How to Prep for Your
Headshot Session

Your company has booked an on-site headshot day. Sessions are short and run on a schedule, so a few minutes of prep is the difference between a photo you like and one you settle for.

About 5 minutes per person · 3–5 final images · Arrive at your scheduled time

The Day | What actually happens

Your session, start to finish

High-volume days move quickly. Here's the whole flow so nothing catches you off guard.

Before you arrive
Come at your scheduled time

Your coordinator will send you a slot. Arrive at that time — not early. Sessions run about five minutes each and stay on schedule, so showing up ahead of your slot just creates a line at the station. If you're running late, tell your coordinator rather than the photographer.
First 60 seconds
Quick check at the station

We'll do a fast look at collar, lapels, and hair before anything else. Bring a comb if you use one; there's a mirror at the station.
The session
Shooting, with direction

I shoot tethered into a laptop, so we can look at the shots together as we go and adjust. You'll be coached the entire time — where to put your hands, how to angle your shoulders, what to do with your face. Expect me to say some ridiculous things to get a real reaction out of you; that's how natural expressions happen. Nobody is expected to know how to pose. That's the job.
Last 30 seconds
Review the shots

You'll see the frames on screen before you're done. If something isn't working, say so — we'll keep shooting rather than send you off with a photo you don't like.
After the day
Retouching and delivery

You'll typically receive 3–5 retouched images. Each file is named with your first and last name so it's easy to identify, and everything is uploaded to a private link for your company. Your coordinator handles distribution from there.

Wardrobe | What to wear

Dress the way you would for an important meeting in your industry

For some people that's a jacket and tie; for others it's a clean shirt and jeans. Both are right. Beyond that: bring something you actually like wearing — if you don't feel good in it, that shows up in your expression. Fit matters more than color, and the camera exaggerates everything.

Bring this

Solid colors — navy, charcoal, deep green, burgundy, white
A well-fitted shirt or jacket — fit does more than anything else here
Clean, pressed fabric — wrinkles are hard to retouch out
A v-neck undershirt if you wear one — crew necks creep up and show at the collar
Appropriate undergarments — studio lights are bright, and thin fabric can go slightly see-through
Your glasses, if you wear them daily
A tie, pre-tied if you'd rather — or I'll tie it for you at the station

Leave this at home

Tight stripes, checks, and busy prints — repeating lines distort badly on camera
Large logos or slogans
Neon and very bright colors near the face
Loose or baggy cuts — they read as unpolished and are hard to shoot well
Scoop necks, which widen the neck and shoulders
Deep v-necks and plunging necklines — they pull attention off your face
Most jewelry, hats, and scarves — nothing should compete with you

Grooming | Small things that show up big

A headshot is mostly face and shoulders

Which means details you'd never notice across a conference table are suddenly at full size on a company page.

Hair

Wear it the way you'd wear it on a normal day — nobody knows your hair better than you do. Bring a brush, comb, or any product you'd want on hand. Don't worry about fly-aways or a few grays; those get fixed in retouching.

Makeup

Light and natural. Go easy on foundation — a blemish is far easier to retouch than heavy coverage is to undo, and there's no good way to remove makeup mid-session without leaving skin red. You can always add; you can't easily subtract.

Facial hair

Brush and trim beards and mustaches to clean lines, whatever the length. Do it the day before rather than the morning of, so any irritation has time to settle.

The small stuff

Trim longer nose hairs, comb your eyebrows, check that your eyelashes aren't curling down into your eyes, moisturize your lips, and give your teeth a brush. Basic, but all of it shows at full size.

Glasses

Wear them. If glasses are part of how you look day to day, bring them and keep them on — glare gets handled with a few tricks during the shoot and cleaned up in retouching.

Sleep

Not always possible, but a good night's rest genuinely shows. Under-eye bags and bloodshot eyes can be reduced in retouching — they just don't have to be.

Nerves | If you hate being photographed

Most people do. It changes nothing about the result.

Roughly everyone says some version of "I'm not photogenic" before we start. Being photogenic isn't a trait people have — it's direction, angle, and lighting, and all three are handled for you. You'll be told exactly what to do the whole time, and you get to see the shots before you leave. If something isn't working, we adjust and keep going. Nobody leaves with a photo they didn't approve.