What To Wear for a Portrait Session
This question gets asked a lot and having photographed thousands of headshots for business people over my career, I’ve learned a few things I can share with you.
Women look great with dark-colored blouses because it lets their face take center stage in the photograph. As viewers, we’re drawn to light areas of a photograph, so to emphasize your face, go with something more subdued for a top. Also, stripes and patterns can work but it’s best to bring a few changes of clothing so we have options on the shoot day in case they’re taking too much attention. Dangling large earrings can also draw attention so smaller stud-type are usually a safer choice. Necklaces have to work with your collar-line, so choose some accessories that can be placed where you want them to fall. Again, bring choices and we can find the best combination that works. Jackets create a strong professional look, so I usually say let’s try a few like that. The best thing is to have a variety of clothing and jewelry options so we can choose different looks. Remember, at my sessions, you are never under a time constraint and you can have multiple outfit changes. This is all about you and getting the looks you want.
Men look great with open shirt collars with suit jackets, shirt collars and tie with suit jackets, and even just shirt and tie, depending on the look you want. A modern trend is a simple dark t-shirt with a suit jacket. We can try different combinations so, just like with the women, it’s best to have a variety of options so we can create different looks for your portrait.
Hair and makeup professionals are an option if you want to bring on a professional to touch you up. Mention that at the time of booking so I can get someone booked to be in studio for you on the day of your session.
I suggest expressions with a smile as well as a closed-mouth smile and a non-smiling strong confident look, so you have different poses for different uses.
If you’re a performer or creative who needs to have a portrait made for a book jacket or press kit, we can work with props and furniture as well. I can even use more contrasty lighting to create dramatic portraits. When we discuss your session, we can work out all the details of what will work best, and again, you’ll bring options so we can try different poses, outfits and setups.
For backgrounds, I like a formal old-masters hand-painted muslin background as seen above (the same type used by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for magazine shoots), which implies a professional, high-quality, formal studio portrait, but white or another color background is also an option. Seamless background paper is available in a rainbow of colors, so if there are any special requests, I can bring them.
No matter what, you get to see the photographs as we’re making them so you know exactly if you’re finding the poses and looks that you want, and we don’t finish the session until you have multiple selections that work for you. You leave the session knowing exactly what your business headshot will look like.
And turnaround on the photographs, if needed, can be as quick as the next day.
