Corporate Headshot Basics?

[Plaz]

I have a couple weeks to prepare for taking shots of the corporate staff at the company I'm with. They want modern corporate headshots, all on the same background (something classy and timeless.) What would you recommend as the basics for corporate headshots?

I have:
A Nikon d80, a 50mm fixed lense, a 70-200mm lense, an sb-400 flash, an sb-600 speedlight, a couple "digislave" slave flashes with tripod stands for them, two umbrellas that can be reflected or shot through, I have stands for a background and have a seamless white paper I could use- but I'm looking for ideas on background. I was thinking either a grey paper background or possibly a marble style painted canvas background (which I am having great difficulty finding.)

I am open to renting lights, etc. I have never worked with "hot" /always on lights. I prefer to shoot in natural light, but do some work with basic, slave flash placement being triggered by the on-camera speedlight. I have shot very little on backgrounds, but have done ok on the white seamless background.

I am thinking about:

1. Lights and positions
2. Softbox much better than umbrellas?
3. Hairlight?
4. How should I have them pose for corporate headshots?
5. Should the model be seated on an adjustable stool? or standing?
6. How many feet from whatever background should the model be?
7. Light the background from behind the model?
8. Botero collapsible background?
9. Don't like wrinkly muslin, what would be a nice, modern looking background- simply grey paper?
10. I may have to move my set-up to another location to take more staff photos. I want to get the exact same look on the same background
11. What should I tell the men an women to wear (business attire- but what colors, etc? What should I try in order to get them to lighten up a bit for the photo? I would love to be able to offer them a nice scotch beforehand, but I'm certain that won't be an option.
12. Should I use that 70-200mm lens that I have? It's the best/sharpest lens I have. I suppose I could rent something- but if I did, what would be the ideal headshot lens?

If you are very much in favor of switching to hot lights versus all flash, please express that and explain why. I've been thinking about getting into it for a while and could acquire the basics for it. If you have recommendations for the basic set-up, that would be very welcomed.

If you think that flash is best, but that I should invest in upgrading my flash set-up, what would you recommend?

I really enjoy the wealth of knowledge on this board. I look forward to any responses and thank you in advance.

[zona5101]

Do they want them all the same?
If so then you can nail down your light position to one set up and shoot them all without having to move lights around. (This will save you a lot of time and headache).
At a minimum you will want one main light off camera. The traditional set would be 45 degress off axis to camera left or right raised about a foot or so above the top of the subject and the light angled down at a 45 degree angle. The distance the light is from the subject will depend on the power of the light and your desired fstop.

backgrounds: grey is pretty classic. You can use white seamless and not light it to get gray...or you can get a grey background. A Botero collapsible 5'x7' background would be a very nice solution. I wouldn't light it unless you have 3 lights. 1st light as your main then I would add a hair/rim light before the background light.

They should wear their regular business attire unless the idea is to upscale the images to suit and tie - whatever the case they should agree beforehand so you don't have 3 guys in suits and one guy in a golf shirt.

Your 70-200 should be fine. You'll probably be shooting more towards the 70 range but that will work.

It matters little if you choose strobes or continuous lighting. For someone without a lot of off camera flash experience, the continuous lights maybe easier. Softbox or umbrella - if you have to buy the umbrella will be significantly less expensive. For this application, you probably won't care much about back spill from the umbrellas so that would be the way to go. Easier to set up and move too.

[Plaz]

Thank you for the helpful information, Zona! Yes- they want them all to look the same. I will also need to re-create my set-up at a second location in order to get the same look at another time. I very much appreciate your comments!

Does anyone out there have opinions about these additional points? I'll be doing corporate headshots on a background.

1) Have you used a Botero collapsible background? What do you think of them? Would that be a good solution for getting professional looking corporate headshots? Or do you think a grey, paper background would be better?

2) Do you think a softbox would achieve a much better look than shooting with reflected umbrellas (or shooting through them? They are white and have a removable, reflective cover to allow shooting through them.)

3) Do you think it works better to have your models seated for a corporate headshot? Adjustable stool the best? Or do you prefer to have them standing? What is the "standard" out there?

4) How many feet from the background should the model be?

5) What are the opinions out there regarding "hot" lights VS flashes? I list my equipment in the first post of this thread- but could probably acquire/rent additional equipment if it would make for much better portraits.

6) How about tips for getting people to loosen up a bit. These will be people within the company I work for. Mostly senior staff that I see periodically in meetings, etc. Any fabulous tips you have used in a corporate situation to get people to relax a little and be themselves?