A corporate headshot quote resolves into a small number of lines: what the session covers, how many finished images are included, and which items are quoted separately when they apply.
The person signing it is usually a marketing, communications, HR, or operations lead working to a headcount and a deadline. The session line is fixed once the quote is signed, the image count can still be increased after the proofs are reviewed, and the add-ons apply only in the conditions that trigger them.
One line on the quote outlasts every other. Every session's images are archived for five years, and that archive has been called on in the fourth year by clients who lost their own copies.
What a corporate headshot price includes
A BusinessPortraits.ca headshot price covers the session, the equipment and preparation that make the session work, and one finished image per person. The complete list:
Every item here is in the base rate. Nothing on this list is quoted separately.
In every package- The portrait session. The photographer's time with each person, on location, in a home office, or in studio.
- Professional lighting. A full studio lighting setup, calibrated before the first person is called.
- One backdrop or background. White, colour, concrete, blurred, or in focus, agreed in advance and confirmed before the appointment.
- A live preview monitor. A screen beside the camera shows each photo as it is taken, so the subject and the photographer work from the same view.
- Posing guidance. Angle, shoulders, hands, expression, and how the clothing sits are all directed on the day, so each person gets the look they came for.
- A preparation guide. Circulated ahead of the appointment so people arrive ready, with the same guidance on the what to expect page.
- A personal online proof gallery. One per person, behind an alphanumeric password, so each person reviews their own photos privately.
- One high-resolution retouched image with the standard retouching package.
- An open image licence. Permission to use the delivered images across any business purpose.
- Five years of image archiving.
What the session covers, regardless of how many images anyone orders
The setup, the lighting, the backdrop, the direction, and the photographer's time are one line on the quote. Ordering an additional image adds a separate line; it does not change this one.
Headcount is a separate question, and it moves the per-person rate through the group-discount tiers. The inputs that move a total are set out in the budget breakdown, and current package rates sit on the pricing page.
A proof and a finished image are two different files
A quote that names a number of included images is counting finished files, and the proofs are the set those files are selected from.
- Colour corrected proofs
- Colour corrected proofs are the photos delivered after a session for review, from which the images to be retouched are selected.
- High-resolution retouched images
- High-resolution retouched images are the finished files produced by retouching the selected images, delivered at full resolution and ready for websites, print, and every other business use.
Finishing is performed on the individual file a person has selected, one image at a time, which is why the retouched image is what a quote counts.
The booking form takes an image count of one to five up front, and that count can be increased once the proofs have been reviewed. Neither the headcount nor the image count has to be final before anyone is photographed.
How selection works
Each person receives a private link to their own gallery. They review their photos, mark their selection with a heart icon, and send it through to the photographer, and finishing begins on the approved file. No one selects on another person's behalf, and no gallery is visible to anyone but its subject.
When the finished images arrive
Subscribers receive finished images in five business days. For everyone else the window is eight business days, and no single image takes longer than that. Files are released as they are completed, so a smaller order can arrive earlier depending on the volume in the queue that week. Turnaround by plan is set out on the subscription tiers page.
Each person's own photos, visible to nobody else.
The subject marks the image they want and sends it through to the photographer.
The standard retouching pass runs on that one approved file, one image at a time.
The finished file is sent as soon as it is completed.
What an additional finished image costs
Additional finished images are $54.98 each.
A second finished image serves a second placement with different requirements, such as a square crop for a company directory alongside a wider frame for a speaker bio. About one in four people asks about one.
The image licence and the five-year archive
The image licence and the five-year archive are both included in every package at no additional cost, and both govern what a company can still do with the images once the session is over.
The open image licence. An open image licence is permission to use the delivered images across any business purpose, without separate approval for each new placement.
The licence is a line on the quote because of how Canadian copyright law allocates ownership. Section 13(1) of the Copyright Act provides that "the author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright therein." The Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators states the current position directly: "Regardless of whether the work is a work of art, a personal work, or the result of a commercial order, the photographer automatically owns the copyright and the moral rights."
The licence is therefore the operative grant on a corporate quote. Section 13(4) of the same Act allows one to be written broadly or narrowly, "subject to limitations relating to territory, medium or sector of the market." BusinessPortraits.ca writes it at the broad end of that range.
Copyright exclusivity is a separate arrangement and is quoted per engagement.
Five years of image archiving. The archive runs for five years from the session date. Staff turnover, hardware replacement, and drive reorganizations all put a client's own copies at risk, and the archive is why a file can still be produced when one goes missing.
Clients have come back in the fourth year, having lost their own copies, and the images were still there.
What is quoted separately, and where those terms are written down
A short list of items sits outside the base price. Each is a named line, and each is quoted when it applies:
- Full body images and extra outfit changes, both per person
- Advanced retouching, billed hourly, beyond the standard pass covered in how much retouching is appropriate
- Rush delivery, a ladder of per-image fees that scale with speed
- Travel beyond the Greater Toronto Area, billed hourly
- Copyright exclusivity, quoted per engagement
- Waiting or on-call time, after-hours work, and custom lighting on location
- An optional image archiving subscription that continues past the included five years
These are exceptions rather than features.
Conditions such as waiting time are set out in the Terms of Service, where they apply to every engagement, so they are not re-estimated on each quote. A four-hour gap between two subjects cannot be priced in advance, but the treatment of such a gap is defined and agreed before the job is confirmed. The quote and the Terms together constitute the agreement, so nothing is ever charged that was not already named and agreed.
What is delivered, and what is not
Final images are delivered as JPG. PNG and TIFF are available on request, along with other formats where a client's workflow requires them, and for specialized printing BusinessPortraits.ca can work to a commercial printer's supplied colour profile. Sizing and resolution for different placements are covered in what size and resolution a corporate headshot should be.
RAW camera files are not released. Unedited images are available and a fee applies, except where an image has already been finished, in which case the unedited version of that same file carries no fee.
Across nine years the retouched file is the one every person photographed has gone on to use, on a website, in a report, or in a press kit.
What a complete headshot quote states
A complete quote answers all of the following. The list is not specific to BusinessPortraits.ca and works equally well against any provider's quote:
- What the base price covers, itemized rather than summarized
- How many finished images are included, and what "finished" means
- What an additional finished image costs
- Whether the delivered files are colour corrected proofs or high-resolution retouched images
- What the image licence permits, and for how long
- How long the images are retained, and whether they can be retrieved later
- When the files arrive, and what a rush option changes
- How travel outside the service area is handled
- Where conditions such as waiting time and after-hours work are set out
- Whether the quoted figure includes HST
Ten questions, in order, against a quote already in front of you.
Item 10 is the one a buyer can check against a public source before asking anyone. Taxable supplies carry a "13% HST rate if the supply is made in the participating province of Ontario," per the Canada Revenue Agency's place-of-supply rules, so the thing to confirm on a quote is whether that 13 percent is already in the total.
Assessing the whole scope, and not the headline figure alone, is how professional services are bought at scale. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's 2024 contracting policy notice asks for exactly that: "When structuring a professional services procurement, business owners are to develop and provide contracting authorities with clear statements of work." Reading a photography quote line by line is the same work at a different scale.
Questions buyers ask about what a headshot price includes
What does a corporate headshot price include?
A corporate headshot price covers the session, a defined number of finished images, and any named add-ons that apply. The session line carries the photographer's time, professional lighting, one backdrop or background, posing direction, a live preview monitor, a preparation guide, and a personal proof gallery. The image line carries one high-resolution retouched image per person with standard retouching, an open image licence, and five years of archiving. Rush delivery, travel beyond the Greater Toronto Area, and the remaining add-ons are quoted separately when they apply.
Are digital files included in a corporate headshot session?
Yes. Every session includes one high-resolution retouched image per person, delivered as a digital file. JPG is the default, with PNG and TIFF available on request and other formats where a client's workflow requires them. Additional finished images are $54.98 each, and the archive holds every delivered file for five years.
Why do photographers charge per finished image?
Because finishing is performed on one file at a time. The count of images on a quote is therefore a count of the work actually done, and it moves independently of the session, which is priced once however many images anyone orders. That is why the session and the images sit on two different lines.
What is the difference between a proof and a finished image?
A proof is a first-pass file used to make a selection, and the finished image is the retouched file that gets published. Everyone reviews their own proofs in a private gallery and marks the image they want, and finishing runs on that file. When a quote names a number of included images, that number counts finished images, never proofs. The proof gallery is included with every session whatever the image count, so reviewing a full set of images carries no separate cost.
Can we use the headshots on our website, in print, and in a presentation?
Yes. Every package carries an open image licence, which permits use across any business purpose without separate approval for each placement. The same file can sit on a team page, run in a brochure, appear in a printed annual report, accompany a media interview, and go on a conference slide. Exclusive copyright is available as a separate arrangement, quoted per engagement.
How long are our headshots kept after the session?
Five years. Image archiving is included in every package, and it covers the case where a file is needed again and the company's own copy is gone. Storage past the five-year window is available as an optional subscription.
How many finished images are included, and when do we decide if we need more?
One high-resolution retouched image per person is included with every session, and about one in four people asks about additional ones. The booking form takes an image count of one to five up front, and that count can be increased after the proofs are reviewed, so headcount and image count do not have to be settled at the same time. Additional finished images are $54.98 each.
When do the finished images arrive?
Subscribers receive finished images in five business days and everyone else in eight, with no single image taking longer than that. Files are sent as they are completed, so a smaller order can arrive earlier depending on the volume in the queue. A rush ladder is available when a deadline requires it, priced per image and scaled to the speed requested.
Are there costs that appear after the quote is approved?
Every chargeable condition is named before the job is confirmed, either on the quote or in the Terms of Service. The quote names the package, the headcount, the included images, and any add-ons that apply. Conditions that cannot be estimated in advance, such as extended waiting time between subjects, are defined in the Terms and billed on terms already agreed.