The Corporate Headshot

I’m often asked what the most important ingredient is in a good corporate headshot. The answer is simply you. Your body language. The Corporate Headshot is an interesting thing. That might sound kind of weird, as a corporate headshot sounds like it’d be a fairly mundane thing. But it’s not. Jobs, the exchange of money, trust, can start with a headshot. I don’t want to use elevated rhetoric here. I don’t pretend to believe a headshot is going to bring you total success. But it can definitely help. I sometimes wonder if any of my subjects edged out competition because of the photo I took of them. It’s possible that a headshot may help an actor edge out competition for a part, or a a business person may end up with a new client who called after getting a good feel from a photo. How much are the photos worth then? What if a great career follows?

But back to that most important ingredient, your body language. If the individual is the most important element of the headshot, the question often becomes “then how do I pose?” The answer is, you do but you don’t. Let me explain. First, If you have your own ideas on this, you’re encouraged to try, but for those who don’t, there is no need to worry—when I say you don’t need to pose for your headshot I mean figuring out a pose for your headshot is ultimately my job not yours. What I really mean is that you don’t need to pose on your own at all, I’ll pose you. In fact I would rather you just stand there and let me guide you. That said it never hurts to be a little informed. If you’ve read any of the other posts here you’ll find some similarities.  The direction you tilt your head, the way your shoulders align with the camera, all suggest something about you. One pose may offer a more powerful look, another a more gentle look. If you hire a decent photographer all you really need to know is what you are looking for—communicate this to the photographer and let them take care of translating your desired effect into the language of the image. 

There are a few things to keep in mind when taking your corporate headshots. The approach  differs from that of doing an actors headshot in a few ways in that you’re allowed a little more latitude. Actors should always keep hands out of the frame. In your corporate shot, having a hand near the chin may work well. It all depends on what you’re going for and your intended use. Usually corporate shots tend to be more on the traditional side. But if you’re in a creative business and are looking for something more on the portrait side of the headshot world there is more room for exploration than, say, with a actors headshot that has a strong set of never dos.