1. Dress for your industry. A corporate professional might opt for a suit for their professional headshots, while someone in the creative field could go for a more casual yet polished look. Consider what’s standard in your line of work and aim to align with that.

2. Solid colors work best. They draw attention to your face rather than your clothing. They also convey a sense of confidence and consistency.

3. Compliment. Choose colors that complement your skin tone and eye color. 

4. Accessorize thoughtfully. Add a touch of personality without overdoing it. Avoid overly flashy or distracting accessories. 

5. Keep it timeless. If you plan to use your headshots for quite some time, choose clothing styles that won’t quickly become dated. 

Read our extensive guide on selecting your headshot wardrobe.

In both seated and standing positions, practice relaxing your shoulders, keeping them back, and keeping your back straight. This will lead to much more confident, professional photos.

See an example below of how good posture and smiling with your eyes can enhance the quality of your headshots:

Depending on your job role and industry, we like to get a variety of looks, including 1) a slight smile with closed lips and 2) a full smile.

It's common for most people to be more comfortable with one versus the other. However, in many occasions, we've found someone who naturally gives just a slight smile ends up really liking their full-smile headshots, and vice versa.

So we highly recommend practicing both in the mirror. If you practice both and decide you are comfortable only doing one type of smile, either slight or full, for your headshots, let us know on the day of before we start.

Your smile looks much warmer and more inviting when you smile with your eyes.

If this comes naturally for you, it still helps to practice since we'll be taking at least 15 minutes of back-to-back photos, and throughout our session you can lose that glisten in your eyes if you're not used to holding it.

So stand in front of the mirror and practice smiling with your eyes without moving your mouth too much. It's okay if your mouth naturally forms into a slight closed smile, but focus on your eyes.

We're looking forward to our headshot photography session together, and we can't wait to meet you!

When we meet for our headshots session, we'll guide you through the process and coach you through every pose, so don't worry if it's your first time taking professional headshots. 

That said, we've found that our clients who follow this guide are more relaxed, more natural, and have more fun on the day of, which always leads to better expressions and better headshots.

So let's get started! 

One last thing before we jump into it - we know some of this feels awkward and silly in front of the mirror, but it's SO MUCH better to feel awkward in front of the mirror than in front of the camera. So we HIGHLY recommend practicing until you're comfortable.