Top Tips for Your Team's Headshots

You’re getting your team’s headshots taken. Great! It’s a brilliant way to add some personality and human faces to your brand, and much more professional and uniform looking than their selfies on a beach somewhere from 10 years ago!

As someone who has taken thousands of headshots over the years, here are my top tips for your team:

Try to avoid wearing white.

It's ok if you wear a jacket or cardigan on top, but colour always works better, especially if the background is bright as well. A white top is just too bright, and will mess with the exposure and just makes for a less brilliant photo all round.

Patterns are fine, just no overly busy ones.

Too many tight stripes or checked shirts might distort when viewing the image on a screen, like in the picture to the left. Very busy patterns like overly colourful paisley may also be too distracting.

Black and grey are ok, but colourful clothes usually work better for images.

They pop more and draw the right amount of attention without being too distracting. When picking a colour, primary colours work well, especially red and blue.

Avoid big logos on shirts.

They’re too distracting, the same with slogans as well. If it’s a small logo then it’s generally okay.

Make sure your clothes aren't too wrinkled or have stains.

It just doesn’t make a good impression and can be a nightmare to edit. Pro tip - bring what you will wear along and change into it before your headshot session, rather than wearing it all day, during your commute and lunch. Much lower risk!

Choose clothes that make you feel good about yourself.

Avoid wearing shapeless, baggy or oversized clothes, they can be very unflattering on camera. Well fitting clothes work best.

Please trim any beards, moustaches or sideburns.

Make sure you sort out any wiry stray hairs. If you’re shaving, I recommend using a brand new razor and moisturising afterwards. Do this the day before the photos are taken in case you cut yourself shaving and avoid irritated looking skin.

Remember to highlight your most important features, your eyes and cheekbones.

It’s recommended to wear slightly heavier make-up than you normally would. It will be worth bringing it along so that you can touch up if need be. If you usually don’t wear any make up that’s fine too, a little bit of moisturiser and mascara will do fine without misrepresenting you.