What do they do?
CF Leads helps community foundations build strong communities by advancing effective practices, sharing knowledge and galvanizing action on critical issues.

How did we connect with them?
This project was a referral from our longstanding client Community Foundation for Northern Virginia. The CF Leads team work remotely across the US and they came together at the CFNV offices in Fairfax for a meeting and took this opportunity to capture photography in the form of team headshots and group shots.

Project
CF Leads requested 12 team headshots “with pizzazz: (which we initially read as ‘pizza’!!!!) including 2 group shots, one inside and one outside.

The Team
The team on this project was led by photographer Jonathan Thorpe. The support photography team included producer Helen Saks and intern Nina.

Pre-production
For the photography shoot, Striking Media briefed the team to wear block colors, not too much pattern and no logos. This is general advice we offer across all photography and videography shoots. We recommend our clients wear an outfit that makes them feel great so they feel a million dollars! If you feel good, your confidence will shine through! In fact, in this instance, the CF Leads team needed little guidance. They are a glamorous, stylish team that nailed posing from the outset. They made our job easy.

So how did it go?
The headshot photography was seamless. Striking Media arrived bright and early, at 7.50am to get set up prior to the team’s meeting. We were ready to go by 8.30am and all the photos were complete by 9.30am. We captured all the headshots on a white wall, with the plan to edit in the clients branded colors in post production. Striking Media always keeps a keen eye on detail – is the tie straight? Is the necklace on correctly? Are lapels even? Earring placement … the devil is in the detail and we ensure that every image is perfect.

Any challenges?
The client had requested an exterior group photography shot and unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favor. While not raining, it was a gray, dull day and the light made the group shot look moody and not all the upbeat, fun look the client was requesting. So we went into the shot thinking about doing a sky replacement in post production. To achieve this look, Jonathan first approached the lighting as if it were a sunny day, by adding a strong highlight on the right side. In post, he added a sun flare/haze to this side to simulate the actual sun in the photo. Next he selected all the people and foreground and moved them on their own layer within Photoshop. After that, Jonathan went into his catalog of background plates and found one of a picturesque sky to put behind the team. The final color tweaks to them increase their warmth – this was the last bit of magic to make this image all come together perfectly.