HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY
There are a lot of ways to look at and ponder the question as to what makes a good business headshot. We can talk about the image quality. It is very important. We can talk about posing and what to wear. These are also very important. Here, we will look at four alternative factors to consider as to what elements contribute to making a good business or corporate headshot.
Lighting is a big factor in creating a good business headshot. If you’ve tried to create a headshot yourself with a smartphone and bothered to compare it with a really well made corporate headshot of a woman or corporate headshot of a man, you’ll notice right away, you’ll never get close to as good.
Not all light is created equal, and this includes natural light. First, there are entire courses that can be taught about the different qualities of light. Let’s just say the quality of the light output of a studio strobe for photography is far superior to what a flashlight or typical home light bulb generates.
In addition to this, photographers commonly use different modifiers on these lights. The modifiers used matter and are a case-by-case basis. They are not all one-size fits all. For example, a photographer might use a different modifier for an acting headshot than for a corporate headshot, even though in both cases it is a person in the photograph.
Now, a bit about sun light. Sun light is very difficult to control. It’s actually beyond the control of a photographer. After all, you can’t just turn a knob on the sun to change its tone or brightness. But a good photographer can work with or around available sunlight and how it is revealing itself in the place where he or she happens to be.
For example, if you’re in downtown Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the light colors reflecting off the building will be different as the day goes by or if it is cloudy. If you are doing headshots against a green building mid-day and wonder why your face looks green, well, wonder no more. Sunlight bounces and reflects colors all over the place. So, for your business headshot, use it wisely. The time of day you use is critical. This is why good photographers know all about the golden hour.
Work with a photographer knowledgeable about lighting for any situation. It’s too often in a city like Los Angeles to see a businessperson went to a photographer that can only light for acting headshots, and it shows. Don’t make this mistake with your business headshots.
First, let’s be clear that not every headshot needs to have branding elements to it. Sometimes your headshot is just for LinkedIn. In such a case, a nice outfit and clean uncluttered background will usually do you just fine. However, there are numerous cases where you should at least consider if branding plays a role.
For example, if you have a logo or color palette for your website, you might want to start considering the colors you will use with your headshot. Even if your color palette is black and white or shade of gray, you might want to consider how that helps with your branding. Maybe your entire messaging core is about how you can be neutral for your clients, and as such black, white, and gray work. But if your brand is about being a life coach and helping people feel happy and fulfilled, you might have a lot of yellow in your color palette. Your messaging is likely going to be filled with happy themes. So, your headshot should exude this too.
You don’t put a frown or a serious face on the headshot of a life coach, but you might put a serious face to the headshot of a criminal defense attorney. As a result, the overall tone of the headshot of a life coach and criminal defense attorney should be vastly different.
The life coach might want a bright and vibrant studio backdrop color or a sunlit blurred out background outside. Meanwhile, the criminal defense attorney might want a dark gray or blue studio background in a well-fit suit.
All of these elements – the background, the lighting tone of the headshot, what the person wears, what the messaging says on the website or advertisement, and so on – help build the brand.
If you are considering branding, color might be of importance, and this was touched upon just above. Actually, it just is important even if you are not considering branding. For example, if you wear a red tie or a blue tie with a gray suit, someone might peg you as politically right-leaning or left-leaning, respectively. Whether you are or are not, it might be better for business to stay away from the potential of sending any political message.
The same is true of the accessories you wear. While you might be religious, does wearing a necklace with a big cross pendant on your headshot help consider what every viewer of that headshot might want to see? Probably not. In most cases it is best to be as neutral about your political or religious beliefs in your headshot. Sometimes, you just cannot or will not and that is okay if you are okay with accepting that some people that view your headshot will not be okay with it.
The colors you wear can contribute greatly to the tone of the headshot you want to create. So, while you are planning your headshot session, do an online search about “what does the color [insert your color here] symbolize.” This can start to help you shape a branding theme. Do the colors you are opting for fall in line with the core messaging you want to get across? For example, if you are an injury lawyer and your core message is about helping people recover damages so they can recover their life quickly, you might be considering blues and oranges.
Colors subconsciously impact our mood. Your headshot creates a first impression that lasts into when a person actually first speaks with you or meets with you. So, be sure your headshot sets the right mood ahead of that.
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