photo by Delmaine Donson via iStock
Headshot photography is a basic tool for business. It lets other people see who a person is, presenting them in a favorable light.
Headshots are used on business cards, on personal and business websites, in advertising, as a place card for talent, and for a whole lot more.
In fact, a great headshot can be used for just about anything, so I thought some very basic headshot photography tips would be welcome by any photographer wanting to try out this method of portraiture.
Table of Contents
- What Is Headshot Photography?
- My Top 5 Headshot Photography Tips
- Talk It Out
- Choose the Right Clothes
- Separate the Subject from the Background
- Flattering Lighting Headshot Photography Tips
- Cropping Headshot Photography Tips
- What About Prints?
- Recommended Portrait Photography Gear
What Is Headshot Photography?
photo by George Marks via iStock
Headshot photography is pretty much exactly how it sounds. It’s a portrait of a person emphasizing their head. Well, head and shoulders, actually, but emphasizing the face. It shows who the person is, an instantly recognizable pose saying, “Here I am.”
However, it isn’t simply a static picture of a person. At its best, headshot photography is an artistic version of the reality of the person. So, some tips for headshot photography will help out any photographer wanting to try out this style of portrait photography.
My Top 5 Headshot Photography Tips
photo by Igor-Kardasov via iStock
We could talk all day about all the nuances of technique, posing, lighting, exposure, and post-processing in regards to headshot photography. To get us started, here are my top 5 headshot photography tips:
- Talk It Out
- Choose the Right Clothes
- Separate the Subject from the Background
- Flattering Lighting Headshot Photography Tips
- Cropping Headshot Photography Tips
Talk It Out
photo by fizkes via iStock
Any portrait photoshoot should begin with a conversation between the photographer and the subject. This accomplishes things on both sides of the discussion. For you as a photographer, it gives you an opportunity to find out what the person really wants out of the session, an important aspect of headshot photography tips.
Do they want to use the headshot photography images on business cards? If so, a very clear image is usually better than anything overly artsy or dramatic. Or is it going to be used in a website “About Us” page? Then a more artfully designed headshot may be in order.
This is also your opportunity to show your previous work, and perhaps talk about using the session for other styles of portrait photography. As a working professional, this could also gain you some extra sales of hard copy portraits, such as a nice canvas print.
If you’re not charging for the headshot photography, it still works as one of the more important headshot photography tips to talk about the session ahead of time. A model release or a contract is a good idea either way, spelling out that you can use the images for your own promotion, or establishing clear limits on what either you or the subject can do with the images after delivery.
Choose the Right Clothes
photo by Siri Stafford via iStock
“Clothes make the man” (or woman) is the saying, it is especially true with regards to headshot photography. You would likely be discussing this in your pre-session conversation, but I like to separate these two headshot photography tips.
Since this is headshot photography, we want the clothing to accentuate the images, not overpower them or distract from the person. With that in mind, we still have many options available for styles and colors of clothing.
Sometimes, the clothing may be an essential part of the image telling the viewer about the person. A uniform may immediately tell us that the headshot photography subject is a chef, a doctor or nurse, a member of the armed forces, a part of a sports team, an entertainer, a service provider, or any other vocation or avocation that can be readily discerned by clothing choices.
Regardless of the color, style, or other aspects of the clothing, it should be clean and pressed. Otherwise, it could detract from the headshot as viewers may be distracted from the person by the condition of the clothing.
Separate the Subject from the Background
photo by CarlosDavid.org via iStock
This is one of the headshot photography tips that will include some equipment options as well as our photographic skills and techniques. There are several ways we can separate the subject from the background: lens choice, aperture, lighting, and post-processing.
A short telephoto lens is the first choice of many headshot photographers. It provides a good, tight framing of the person’s head and shoulders from a moderately close distance, it gives an apparent perspective that is pleasing for human faces, and it is a simple job to open up the aperture a bit to have shallow depth of field.
That aperture will be a prime consideration for separation. At a moderately close distance, a short or medium telephoto lens will have the shallow depth of field for the selective focus technique even if you stop down a bit from wide open. In Full Frame format, lenses from about 85mm up to 135mm are likely to give you the focus separation you want.
Another way to separate the subject from the background is to use contrast control and color control. A well-lit subject against either a substantially brighter or darker background will achieve good separation. Both contrasting colors and complementary colors can be used effectively, depending on just how much separation you want.
Learn More:
- 4 Simple Ways to Create Emotion in Photos
- Portrait and Landscape Photography: Similarities and Differences
- Versatile Camera Gear You Need in your Bag
Flattering Lighting Headshot Photography Tips
I’m listing lighting headshot photography tips separately here, but you can also use lighting as a method for separating the subject from the background. The best lighting will help accomplish that as well as make your portrait subject appear naturally modeled with highlight and shadow control.
If you’re inside, either in your own studio or at some other indoor location, you may want to use some portable lighting that’s easy to move around, but that emits a clean, neutrally colored light. I really enjoy the battery-powered LED panel lights for this. I can adjust two lights by position and power in order to get exactly the facial modeling effect desired.
Lighting can also help give us subject separation from the background by using a third light behind the subject. It can be dialed up or down in power, and many of these LED panel lights have color control, too, which can also enable the person to POP out from the background.
You can set up a good lighting configuration almost anywhere with battery powered LEDs and some small mounts like the OctoPad. Since the OctoPad can be placed on virtually any surface, even if it’s sloped up to 45 degrees, having a few in your lighting gear is awesome for any of your on-location headshot photography sessions.
Included with lighting for these headshot photography tips will be posing. It’s a simple enough discussion for the most common headshot photography styles. Wherever you have your camera, place the person with their body facing 45 degrees or so from the camera and then have them turn only their head back toward the camera.
If you’re setting up lights, the main light can be directly in front of their body position and higher, up to a 45-degree angle point down on the subject. Typically, that light would be the key light or main light and be at a higher power setting.
The second light could be on the other side of the camera position, with an angle of up to 45 degrees, though that angle can be reduced. Reduce the power on that light as well, half or 1/3rd the intensity of the main light seems to work with many subjects. This is your fill light or catch light. A reflector could also be used in this position.
The 3rd light would be behind the portrait subject, either shining on the background or on the person. It can be placed high or low and it can be at an angle from the person, though directly behind the body position seems to work out much of the time for me. Use your OctoPad to place on the floor, on a chair, on a wall, whatever’s there, and then play with the power setting and colors to get the look you want.
Cropping Headshot Photography Tips
photo by Yagi-Studio via iStock
The final of my top 5 headshot photography tips is to use cropping effectively in order to have the final image be the tight head and shoulders portrait of a classic headshot. Your post-processing program can be used for this to tighten up the framing, but you will want to get it as good as possible in-camera.
Vertical or portrait orientation is the preferred choice of the majority of finished headshots and the Rule of Thirds is a good guide on where to place the subject framing since headshots look good with a little headspace. Landscape orientation can also work well for headshot photography depending on the final use of the image.
While you’re in your post-processing program, you can tighten up the cropping, size it to what the finished image should be, such as 4x6, 4x5, 3x5, and so on. Look at some of the other tools, too. You can blur out the background more if you need to and can also fine-tune or tweak the exposure, contrast, and color levels.
These headshot photography tips will help you to capture these basic and essential business portrait images while providing a flattering and well-crafted photograph.
What About Prints?
Photo by PeopleImages via iStock
In many cases, the headshots you take of clients are for digital applications, like a website or their LinkedIn page. However, sometimes, clients need a print of their headshot, so you need to be prepared with a printing partner that will help you deliver the highest-quality print possible.
I've gotten prints from a lot of companies over the years. Some have been fine. Others have been just plain terrible. And a select few have been absolutely sensational.
Artbeat Studios is in the sensational category, and I can't recommend them highly enough for your printing needs.
Sure, most of the prints I've ordered from Artbeat Studios have been landscapes, but when you see quality, you see quality - and these guys can print portraits with the best of them!
I think it's safe to assume that a paper print would be most appropriate for a headshot, and Artbeat Studios has you covered with a great selection of paper print sizes, from 4x6 up to 48x96 (plus custom sizes!).
What's more, as you can see above, there are four different paper styles to choose from, each with a unique look. Personally, I'd go for the Fine Art Paper option, as it includes museum-grade paper that's both beautiful and durable.
There are various styles of frames available as well, that way you can customize the print even further to match your clients' office aesthetic.
Of course, just because you get tons of customization options doesn't mean you'll have to pay out the nose for these prints. That's what makes Artbeat Studios such a unique company - they offer beautiful, well-made products that are also budget-friendly.
So, that means you can create gorgeous headshots, offer your clients impressive framed prints, and still have plenty of wiggle room for making a profit.
If you're in need of a new printing partner to help bring your headshots and other images to life, I strongly suggest you give Artbeat Studios a try!
Recommended Portrait Photography Gear
- Canon EOS R6
- Acratech GP-SS Ball Head
- Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L USM
- Canon RF 85mm F1.2 L USM
- 5-in-1 Reflector Pack
- Peak Design Leash Camera Strap
- Wireless Camera Remote
- Strobe Light