How To Prepare For Your Headshot.

Make the most out of your next headshot session with these often overlooked tips.

CLOTHING

1. The collar of your shirt or blouse really matters. Make sure it is ironed properly so it lies flat and more importantly lies evenly. Overly frilly or asymmetrical styles usually dont work well. It should be symmetrical.

2. If you are wearing a jacket, make sure it fits properly. Make sure the lapels are ironed properly, lie flat and evenly. Can you button the jacket for a polished look?

3. If you are wearing a tie, button the shirt and make sure there is no fabric showing above the tie knot. You want it to be as tight as possible for the best look. You can choke for a few minutes; its not that bad. With a tie, your shirt should fit snugly on your neck. Loose shirts look sloppy and may create a dark ring shadow around your neck. If your shirt is too loose, your photographer should clip it or stuff it in the back to tighten it up. Also, make sure the tie around your neck sits low enough so you can properly fold your collar over it.

4. Make sure your clothes in general are sitting evenly on the body. Sometimes a jacket needs to be slightly shifted to the left or right. If you are wearing just a sweater, sometimes the fabric on one side is sitting closer to the neck than the other. Center everything.

5. Ask about your bottom half. No, not how it looks, but if it is going to be in the photo. Most people rightfully assume headshots are elbows or bicep up. They usually are. But many times, marketing wants mid-thigh up so they have more room to work with different size croppings.

ACCESSORIES

6. If you wear glasses, make sure they are spotless. Make sure they fit straight on your face. Make sure they don’t hang low on your nose as the top edge of the glasses may hide your eyes.

7. If you wear jewelry, try not to make it distracting. If you’re adamant about wearing a necklace, make sure the clasp is not showing and that the pendant is centered on your chest. The less distractions the better.

8. Naturally remove any name badges.

HAIR

9. The day before your shoot, stare into the mirror. Yes you are beautiful, but do you need a weed wacker for your eyebrows, how about your nose hair?

10. Do you need a haircut? Don’t get one the day of the shoot. You will have a ton of small hair clippings all over your face.

11. If you have long hair, make sure that it does not spread out over your shoulders. Make sure it is not under your collar or on your neck. I always suggest you wear it in front, but first bring it all back behind your head. Grab half of your hair in between your thumb and pointer finger and bring it foward and down your lapel. No hair should fall on your neck area or your shoulder, but straight down in front. Do this for both sides.

SKIN

12. The day of the shoot don’t overly moisturize as your skin may appear too shiny.

13. Are your lips chapped? Slather some Vaseline on them the day before and hydrate.

14. Did a pimple show up the day of your shoot? Don’t worry. We can retouch it.

MINDSET

15. Your mindset really matters. Hate getting your picture taken? If you’re thinking that during the shoot, it will not come out as good. I always say I take pictures of your brain activity, not of your face. You need to think about happy positive things, someone you love, your dog, winning the lottery, or my favorite; early retirement. Come up with your own list of “happy thoughts”.

SMILE

16. When you smile, you can decide to show teeth or not, whatever makes you feel most comfortable. But your smile is really not about your teeth, but about your eyes.

EYES

17. You smile with your eyes. The best way to get natural, believable smiling eyes is to be thinking about something that brings you joy; think about something that you have an emotional connection to that makes you happy. Mindset is everything.

18. Have Tiny eyes? Big smiles make your eyes even smaller, so if thats the case for you, go for a smaller, softer smile. You can also try and opening your eyes more by lifting up the top of your eyelashes a tiny bit, the smallest movement possible. Its not about moving your eyebrows at all. They must stay fixed, just move the tips of your eyelashes up. Do it too much and you will look like a crazy person.

19. You may notice that one eye looks smaller than the other. Believe it or not, its really, really common, don’t worry about it.

20. Practice smiling in front of a mirror.