Staff bios are a great way to add more custom content to your HNN or KIC screen. They provide your patients with familiar faces and increase transparency of your clinic. They are a great way to allow patients to get to know their doctors on a more personal level. However, they are not always the easiest projects to shoot. .

Here are some tips for shooting your own staff bio photos:

Camera

While you can certainly go the route of purchasing a high-end, professional camera, it isn’t essential to create great-looking, professionally-shot videos for your practice. Most modern smartphones have cameras sufficient for many types of photography. If you or a team member owns a smartphone, you can easily capture photos.

Tips:

• Hold the camera vertically when taking individual shots and horizontally when taking large group shots.
• Use a tripod—Holding a phone with your hands can result in crooked, varying images. There are attachments for camera tripods that will hold your phone.
• Don’t zoom. Move closer instead. Zooming can result in a pixelated shot. Physically move the camera closer to your patients until you have found the ideal framing.

Setting

Generally, your office can serve as a great background as it’s a great idea to familiarize prospective patients with your office surroundings.

Tips:

• Find a spot in the reception area or in the consultation room to capture that office feel and decor.
• Taking your photo shoot outdoors is also an option. But be sure to test the lighting of your outdoor settings first to avoid glares or squinting subjects.

Lighting

Proper lighting is essential for a high quality photo. Overhead, fluorescent lighting is not always the most flattering light. Most phones or cameras do not have idea lights built in, but there are alternatives:

• Purchase studio lights
• Positions your subject so they are facing an uncovered window and use the sunlight.
• Take the photos outdoors on a beautiful day.

Permission

Whenever you’re featuring patients or staff in photos or video—whether through before-and-after photos, an HNN video, or a Facebook post—you should always get written permission from the person beforehand.

Send

The final step is to send your footage to our content and design staff. You can send the image files via email. However, many of the photos may be too large of a file to send. In that case, contact Abigail Tichler at abigial.tichler@cleardigitalmedia.net to set up a shared Dropbox folder where you can deposit all your images.

If you have a specific design idea in mind, please give us detailed instructions on how you would like the staff bio videos to look.

If you have further questions of concerns about shooting your own staff bio images, please contact our Content Architect, Abigail Tichler, at abigail.tichler@cleardigitalmedia.net