portraits take a completely different approach. Instead of plain backgrounds and studio lighting, these photos use natural settings that reflect your actual work environment. Think outdoor locations, shots in your office or workshop, or images that capture staff in their everyday working context. Poses are softer and more natural, expressions are genuine rather than formally composed.

Best for

Hospitality businesses, tourism operators, creative studios, tech startups and community organisations often thrive with this style. Any business where approachability and personality matter more than formality will benefit from lifestyle portraits.

Pros

This style helps staff look human and approachable, which builds connection with potential clients. It shows the personality of your workplace and gives people a genuine sense of your environment and culture. For businesses where relationships and trust are built through warmth rather than credentials, these portraits work beautifully.

Considerations

The main consideration is maintaining some level of consistency. Even with natural settings, you want colours, outfits and framing to work together cohesively. Without some coordination, lifestyle portraits can end up looking messy or unprofessional rather than relaxed and authentic. Work with your photographer to establish guidelines that keep things consistent while still feeling natural.

Creative Group Shots

Creative group shots push beyond individual portraits into team photography with character. These might include playful elements, dynamic poses, themed visuals or unexpected settings. They’re often bold, memorable and distinctly different from standard corporate photography.

Best for

Creative agencies absolutely love this approach. Boutique retailers, fitness studios and youth-focused brands often embrace it as well. Any business with a strong, distinctive identity or bold brand personality can use creative group shots to reinforce that character.

Pros

Creative team photos are memorable and highly shareable, particularly on social media where personality stands out. They showcase company culture and emphasise teamwork in ways that individual portraits simply can’t. When done well, they create genuine connection and make your business memorable.

Considerations

These shots require careful planning. Without thoughtful execution, they can come across as unprofessional or trying too hard. They’re only suitable if the style genuinely aligns with your brand values. A conservative accounting firm attempting overly playful team photos would seem incongruent and potentially damage credibility. Know your brand well enough to judge whether creative shots enhance or undermine your image.

Industry Expectations vs Standing Out

Understanding what clients expect in your sector matters, but it doesn’t mean you’re locked into one approach forever. Most industries have established visual norms for good reason, they work. However, you may have some room to push boundaries if you’re strategic about it.

Consider your competitive landscape. If every other business in your field uses identical formal headshots, a slightly warmer, more approachable style might help you stand out positively. Conversely, if everyone’s going casual and you’re trying to position yourself as the premium, expert option, traditional headshots reinforce that positioning.

You don’t necessarily have to choose just one style either. Many businesses successfully blend approaches, maintaining formal individual headshots for credibility while also featuring a fun team photo that shows personality and culture. This balanced approach can work particularly well for professional services that still want to appear human and approachable.

What your Staff are Comfortable with

Here’s something that’s often overlooked: your staff’s comfort level directly influences how well photos turn out. Someone who’s genuinely uncomfortable or self-conscious will look uncomfortable in the final images, no matter how skilled the photographer.

Creating a relaxed, inclusive shoot environment helps enormously. A good photographer knows how to put people at ease, offer guidance and encouragement, and make the process feel less intimidating. Clear communication beforehand about what to expect, what to wear and how long things will take also reduces anxiety.

You might also need to offer options. If your brand leans casual but certain staff members strongly prefer more traditional poses, accommodating those preferences shows respect and typically produces better results. Forced authenticity isn’t authentic at all.

Practical Tips for a Consistent Look

Consistency matters, even with casual or creative styles. Here’s how to achieve it.

Provide clothing guidelines that fit your chosen style. For traditional headshots, this might mean business attire in coordinating colours. For lifestyle portraits, it could be smart casual wear that reflects your actual workplace while avoiding busy patterns or distracting logos. Whatever the style, giving clear direction helps ensure everyone’s images work well together.

Choose a colour palette that works across your team. You don’t need everyone in identical outfits, but coordinating tones create visual harmony. Neutrals with a few accent colours often work well.

Think about maintaining consistency over time as new staff join. Keep notes on the approach, settings and any specific guidelines so future photo sessions match existing images. Nothing looks messier than a team page where half the photos are formal studio shots and half are casual outdoor portraits taken in completely different styles.

Using Photos Across Different Platforms

Different platforms have different needs, and understanding this helps you plan effectively.

Your website typically needs clean, professional images that work well in bio sections and team pages. Email signatures usually require simple headshots with good clarity at small sizes. LinkedIn thrives on traditional professional portraits. Press releases need high-quality, credible images. Social media, particularly Instagram and Facebook, offers more flexibility for personality-driven shots.

This is why having both a professional headshot and a more relaxed portrait for each team member can be genuinely useful. You’re not being indecisive, you’re being strategic. Use the right image for the right context, and you’ll communicate more effectively across all your channels.

Finding your Style

The “right” style for your staff photos depends on your brand identity, industry expectations and the atmosphere you want to communicate. There’s no universal answer, only what’s right for your specific business.

A traditional law firm doesn’t need to force playful, casual portraits just because they’re currently trendy. A vibrant creative agency shouldn’t feel pressured into stiff, formal headshots just because they’re “professional”. Authenticity matters more than following any particular trend.

That said, don’t be afraid to modernise your approach if your current style feels outdated or doesn’t reflect who you’ve become as a business. Many New Zealand companies are finding success with a balanced, modern approach that mixes formal and fun elements. Professional enough to build credibility, human enough to build connection.

Choose a style that feels authentic while still presenting your team confidently and professionally. Get input from your staff, consider your clients’ perspectives and work with a photographer who understands your goals. The investment in getting this right pays off every time someone visits your website, reads your team bios or connects with your staff on social media.

Your team is your greatest asset. Show them off in a way that does justice to both their professionalism and their personality.