Having a professional headshot today has become standard. Your first impression to employers, clients, and potential dates will likely be made online and not in person. Here is some advice on how to make sure you capture a headshot that reflects the impression you want.

For over a decade, I have been capturing headshots and executive portraits. During that time, I found that most people had not put a lot of thought into what they wanted from their session.

The most successful headshot sessions have been with clients who knew what they wanted and what to expect.

To help prepare, I have created the following tips to help you have a successful headshot session. One where you walk out with the images you like that fit your professional needs.

Step One: Decide what kind of headshot you need.

Remember, these are your headshots and you need them to serve your professional goals. So, do you want traditional tight headshots? Will you need headshots with a solid background or ones in a location background? Do you want a combination of tight and wide shots both vertical and horizontal? Do you want shots with motion and creative lighting, etc. Once you know what it is that you want, it’s time to find the right photographer for the job.

Step Two: Choosing the Right Headshot Photographer

Trained and experienced professional headshot photographers can create the images you need. However, not all photographers have the proper training and experience. There are a couple of simple things to look for to help you tell who to trust.

Skin Tone:

The first thing you should do is look at the skin tone. After all, this is a portrait, and proper skin tone is rather important. So you want to make sure that the subject’s skin looks natural. Make sure it is not too orange, blotchy, muted, green, or blue. A trained professional portrait photographer prides themselves on making sure the skin tone is accurate.

Color Balance:

This is also very important. Make sure the colors are accurate. If they are wearing a white shirt, it shouldn’t have any blue, purple, or yellow tint to it. This is a clear sign that they are not color-balancing their images properly. What is the point of picking your favorite color jacket or blouse if the color is going to be all over the place in the image?

Details:

Details are important. Make sure they properly expose their headshots. The skin should not be so bright that it loses detail. Eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair should not look dark and clumpy. Proper camera settings will allow them to maintain all the details in the shadows and the highlights while keeping the face, nice and sharp. You should be able to count your eyelashes and see the colors of your eyes.

Lighting:

Look at how they light the images. Is the face properly lit? Are the shadows harsh or soft? Is the light soft and even? Do they seem to have control of their light? Because the more creative you want to get, the better you will need their lighting skills to be.

Once you look for these and determine that they are the right match for you, reach out to them. You want to discuss in detail what it is you are looking for and need. This way, they know what to come into the session prepared to do including any additional lighting or camera equipment they will need.

Step Three: Get Prepared for Your Headshot

Make sure you know how you want to look and what you want to wear ahead of time. I always recommend men get their hair cut between one and four days before their shoot so it looks the way you want. For women,, practice ahead of time to make sure you nail it on the day of. This goes for makeup as well. If you like, you can always get some referrals from your photographer on hair and make-up artists who can be on-site during the session to make sure you look perfect during the shoot.

As for your clothing, select a couple of options that you like for the day of your session and make sure they are dry-cleaned or pressed. While I recommend staying clear of busy patterns, don’t ever be afraid to go bold with the colors as long as they complement your own skin and hair tones. If you are not sure, shoot a pick with your cell phone and text it to your photographer for their opinion.

Step Four: Ask for Headshot Posing Guidance

During your session, it is perfectly ok to ask your photographer for guidance when it comes to posing. We understand that most people are not only inexperienced at posing, but also not extremely comfortable being in front of the camera. Your photographer can help guide you with how to stand, what to do with your hands and tiny movements to get the right angle of your face.

Step Five: Review Headshot Images on Site

Before you finish the shoot, make sure to review the images. Many photographers will be tethered to a computer when shooting in studio. If not, you can always review on the screen on their camera. Ask to see the images to make sure you have some that you like and will fit what you were looking for. If not, see what was missing or what you didn’t like about the shots (your tie, your face angle, the side you hair was one, etc) and shoot some more correcting for this. It is much easier to make sure you get what you need before leaving than to find out you didn’t get it when you see the proofs later. Plus, your photographer wants to make sure you are always happy with the end results.

Step Six: Retouching Headshot and Final Product Notes

Once you get the proofs, you should be pretty happy with the straight out of camera images. Again, this is why it is important to select a properly trained photographer. While the straight out of the camera should be usable, you also want someone who can give it a professional retouch. Now, to be clear, professional retouching should not make the image look like a Snapchat or Instagram filter. It should make it look polished, realistic and clean. Your skin should look flawless, but still like skin, Not soft and plastic like. Your eyes should look vibrant, but like your real eye color. Not every hair should be perfect, but distracting fly-aways should be cleaned up.

As photographers, we don’t want to remove too much without your consent. This includes scars. I once removed a scar on a clients shoulder only to find out that how she received the scar was a source of pride for her. So if there are scars that you want removed or kept, let your photographer know ahead of time.

Discuss Any Final Headshot Product Needs.

This is also the time to discuss any final product requests such as masking. If you or your graphics person plan to use these images with graphics behind you or layered onto products or property to represent, ask your photographer about creating masked file versions. There may be a small added cost for this, but it is better to let the photographer create them from the RAW files than with compressed JPEGs afterwards.

So, that’s it. I hope you found this information and these tips help you get the best out of your headshot and executive portrait session. You can learn more about Ivan Apfel’s Headshot Services in South Florida by VISITING HERE. If you have any questions about planning your session, please feel free to reach out to me by email at ivan@ivanapfel.com or even text me at (305) 301-9314 and I will be happy help any way I can.