1. Wear solid colors Opt for clothing in solid, neutral colors such as black, navy, or gray. These colors tend to be more professional and will not distract from your face in the photo.
2. Avoid patterns Patterns and busy prints can be distracting in a headshot, so it’s best to avoid them. If you do choose to wear a patterned item, make sure it is small and subtle.
3. Dress appropriately for your industry Consider the industry or profession you are in and dress accordingly. For example, if you are in a creative field, you may have more flexibility with your clothing choices. If you are in a more traditional industry, it may be best to stick to more classic, professional attire.
4. Choose well-fitting clothing Make sure your clothing fits well and is not too tight or too loose. Ill-fitting clothing can be distracting and take attention away from your face.
5. Wear simple accessories If you choose to wear accessories, keep them simple and minimal. A watch, a pair of earrings, or a simple necklace can add a nice touch to your headshot, but avoid wearing multiple loud or busy pieces.
6. Keep your hair and makeup natural Only you know what’s “natural” for you. Concealer is your friend. Sunscreen is not (it’s shiny under the lights).
7. Dress for the occasion Consider the purpose of the headshot and dress appropriately. If you are taking a headshot for a professional website or LinkedIn profile, you may want to dress more formally. If you are taking a headshot for a more casual event or social media, you may have more flexibility with your clothing choices.
In the end, you want your headshot to say something. It’s your first impression. Is it for a dating sight? Dress like a first date. Are you a in sales? Dress like someone I would be happy to take a meeting with. For example, in my headshots I typically just wear a faded, button-down shirt because I want to convey a casual, friendly person. A friend. I try to convey my personality in my headshot because people tend to like a photographer who is open and friendly since they are usually a little nervous to begin with.
Head over to the Contact Page and send me a note. I’ll get you on the schedule right away. You’ll have an online image that will make you look great for years!
Replacing the background on a professional headshot can be tricky if it’s not done right. Fortunately, Booray Perry Photography does it all the time.
Why Replace a Headshot Background
There are several reasons you might want to replace the background on your professional headshot. The most common reason that I see is that they want to match the headshot to others that have been done at other locations. For example, Conviva has a specific look that they request for all there headshots based on what was done by a different photographer. I travel all over photographing the staff at their clinics and then I replace the background to their specifications
Another common reason is that the client wants a unique background that isn’t available at their location. For example, when I did Abrahamson and Uiterwyk they wanted a variety of styles so we selected from several options:
All of these were shot on location at the office, then I remove and replace the background with something you’ve chosen. It’s a great way to get unique and vibrant headshots without ever leaving your office!
This is a tricky question because when someone says “size” to a photographer, we tend to think of the file size, not the print size. In other words, how many megapixels are in the file. That size determines how big you can print the image and how big it will display on your computer screen. The best size for a professional headshot is “as big as it gets” because once you have a big file, you can re-size it to any size you need for it’s intended purpose.
The Best Headshot Size for Printing
When it comes to printing, the file can’t really be too big. The general rule is that you want at least 300 pixels for every inch you print. So, of you want to print something that is three inch’s wide, the file needs to be at least 900 pixels wide to get the best results. Some labs only require 240 pixels per inch but no one requires more than 300 so that’s become the default standard. Some photographers deliver files that are exactly 2400×3000 pixels which is an 8×10 print at 300 pixels per inch. I deliver the full-size completed file which can vary in size due to cropping but it always at least big enough to print an 8×10.
The Best Headshot Size for Online Viewing
Here’s where it get’s more tricky. If you want to know the best headshot size for viewing your portrait online it really depends on the screen the image will be viewed with and how big it will be on that screen.
For example, my computer screen is 1920 pixels wide, so if I wanted to view an image on my screen and have it take up the whole area it would need to be 1920 pixels wide or else it would start to get blurry. The computer would show the image at a size larger than 100% and that “stretching” would hurt the image.
But no one ever looks at an image like that. Your headshot goes on a website or a social media site and even if you are looking at the website on your entire screen, the image doesn’t take up the entire screen. I have my headshot in all my emails and I’ll bet it’s never seen any larger than 200×100 pixels.
The image can be bigger than you need it to be with no change in how it looks, it just can’t be smaller then it needs to be. An image that is 1000 pixels across looks just fine in a 100 pixel space but horrible in a 2000 pixel space.
So why not just use the biggest headshot possible all the time? Because the bigger it is the longer it takes to load and it slows down your website if the image is three times as large as it needs to be. Furthermore, websites like Facebook have a compression routine built in that will reduce the size of your image to speed things up. The more it has to compress, the more likely your image is affected. Here are a couple of the optimal sizes for online:
Facebook Post – 1200×628
Facebook profile Picture – 360×360
Linkedin Headshot – 400×400
Most image viewers will have a “resize” option in the file menu that will let you change the pixel count on your image.
What’s the Best Crop For Headshots
Now it get’s interesting. We know what size the headshot should be to print it or post it online but how should it be cropped? There are a million ways to crop an image, which one is best for a headshot?
Let’s start with examining how we shoot the image to begin with. Most headshots are displayed in a vertical format. I tend to think of this as “traditional.”
Traditional 8×10 crop
So you would expect me to shoot the same way, right? Nope. I shoot like this:
This is the image exactly as I shot it…
The reason is simple: Variety. When you shoot in a horizontal crop, you can then create whatever crop you need for the final image. You can do traditional 4×5:
Traditional 2×3:
5×7:
1×1 (square):
…and you can also do my personal favorite, a modern horizontal 3×2:
A modern, professional camera captures images that are so big you can cut away a sizable amount and still have an image that is big enough to do whatever you need. This is why I shoot in a horizontal (wide) format… so I can then do whatever I want with the file, depending on the client’s needs.
By the way, if you are wondering, each of these horizontal images is 600 wide. The vertical ones are 400 tall. I’ve just found over the years that is a decent size for my blog posts.
When you hire me to shoot your headshot, don’t be surprised when you are selecting your image to see this big, wide crop. That’s just so we have plenty to work with. Once you have that, you can do anything!
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