Your guide on preparing for a business headshot session

A professional business headshot is one of the most important investments you will make in yourself and, your brand. This means it is essential that you approach your session prepared and confident. Whether it’s your first time in front of the camera, or you’re a seasoned professional, here are some tips to help you get ready for your headshot session. We’ll cover topics like;

1. How to choose a photographer

2. Selecting the right outfit

3. Should you hire a hair and make-up artist?

4. Studio or outdoor session?

5. Be clear with your headshot goals

How to choose a headshot photographer

This is the most important factor in the whole equation. You want to find someone like myself that specializes in headshots. You want someone who can coach you in front of the camera to help you look your best. Here are some key things to consider.

1. Find someone who specializes in headshots. Just because your local newborn photographer takes amazing baby portraits doesn’t mean they can coach you on pose and expression and craft a headshot that shows confidence and trust.

2. Look at their work. I know it seems obvious, but look at their website and IG accounts, and make sure that the work they are producing is alignment with what you want to convey with your headshots. You don’t want to book someone and then find out their style is totally different from what you want.

3. Check out their Google Reviews. We live and die by these. What are past clients saying about their experience there? From the reviews, does this sound like someone who is going to give you what you need and want? This is a great way to look for anything that could be concerning, like, not retouching what they said they would, images being delivered late, or the photographer not letting them see the work as they went along.

4. Do they respond to your calls or emails? Hard to believe but I’ve met a lot of clients that have told me I’m the only one that even responded. If they are not responding to calls and messages then they might now be the best fit for your busy schedule.

5. Pricing. Prices for headshots run the gamut around here. You can pay as little as $150 for all the photos plus your session, or you can spend $1200 and only get one. One thing is, expect to pay a session fee. This covers your photographer’s time in the studio or on location and then a per-image fee. Some photographers sell images in packages and others like myself are a la carte. I do this so that you’re not roped into 5 images that you don’t want, you can simply buy what you love!

Selecting The Right Outfit

Think about what you want to show with your headshots. Are you going for the more professional C-suite look? Or do you want to show a lighter side and show a more relaxed look? You might want to consider having both looks. I would think about outfits that fit you well and that you feel really good in. If you feel great wearing something that confidence is going to show in your headshots. If you’re squeezing into a suit you wore at your buddy’s wedding 10 years ago…. not going to look great.

I would highly advise having your outfits dry-cleaned and on a hanger. Please do not shove them in a bad then expect them to look great. If you do, I’ll go make coffee while you iron your suit.

Since it’s just a headshot, a lot of people dress like a CEO on top, and like they’re headed to the beach on the bottom. While this works, it can help with confidence if you’re dressed from head to toe for the job and the look that you want.

Here are some tips on clothing

1. Go for a tailored fit. Nothing looks worse than oversized, baggy clothes and trying to make it look like it fits.

2. Keep patterns minimal. I like to keep shirts and outfits in solid colors so we can keep the focus right where we want it. On your face. Try an stay away from crazy distracting patterns

3. Keep colors solid and not too close to your skin tone. If you choose colors that are too close to your skin tone you’ll blend in or look washed out. The other thing is to consider that if you wear your favorite fire engine red shirt, that will leave a red color cast on your skin that can be difficult to mitigate in post.

4. Bring a tie. More and more I see business professionals going without a tie. I would consider bringing a tie just to have it on hand. It can’t hurt to have a formal headshot alongside a more relaxed one.

Hair tips

This is for my female clients. If you’d like to do a couple of looks, I would start with your hair down. Once we’ve shot a few looks with it down and you have a handful of keepers, go ahead and put it up.

If you’re not comfortable with doing your own hair and make up I would consider hiring a stylist to be here for you. I have a great stylist that worked with this model above. She stats through a lot of the session to make sure everything looks awesome and to help out with hair changes when you’re doing multiple looks. For some make up tips read this article here Make-Up Does and Don’ts.

Selecting The Location For Your Headshots

Do you want to have your session in my home studio or outdoors on location? They both are great but do tell different stories. I like to shoot indoors for that C-suite, leader kind of look. We can control the light so time of day is not a factor. Also, weather! If it’s February and snowy out, one, it’s going to be uncomfortable for both of us to be in the cold, two, you’re dating your images with the time of year and you lose some evergreen from that.

If you want to show some context in your headshots by shooting where you work, in your office or showing off the building, or even the part of town you work in then an outdoor session is a great choice. I’ve found that a lot of small business owners have prefered to shoot outdoors as it comes off as more relaxed and part the of the community.

Be Clear With Your Goals For Your Headshots

One thing to be very clear about with your photographer is your goals. Are you applying for a new job, looking for a promotion, just want to level up your online image? Knowing all of these things is very helpful or me when creating business portraits and headshots for people.

1. Where will these photos be used? Are we leveling up your LinkedIn, creating a headshot for he company directory or creating first time headshots?

2. What do you want to convey? Are you going for the power shot, something more relaxed, or a mixture of both

3. Do you need just a standard headshot or do you need personal branding portraits?

Personal Branding Versus Standard Headshots

What’s the difference between these two anyway? Well, standard headshots are taken from the mid-torso up. The focus here is on your face and your expression.

Personal branding images tell more of a story. They create a glimpse into how you work, how you solve your clients problems. What does it look like to work with you? That’s what branding does. It seeks to educate your audience on what it looks like to be a part of your team, people can imagine themselves sitting across from you in these photos.

Hope this quick guide is helpful when considering how to get ready for your headshot sessions. If you have any questions at all, shoot me a note or a call and I’m happy to talk this over and help you get ready to take the best photos you’ve ever had.