Headshots vs Portraits: Key Differences & How to Choose the Right Style

Headshots vs. portrait photography can significantly affect how you represent yourself professionally. But the question is: how do you know whether headshot or portrait photography is the best choice?

Well, you’re not alone with this thought. Go through this article to get all your queries, including:

The difference between headshots and portraits,
Tips to capture headshots and portraits, and many more.

So, without more talk, let’s get started!

Defining Headshots and Portraits

Headshot photo vs self-portrait​: both are distinct types of professional photos with different purposes. Before diving into the deep, let’s understand what headshot photography is!

Headshots

Headshots are close-up images focusing on the person’s face, typically from the shoulders up. Its ultimate goal is to highlight the subject’s features, personality, confidence, and professionalism in a straightforward and sharp manner. You can use headshots for -

1. Professional representation
2. Business
3. Social media platforms
4. Professional portfolios
5. Modeling or acting profiles, etc.

However, the most common types of headshots are close-ups, half-body shots, three-quarter-body shots, and full-body shots.

Portraits

Portraiture is a more artistic or expressive photo that captures the subject’s essence, personality, or mood. The focus is on the subject’s face, expressions, and backgrounds to create creative compositions. Its core purposes are:

1. Personal website portfolios
2. Documenting special occasions, like weddings
3. Showcase a person’s inner story and personality, and more.

The common types of portrait photoshoots are lifestyle, glamour, candid portraits, traditional portraits, environmental portraits, and so on.

Now that you’ve got a clear idea about headshots vs. personal branding portraits, let’s move to the key differences between these two photography genres!

Key Differences Between Headshots and Portraits

Many use the terms interchangeably in this photography era, but there are some key differences. Here is a table that highlights the headshots vs personal branding portraits differences:

For more in-depth details, let’s check out below:

Purpose

Headshots: As mentioned earlier, headshots are used in professional contexts, including business websites, social media profiles, corporate branding, and many more. As such, headshot photographers showcase a clear and professional image of the person, highlighting confidence, approachability, and professionalism.

Portraits: On the contrary, portraits are used to tell a story, capture a moment, convey emotion, or express artistic creativity. Therefore, portrait photographers' key goal is to capture more depth of the subject’s personality, expression, or a unique aspect of their life or event.

Composition and Framing

Headshot photography: The photographer focuses on the subject’s face and shoulders. Here, the background should remain simple and uncluttered to avoid distractions. So, photographers use studio lighting for even and flattering exposure for indoor or studio photoshoot sessions.

Portrait photography: Rather than focusing on the face and shoulders, portraiture offers a wide range of compositions, from close-ups to full-body images. In fact, you can include a detailed background, environmental context, creative lighting setups, and artistic props. Also, for modeling photoshoots, you can frame out the person's body language, poses, and more.

Expression and Pose

Headshots: The subject mainly focuses on the camera with a friendly, approachable, and natural expression. Of course, overly dramatic expressions are avoided and require straightforward, minimal movement.

Portraits: You can explore more room to express your creative vision, from candid to emotional expressions or even artistic ones. Portrait poses often play with angles, movements, gestures, and even exaggeration. As a result every image highlights a unique story or evokes emotion.

Situations and Uses for Headshots

You might notice that the company's “About Us” page showcases individual team members' images and roles. Yes, all those are called corporate profiles or professional headshots. For more details, here are some common uses where headshots play a vital role:

Professional Headshots

Job applications and resumes: A professional headshot on resumes, CVs, or personal portfolios establishes credibility and makes a positive first impression on potential clients and recruiters.

LinkedIn profiles: A high-quality headshot makes your LinkedIn profiles more approachable and professional. Also, it helps to connect potential employers, colleagues, and business partners and gives them confidence about connecting.

Corporate websites: As we mentioned, companies showcase team members’ headshots to give clients and visitors trust and credibility.

Business cards: Business cards or online profiles work as networking materials where clean and straightforward headshots offer a strong visual connection and reinforce your brand.

Press releases: Finally, high-quality headshots are used in professional publications, public speaking engagements, press releases, and more to highlight individuals' credibility.

Social Media and Personal Branding

Social media profiles: Professional headshots on different social media profiles, like Twitter, Instagram, and others, give an approachable outlook to followers and visitors.

Blogging or content creator: Professional headshots help influencers, content creators, or bloggers to connect with celebrities or brands.

Online profiles: For small business owners, freelancers, or creatives, a headshot helps to enhance their online portfolio and convey their professionalism to potential clients.

Actors and Performers

Casting calls and auditions: Actors, models, dancers, and others' full body shots highlight their acting skills that help to get auditions and casting calls.

Agency portfolios: Actors or performers use headshots to submit to talent agencies.

Promotional material: Headshots are used for promotional purposes, like event posters, press kits, or digital platforms to promote the creative artist's skills.

Situations and Uses for Portraits

From preserving milestones to capturing a person’s essence, portraits play a vital role. Therefore, let’s take a closer look for more artistic and professional photo portrait usage details.

Personal and Family Portraits

Family portraits: Portraits are useful for showcasing relationships, memories, and affection for each other. Additionally, they are also lively representations of reunions, gatherings, individual milestones, and more.

Child portraits: Some love to preserve the baby’s adorable moments, new members' greetings, and more. Portrait photographers capture a child’s innocence, beauty, parenthood, joy, and more in one frame.

Senior portraits: Often, high school seniors use portraits to mark this special time in their lives. Likewise, graduation or transition to adulthood is also often photographed. As a result, this transitional time is preserved in memorable way.

Creative and Artistic Photography

Conceptual portraits: Portraits help narrow a story or convey a specific message.

Fashion portraits: Portraiture is a visual presentation often showcasing clothing, accessories, and makeup.

Fine art portraits: These portraits highlight artistic expression and themes of identity, emotion, and beauty.

Editorial and Lifestyle Portraits

Magazine covers: Portraits are used to highlight fashion trends, illustrate stories, and other publications.

Advertising campaigns: Portraits are used to promote branded products and services, such as beauty products, skincare, and more.

Corporate headshots: Similar to traditional headshots, corporate portraitures are more personalized and creative.

Tips for Choosing Between a Headshot and Portrait

When it comes to choosing headshots vs portrait photography​, you need to consider several factors, including:

Determine the Purpose

Headshots: Do you use photographs professionally or for personal use? If for a professional or business setting, like a company website, resume, or portfolio, a headshot is the best choice.

Headshots provide a clear, sharp, and straightforward professional impression. They focus on the subject’s face and expression. Also, it highlights and communicates individuals' confidence, approachability, and competence.

Portraits: If you intend to tell a story, frame milestones, capture emotions, or create artistic expressions, portraits are the best choice. In fact, portraiture goes beyond headshots and is not confined to the subject’s face. Thereby portraits offer flexibility in terms of storytelling, creativity, mood, and uniqueness.

Consider the Subject’s Needs

Headshots: What emotion do you want to highlight? A casual one? Or do you want a polished and professional image to represent your career, industry, or business context? Ultimately, headshots are useful for branding purposes. Plus, they give you a consistent look across professional platforms.

Portraits: When a subject wants to highlight more personal or emotional dimensions, portraits are fit best. In this case, you need to include different expressions, poses, and interactions with others. Also, you have the flexibility to use props.

Think About the Setting and Background

Headshot photography: You need to choose a clean, simple, and distraction-free background. As a result viewers focus on the subject’s personality and professionalism. However, for outdoor headshot photoshoots, blur the background to maintain a polished and consistent look.

Portrait photography: Whether it's an indoor or outdoor photoshoot, focus on the narrative and try to build a connection between the overall scenario and the subject's photoshoot goals.

Tips for Capturing the Perfect Headshot

Take a look at some practical headshot photoshoot tips:

Lighting

Choose soft and diffused light to create flattering results. While, natural light from a window is the best source, a softbox in a studio helps avoid harsh shadows. Also, ensure the light falls evenly across the subject’s face if you use artificial lights. In fact, use reflectors or diffusers to reduce shadows and warm up the tone. However, for outdoor photoshoots, avoid direct sunlight. Also, choose a place with warm reflected light.

Angles and Framing

Position at eye level or slightly above for headshots to minimize double chins and emphasize the subject’s confidence. Then, guide the subject to slightly angle shoulders rather than facing the camera directly. Finally, crop just below the shoulders to focus on the face only. Additionally, use a lens with a focal length of 50mm to 85mm to minimize distortion.

Expressions

Guide the subject to give a relaxed smile or warm expression to convey approachability and professionalism. Use simple prompts or conversation to relax the subject. However, some headshots require more serious expressions depending on the context. Therefore, discuss the goal of the headshot with your subject.

Background

For headshot photography, choose a simple, non-distracting, neutral background. For example, a simple, solid-colored background. Then, you can use a wide aperture to create a shallow depth of field to blur the background. However, for shooting in a corporate or workplace area, ensure the background is tidy and relevant.

Tips for Capturing the Perfect Portrait

Here are some professional portrait-capturing hacks that ease your path:

Experiment with Lighting

If you plan to shoot indoor portraits, then use natural light sources, like sunlight coming through windows. Doing such creates warmth and dimension. But, for studio portraits, experiment with different lighting setups, like backlighting, catch, clamshell, loop, or rim lighting. In addition, for outdoor shoots, choose a natural light-enriching place that provides the best lighting.

Note: You must avoid shooting in direct sunlight for harsh shadows, and don’t forget to get weather updates. Try to shoot in the golden hours to get a lovely, warm, and natural glow. 

Background and Setting

Every photography genre's stunning final outlook depends on location, background, and settings. Usually, for portrait photography, you’ll need a neutral and uncluttered background to avoid distractions. Also, you don’t need to stick with a plain background. For instance, you can shoot utilizing interesting props, eye-soothing backgrounds, and more to add context.

However, to capture portraits, you can try aperture priority mode to control the depth of field, use 1/100th shutter speed, choose 100 ISO, and increase it in low light. Also, use a short to medium-length telephoto lens. Of course, there is no hard and fast camera settings rule. Therefore, incorporate your own portrait settings and choose the best option.

Poses and Expressions

The success of portrait photography lies in figuring out the right poses and expressions of the subject. Too, consider the lighting setups, camera angle, and background. Then, guide your subject to pose in a way that complements them. Feel free to try different posing styles and angles, such as -

• Use body angles rather than facing straight the camera
• Smiling, funny, or confident states to evoke different feelings
• Incorporate hands in interesting ways
• Adjust body language and more.

Incorporate Props or Wardrobe

Be mindful of selecting props. These might be instruments, books, flowers, or others that help to create a narrative. Give subjects flexibility to choose their clothes to reflect their desired style, theme, or story. Remember, bright colors, patterns, and accessories can make portraits pop, while neutral tones or monochrome outfits might introduce a classic or understandable look.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the cost difference between headshots and portraits?
Although headshots might be cheaper than portraits, they vary widely in cost, ranging from $25 to $2,000 or more, depending on the location, photographer’s skill, and headshot type. In contrast, a portrait photoshoot ranges between $150 and $350 per hour for a single photo session.

Can a portrait also be used as a headshot and vice versa?

Yes, a portrait can be used as a headshot, but you can’t use a headshot as a portrait.

How often should headshots be updated?

You should update your professional headshot every one to two years depending on several factors, such as -

• You’ve changed your appearance, like having facial surgery, or if you have lost or gained weight
• You’ve changed your professional roles or careers
• An actor needs to change for their dramatic roles and many others.

Is one style better for social media profiles than the other?

No, one single style isn’t necessarily better for social media profiles than the other. For example,

• LinkedIn: More professional and formal tone; suitable for business-oriented content
• Instagram: Casula, creative aesthetic, and visual-rich
• Twitter: Quick and concise update with a conversational tone

Conclusion

I hope that the information I have shared helped you to decide which photography style suits your personal branding or aesthetic expression. Have questions or need more information? Feel free to reach out!