Photographing headshots can be a great entry point into a career as a professional photographer. Or if you have a few years under your belt, they can be an excellent source of additional income alongside your main field in photography.
Of course, the reason for this is that they are fairly quick and easy to do; for example, if you already service commercial clients for product images or architecture work, you might offer headshots to those same clients. Or if you mainly shoot weddings, you might have a side business for headshots during off-peak seasons.
What Is a Headshot?
But what is a headshot? And how is it different from a portrait? Well, for me at least, the main difference is intent. A headshot is intended to be used in a professional setting, such as on LinkedIn or a company website; so, in a sense, it is a type of portrait with the intention to leverage professional capital rather than something separate from a portrait.
Generally, when we imagine a headshot, it is on a plain background with business clothes, whatever those are. But if we go back to the intention of professional usage, then different professions might lean into different levels of conformity; for example, a headshot for someone who works in an office might conform to specific ideals of what a person who works in an office would want to represent, compared to a headshot for a musician or an artist. Additionally, different professions might use certain tropes to express that profession (for example, a scientist or doctor might want a headshot in a lab coat, while a headshot of a camera person might be them standing next to their camera).
When negotiating a headshot session with a client, it is worthwhile to discuss how the images will be used, as well as if the client might want to lean into certain conventions or tropes. And of course, weigh that up with the volume of headshots; so, if you are photographing a single individual, you might be able to offer a few different types of images, but shooting a large company with hundreds of employees might mean that each employee gets a pretty standard head and shoulders on solid background.
Above, I have shared a list of potential items I might ask a client to bring. Obviously, you’ll want to tailor this to your client. So, for example, I work with quite a few professional models and for them, and it is appropriate to suggest that fashion models bring things like underwear or swimwear. This might not be a great idea for someone who works in business.
Conversely, asking clients to bring a few outfits might work great if you are photographing a single individual or a small team and are offering a more boutique service, but if you are working with a large company with lots of people to photograph, you might limit the number of outfits to one.
Some Do’s and Don’ts
When styling for a photo shoot, you want the clothing to reflect the individual as a person. This means wearing clothes that they feel happy and comfortable in.
Generally speaking, you want to avoid anything too busy with logos or patterns.
Anything too shiny (such as synthetic fabrics) should also be avoided.
To this end, I recommend to my clients to not purchase anything specifically for their photoshoot. If they do purchase new clothes, aim to get ones that are reflective of their style and will be cherished for a long time.
