I always tell my clients: your headshot is not a magic wand — it's a hammer, and you need the right one for you. Yes, a lot will change once you start using it, beginning with your own confidence, and it will most likely be the best picture you've ever used online to represent yourself. But it can be improved even further, and that process starts before you step into the light and hear the first click of the camera.
There are three key factors I ask you to consider to get the best out of the session: a vision, a purpose, and a budget.
Let's go over each one of them.
Vision.
It's that classic "Dress for the job you want, not for the job you have" we always hear. This is what separates my work from just an image proving you have a head with eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth placed in some particular order. No matter what you do or what position you aim for, I want you to look like the person who owns the situation.
The key goal of any headshot session isn't just the final product or the experience of being in front of the camera — it's the confidence boost you get when you see your vision become a reality. Now, you have a daily reminder of your awesomeness, and everyone else can see it too.
Imagine two people in a room — one is the boss of a big company, the other is the candidate. My goal is to make you look like the boss, not the candidate. Easy to say, takes some time to achieve. However, once your vision aligns with the result, that feeling stays with you forever.
Purpose.
This is more of a technical aspect, but it can't be ignored because it's the kind of sauce that can make or break the meal. Whether you need a headshot for LinkedIn, Tinder, a website, an article, or a magazine cover — whether it will be seen as a small circular profile picture or a large print — every detail matters.
For example, for social media, especially LinkedIn, I always recommend a white background and soft lighting. A white background blends seamlessly with the platform, while soft light makes the face easy to read, even on a small screen. Remember, on social media, you often don't have much of the viewer's time, so a strong visual hook should come first.
An article illustration or any other slower-paced and character-driven situations allow us to use more details and alternative lighting schemes to emphasize a certain mood that readers or viewers are supposed to tune in to.
If you have certain branding colors, I want to know them long before the session so we can figure out how to incorporate them into the image — whether in your clothing, the lighting, or the background. Of course, you can "fix it in post," but why reject the option of getting a much better-looking result for the same price?
Budget.
This is a tricky subject, as always. Yes, professional headshots aren't cheap, and there are many reasons for that: photographers spend years training and refining their skills, professional gear is involved, and, most importantly – unlike most other types of photography – business images have practical value over sentimental value. This means they require special attention to detail. A professional headshot is designed to make you visible, recognizable, and taken seriously in business — which also means it shouldn't be more than a couple years old.
Budget-wise, think of headshots like clothing in your wardrobe. Yes, it's okay to have one — the one you use for work — but what if another occasion comes up and you suddenly feel the need to replace your "weekday" profile picture with a "weekend" one? Or you realize that bolder options weren't such a bad idea to make you stand out?
Anyway, tightening your budget to "just one image" might lead to a situation where your vision changes, and you end up not using that image. You might regret not paying more for some images that were really interesting but were discarded for the sake of the budget. My goal as a photographer and a facial expression expert is to provide you with the best possible options — the problem is, there might be too many. But it's a good problem to have, isn't it? ;)