Headshot Tips

Your Headshot

If you’re like most people, the idea of a closeup photo of your face is about as compelling as smashing your thumb in your car door. Repeatedly. Lucky for you, We make the process quick, fun and relatively painless.

 

Quick Tips

1. Get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. You will look and feel fresh and minimize any dark circle under your eyes.

2. Have your hair cut within 2 weeks of the appointment, so that it looks natural

3. Makeup: Natural and minimal. You don’t want to look too made up. You want to look like the person in the headshot.

4. Teeth: Avoid anything that may stain your teeth on the day of your headshot photographs. If your teeth are noticeably yellowed or stained, invest in having them professionally cleaned and whitened, but don't worry if you don't have the time or money, we can easily get the same result with a little bit of Photoshop magic

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Clothes

Clothing is a form of expression and the clothes that you pick to wear will reflect your personality in the images. My best piece of advice when choosing clothes is the simpler the better.

• Solid colors look great in headshots. your career can dictate your color choices:

  • Red = Passion, Energy, Strength,

  • Light red = Sensitivity and love

  • Yellow = Sunshine, Joy, Energy

  • Green = Healing, Health, Olive green is peaceful

  • Blue = Trust, Peace, Conservatism

  • White = Innocence, Purity, Cleanliness

  • Black = Power, Elegance, and Formality

• If going with a pattern keep it simple.

• Avoid tweeds or other fine patterns, as they can create a moire (funky looking lines) on some monitors

• Start with a simple shirt or blouse and slowly add layers.

• Bring a few changes of clothes to the shoot.

• Make sure that ALL clothes are ironed and pressed before the shoot. Wrinkles in clothes are difficult to Photoshop out, this may incur an additional fee for the time required to smooth out wrinkles.

• Don’t worry about shoes if just shooting headshots. Be comfortable.

 

Hair

• Bring a brush and some hair product (gel/hairspray) with you to the shoot to help calm flyaways.

• If you can, hire a hairstylist for the morning of the shoot.  If you like we can provide a hairstylist for an additional fee (please provide at least 7 days lead tie for us to schedule your stylist.

 

Makeup and Face

• Start natural. Just enough to cover up any blemishes.

• Build up the makeup as you go. Add eyeshadow and darker lipstick later in the shoot.

• Try not to use matte styles of makeup. It will dry out your skin.

• Bring your makeup and moisturizer with you to the shoot in case your skin does get dry or you need touchups.

• Bring lip balm or lip gloss with you to help keep lips looking soft.

• The night before brush your lips with your toothbrush to help get rid of any dead skin.

• Don’t do any extreme beauty regimens right before your shoot, like facial peels, tanning, or extensive exfoliating. Your skin can look very irritated.

• Get rid of any unwanted hair a few days before your shoot. Clean up brows and upper lip hair.

 

FOR MEN

• Shave right before you leave for a shoot. A 5 o clock shadow can’t be Photoshopped easily.

• Use cooling gel or aftershave to help with skin irritation.

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Leave your colored contacts at home and bring clear contacts with you. Colored contacts can look very fake in photographs. Bring eyedrops with you.

 

Accessories

Necklaces, earrings, watches, scarves… all these add to our persona, branding and allow us to express ourselves uniquely. For headshots, YOU, your eyes, your smile are the stars of the show. Accessories can detract and distract instead of enhancing. Keep accessories simple and understated.

 

Wrinkles, laughter lines & spots…

We can never escape the aging process totally but we can help reduce the visible signs. Generally we use a soft wrap-around lighting which helps to naturally smooth lines. All your final images are retouched to remove any blemishes, and make you look like your very best self.

 

Above all, Enjoy…

 

Although you will be working hard during your shoot it will also be a fun and enjoyable experience. We fully understand that some people hate having their photos taken or think they are un-photogenic. This is an area we specialize in so please do let us know if you have any worries or concerns about being photographed