Photography Tips · Brussels

What Should Be in a Speaker and Press Kit Portrait Set?

By Dmytro Derkach · Brussels-based commercial photographer

Conference organisers, podcast producers and journalists each need your photograph in a different shape, and none of them will write to ask for it. Here is exactly what a usable press kit contains, and why it is one file set, not one photo.

The person who crops your photo has never seen the original

A Speaker & Press Kit portrait exists because whoever handles your image next — a conference organiser, a podcast producer, a journalist on deadline — will never contact you before publishing it. If the only file you have is a tight profile picture, they crop it further, and how you appear on someone else's site or programme stops being your decision. A proper set removes that guesswork before it happens.

What the set actually contains

File	Where it gets used
Horizontal, space left for a title	Conference banner, event page header, article hero image
Square crop	Programme grid, podcast guest thumbnail, sponsor slide
Vertical crop	Speaker bio card, printed programme, mobile app listing
Neutral background option	Works whether the organiser's brand is dark or light
Print-resolution file	Printed programmes, banners, physical press materials

Why this is the same session, not a separate one

Booked separately, a press kit would mean charging twice for one sitting — the kind of thing that is invisible at the time and obvious when a price list is read end to end. It is the same ninety-minute session as a personal branding sitting, with the delivery planned differently. Naming the press use at booking changes what gets shot and prepared afterwards, not what it costs.

What this replaces

The alternative is the twenty minutes of improvisation when a request lands at four in the afternoon with a deadline of six. Having the set ready means sending a link instead of apologising for the only file you have.

Editorial use without asking each time

Press and editorial use is included in writing, which is worth confirming with any photographer before booking — it is the clause that most often causes trouble later. Without it, technically you would need to ask permission every time a new outlet wants to run your photograph, which defeats the purpose of having a press kit at all.

Because the press kit shares the same session as a personal branding sitting, there is no separate fee for it: a realistic market rate for the full session, delivered with the formats above and press usage rights, typically falls between 350€ and 600€.