7 Tips on what to wear for professional headshots

A study reveals, professional headshots significantly enhanced perceptions of competence (76% increase), likability (9% increase), and influence (62% increase). Therefore it’s imperative that you understand what to wear for your professional headshots.

To make your professional headshot stand out, wearing the right clothes is essential. Choose stylish and well-fitted outfits that reflect your personality and professionalism. Quality attire boosts your confidence and helps you look your best. Your headshot is often the first impression you make professionally, so make sure you dress to impress.

Now you may be wondering what to wear for professional headshots?

Your headshot communicates your personality, approachability, and expertise. That’s why the goal of every headshot photographer is to capture your absolute best.

In the following, we’ll discuss the 7 best tips on what to wear for your professional headshots below. 

So keep reading for the best tips that ensure your headshots always look amazing. 

What is the purpose of your professional headshot?

Headshot help you attract the ideal clients or employers. Therefore, your headshot must have mass appeal. It’s extremely important for you to have a consistent look and personal brand across the web. That starts by having high quality, consistent headshot photos. The primary purpose of your headshot is to showcase your professionalism, personality, and brand, if relevant. A professional corporate headshot is the ideal approach if you want to demonstrate your dedication and professionalism. Prospective employers will interpret this as a sign of strong work ethic, accountability, and seriousness.

On the other hand, creative or modeling headshots offer you the chance to stand out. Without uttering a word, headshots can convey your identity to potential production house as well as fans.

Headshots have broad appeal, which can help you draw in the ideal employers or clientele. Consistency in branding and imagery across the web is essential. Consistent, high-quality photos help you become recognizable and memorable.

7 Tips on What to wear for professional headshots

Here are our 7 most important tips on what to wear for professional headshots. Bookmark and share this list to always be on top of your game when it comes to your headshots.

1. Style According to Your Industry:

When selecting your professional headshot, it’s crucial to consider how the image aligns with your industry and personal brand. Here are some guidelines to help you create a cohesive and effective visual representation:

1. Color Palette:

• Choose Colors That Blend with Your Brand: Use consistent colors that match your brand scheme to create recognition and association
• Consider Your Industry: Colors have different associations in various industries. Blue hues imply professionalism, while creative industries prefer unconventional colors.

2. Clothing Style:

• Match Your Clothing to Your Brand Message: Clothing style should convey the desired brand message. For a professional and authoritative image, choose classic attire. For a creative and approachable look, experiment with patterns and accessories.
• Consider Your Audience: Think about your target audience and what kind of image they would expect from someone in your industry. For instance, a lawyer may want to dress more formally than a tech startup founder.

3. Background:

• Choose a Background That Complements Your Image: Choose a simple background that compliments your clothing and style. If you want a visually interesting background, make sure it doesn’t distract from your face.
• Consider Your Environment: When in a specific environment, incorporate elements for an authentic connection with your target audience.

4. Consistency:

• Maintain Consistency with Your Brand Identity: Your headshot must be consistent with your overall brand identity, including your logo, website design, and marketing materials. Why? This ensures you’re taken seriously. In addition it helps drive home the message you’re sending.

2. Be thoughtful about color choice:

It’s important to choose your colors carefully because color can influence the way people respond to your photo. It’s best to choose simple and neutral tones for a minimalistic look in your headshots. Studio lights may washout light colors. Therefore try to choose darker, neutral colors such as brown, black and navy.

For capturing the attention of people, especially in creative industries, it is a good idea to select bright, bold colors. To ensure you look lively and alert in your headshot try to research which colors might compliment your skin, hair and eyes on camera.

3. Bring a variety of necklines to mix up your looks:

If you feel that your neck is short and want it to appear longer in picture then use deeper necklines. You can’t go wrong with V-shaped necklines and scoop necks because they look good on pretty much everyone.

Turtlenecks, crew necks or boat necks are the best choice to shorten a longer neck. To appear more proportioned use a higher neckline which will draw the eyes out to your shoulders.

If you want to appear less boxy and add height then use a v-neck. V-necks helps everyone with rounder and/or wider faces. On the other hand, for minimizing your bust opt for a square neckline or collars.

4. Don’t wear clothing that fits poorly:

Be sure to wear fresh, new and nice clothes for your headshots. Being poorly dressed will leave a bad impression. Select clothes that suit your profession. It will help people get a feel for you and what you do. Obviously, avoid clothes that are stained, wrinkled, or unprofessional.

5. Go with Simple Jewelry:

A great professional headshot enhances your natural features and never distracts from the main focus – you. 

Therefore, it is better to use simple jewelry for your professional headshots. If your headshot will be cropped closely to your face then simply jewelry is certainly the best choice. 

Jewelry is a “finishing touch” which comes after you have the right hair and makeup for your headshot session. Ensure that the pendant is visible above the crop of the photo for necklaces. It is best to stick with simple metallic or gemstone studs for earrings. As such, wear dangling earrings with caution.

Viewers can get distracted and lost in the photo if you use hoop earrings. Because anything like hoop earrings that dangles can be caught in hair. Additionally, it can draw attention from you face. 

6. Bring Multiple Outfits:

It’s hard to nail the right look that matches your vision perfectly, so bringing a variety of outfits to ensure that you have a great selection to choose from.

Additionally you’ll want a variety of headshots for different purposes. You may want to use one of your headshots for LinkedIn, Outlook, your website, and other social media profiles. For marketing content another photo with a specific look can set the vibe without having to use too many words. Too, think about speaking engagements you may have and the photos you’ll want to use to advertise it. Your content remains fresher if you have a variety of headshots taken in different outfits.

7. Opt for solid colors instead of patterns:

On camera a photography moiré effect can be very distracting. Busy patterns can create that effect making your image blurry and unrecognizable on camera in addition to distracting.

Wearing solid colors instead of patterns is typically the best option. After all, it will minimize distractions and allow viewers’ attention to be drawn to your face. However, if you are wearing a pattern, remember to select a simple one like wide strips or large polka dots. Too, consider putting a solid-colored jacket on top.

Style Tips for Headshot Sessions:

Hairstyle:

Take the time to pamper your hair with care and have it styled to perfection.

Get a Trim/Cut: To get rid of dead and split ends get that hair trimmed. Do not test a new hairstyle before having your headshot photos taken unless you’re incredibly brave or love taking risks.

Hair Dying: Make sure you book an appointment with your hairstylist at least a week in advance if you dye your hair. Any regrowth or gray hairs aren’t acceptable but you want the dye to settle for a few days.

Deep Conditioning: If you want to make your hair shiny for the pictures then consider a deep conditioning treatment a few days before the shoot. However, be sure to rinse thoroughly to avoid any product build-up.

Avoid Overwashing: Consider your hair washing schedule and avoid over washing if you’re going to be styling your hair.

Test Hairstyles: Practice the look a few times before the actual day especially if you’re planning to style your own hair. 

No New Products: Right before the shot don’t try any new hair products. Because if it causes a bad reaction it will affect your scalp or hair texture and you don’t want to take that risk.

Makeup Style:

Below are some tips for achieving a well-balanced, camera-ready makeup look.

Go Matte, Not Shiny: Use flat colors for headshots. Because when it comes to camera flashes and lights you can’t have that much shine foundation.  

Perfect Match: If you don’t match your foundation with your skin tone perfectly then it will be very noticeable. Remember, your headshots are high-definition photos. Therefore, make sure your foundation matches your skin tone.

Subtle Shades: If you want to accentuate your eye color without overwhelming them then stick to neutral eyeshadows.

Mascara & Eyeliner: Try to keep mascara and eyeliner minimal. You should use a little mascara to open up the eyes and perhaps some soft eyeliner. This is usually enough. After all, you don’t want your eyes looking small, especially when your photo is shown shrunk down on social media or other profiles when viewed on a phone.

Brows: Ensure your eyebrows are neatly shaped with your eyebrow pencil or shadow because they frame your face.

Natural Tones: For a subtle look or a classic red if that’s what looks best opt for natural, nude tones.

Avoid Gloss: Remember on a camera shiny gloss won’t show up well, so avoid it. Otherwise you’ll be paying for retouching, (more on that below).

Blend, Blend, Blend: For a natural look it’s important to blend well. No matter whether it’s your blush or your contour.

Set It & Forget It: For keeping your makeup in place throughout the shoot you can use a setting spray. But don’t forget to bring some with you. After all, you’re likely to be changing outfits. Plus the lights can get hot.

Benefits of professional retouching services for headshots:

Capturing the perfect shot is just half the story; to make your business photos shine, you need expert photo retouching services whether from a trusted editor or a company. This editing procedure is essential because it gives your images that distinctive finishing touch and guarantees that they accurately convey your brand identity to the viewer at a glance. Your images will have a powerful, long-lasting impact if you make those adjustments sing.

Below are the some benefits of professional retouching service for headshots:

Retouching skin can maintain a natural look: Professional retouching service can smooth your skin as you demand. It will help you to maintain your natural look.

It can isolate an image from the white background: If you need a colorful background headshot retouching service can help you to isolate the image from the background. 

It will correct highlights and shadows: Correcting highlights and shadows is one of the basic rules of headshot retouching. Controlling highlights and shadow is the important step of headshot retouching. Try to control the darkest points as dark as possible and the lightest point as light as possible.

Retouching helps to remove dark spots, blemishes and wrinkles: Professional headshot retouching service will edit the whole face with details. Spots, blemishes, wrinkles are not acceptable in headshot photos. Also, people want to remove the scars and tattoos in the headshot photos.

Retouching will whiten and fix the teeth: If you want to make your smile brighter in headshot photos then retouching is an effective way for you. Headshot photo retouching can edit the yellowish teeth in the photos.

Things to avoid during a professional headshot session:

Avoid unprofessional attire: In a headshot photo your clothes should reflect your personality and how you want clients or employers to perceive you. So, avoid dirty or wrinkled clothes, vulgar t-shirts, and other unprofessional attire for achieving a professional look.

Avoid neon colors: Neon clothing may look amazing but remember fluorescent colors can reflect light up onto your face, so they aren’t the best choice for photoshoots. Neon yellow or green are the worst. They will make you look like you’re sea-sick or worse.

Avoid a busy background: Try to use a simple background to get focused on your face. Busy background can make distractions. And also make sure that you don’t blend with the background. Don’t use the same color background and clothes. Like, if your dress is white then don’t use white background. Try to choose lighter colors in a dark background.

Avoid baggy clothes: Baggy clothes aren’t a good option for headshots. Baggy clothes make your headshot look sloppy. It will help you to achieve the exact effect that you may want to avoid. You may also appear heavier than you actually are if you use baggy clothes. That’s why for a good structure and shape stick with well fitting clothes. Your clothes should be form-fitting, not overly tight, but never too lose.

Conclusion:

Choosing the right attire for a professional headshot is crucial for making a positive and lasting impression. By following the tips outlined in this article, I assure you that you will know exactly what to wear for professional headshots. You’ll select clothing that aligns with your professional goals, exudes confidence, and creates a cohesive and polished look. 

Remember, the aim is to create a headshot that showcases your professionalism, credibility, and approachability, helping you stand out in a competitive job market or enhance your brand’s image.

For building brand trust headshots of your team are the most essential tools.  And also a professional headshot communicates your high quality standards to your customers.

Author Olivia Anna

Author Bio: Olivia Anna, a skilled content writer for over 7 years, specializes in making photography and ecommerce easy to understand. With a knack for simplifying complex topics, Olivia’s writing takes you on a journey through the world of visual art and online business.