1. WEAR YOUR PERSONALITY 

You want your headshots to look genuine and authentic? What you wear should exude your personality to help you to be seen in the light that you wish to be seen as. Don’t wear a pant suit or a dress unless it fits your personality.

If you are a casual person, dress in professional casuals, keeping other tips listed here in mind. Solid button down shirt or blouse with three quarter or long sleeves is casual yet professional.

If you want to be seen as fun, bright colors or accessories like bow tie, jewelry, scarves or bright shoes can help convey that for you.

If you like to be seen as trendy, go for it. If you would rather look classic, there’s nothing wrong with that either! You don’t have to fit a mold. Be true to yourself and it will show through your images! Honestly, nothing is boring or too loud. People want to know you and see YOU!

 

 

 

 2. WEAR WHAT WORKS WITH YOUR BRAND  

Wearing colors and style that blend with your brand so you can use your images without them looking out of place. Consistency with your brand identity makes it easy for you to become recognizable.

Think about your brand colors and pick something that either matches or complement those colors.

Is your brand style modern, classic, eccentric, casual, vibrant, fun, earthy…..? Match your clothing style to fit with your brand message.

 

 

 

 

3. PLAIN COLORS – AVOID PATTERN AND THIN PIN STRIPES

Patterns are distracting! To keep eyes on your face and expressions, avoid wearing trendy patterns. Big patterns can also make you look wider. Solid colors are you best bet for any kind of pictures! 

Thin pin stripes don’t translate well on digital images. They contribute to pixel distortion. They also make photoshop slimming magic harder. Now you don’t want to see drunk pin stripes (you know what I mean?) do you? Pin strips make any modifications hard. There’s very little room to tweak imperfections with close stripes.  

Plain colors are not only easy on eyes, they make photo manipulations a breeze! 

Wearing the color of your eyes will make your eyes pop in your pictures.

 

 

 

4. MAKE IT FIT 

We all try to cover our flaws behind loose clothing. Since pictures are two dimensional, loose clothing, makes you appear wider. Only super skinny models can make over sized clothing look desirable and cozy. For rest of us, it’s best to wear fitted clothes to look leaner and taller. Don’t we all want to achieve leaner and taller? 

Too tight and you will start seeing the stretch lines in the fabric so choose a happy medium. A nice slim fit, that lets you breathe easy, is perfect! 

 

 

 5. WEAR WHAT YOU LOVE 

Wear what makes you happy! If you feel comfortable and confident, it will translate on camera too. Genuine expressions beat a well put together outfit! 

 

 

6. NO COLOR IS TOO BRIGHT

Bright colors translate as fun, bold and different!  

White doesn’t wash you out if your photographer knows how to light you right. In-fact, white is my favorite color for branding imagery. It’s fresh, bright and classy!

 

 

 

 

7. RICH, DARK COLORS 

Dark colors smooth out your figure, hiding little rolls some of us are blessed with. Choose rich dark tones instead of flat tones without texture, to add the depth.

 

8. NECK LINES 

If you have a short neck, deeper necklines will make your neck appear longer in pictures. V-shaped necklines and scoop necks look good on pretty much everyone, so you can’t go wrong with those.

If you have a long neck, a high neckline — turtleneck, crew neck or boatneck — is your best bet. Higher neckline draws the eye out to your shoulders to make you appear more proportioned.

A v-neck makes one appear less boxy and adds height to the appearance. It complements men/women with rounder and/or wider faces as well.

Looking to minimize your bust? Opt for a square neckline or collars.

 

 

9. ACCESSORIES

Accessories help make a statement!

A bright pair of heels with a neutral outfit adds just the right amount of unexpected color, helping you stand out. 

Hats, scarves, belts, bow ties, suspenders, etc. can add that surprise element to make your images unique showcasing your innovative, bold personality. Accessories make you memorable in your own unique way.  

Dainty jewelry pieces can enhance a polished look.

 

 

 

10. BRING VARIETY

Sometimes it’s hard to nail the right look that matches your vision perfectly. Bringing a variety of outfits helps ensures you have variety to select from.

You know you may want to use your headshots for Linked in, Outlook, Website, Social media profiles. Think about speaking engagements you may have, marketing content where a specific look would help setting the vibe without having to use too many words. Having a variety of images in different outfits, keeps your content fresh! 

 

 

 

Hope these tips insipred you to put your outfits together for your photo session.

Drop a comment if this helped ease your nerves about what to wear for your session or if you have any tips for the readers to rock their professional portraits!

 

XO

Nids

Chiyomi is a life coach. She came to get professional branding portraits for her website that would not only set her apart from her competition but would showcase her personality. It’s amazing how today’s electronic world has made it so easy to conduct business from any part of the world. During her portrait consultation I understood that Chiyomi’s portraits need to capture the very essence of her as most of her clients don’t meet her in person. After spending an hour talking about her business and what she wanted her portraits to convey, we designed a photo session to create fun yet professional images for Chiyomi that would work for both her Japanese and American websites.

My makeup artist, Lachan Bridges and hair stylist, Shaurron got Chiyomi looking amazing for her photo session. Here are some of the images we came out with from her session:

Interested in a professional branding session of your own? Contact me and let’s design it together!