What To Wear For Your Professional Headshots
Your headshot is your first impression, and it is important to make that impression a good one. What you wear to your headshot photo shoot conveys a lot about yourself to others and should be thoughtfully chosen so that others perceive you as trustworthy, reliable, and an expert in your field. We have put together a list of things to consider when choosing your outfit for your business headshots including general rules on overall outfit choice and specific tips on things like color and patterns.
Your Headshot Should Represent Your Personal Brand
Whether you are an employee at a company, are currently looking for new employment, or are running your own business, your headshot is a representation of your personal brand and will influence the rest of someone’s online interaction with you. The first and most important step towards choosing an outfit for your headshots is to figure out what your personal brand is and what message you want to send to people with your headshots. There are some specific technical things to consider when selecting an outfit, but your desired message will be the most influential factor in your selection process. To learn more about crafting a message and brand with your headshots, read our other blog The Power of Professional Portrait Photography for Telling Your Story.
Dress For the Job You Want
You may have heard this one a hundred times, but it is really important. Dress like the person you want to be or want to be seen as. If you want to be seen as a business executive, dress like a business executive in your headshots. Think about what someone in your industry might wear. Also think about how professional or causal that outfit might be. A suit and tie is not always the best decision. Wearing an outfit that does not fit the industry you are in (at least a little bit, I’m not telling you to blindly conform) can cause some disconnect between you and those viewing your profiles.
For example, the top image on the left features a guy in a t-shirt and backwards cap, not really a professional outfit you’d typically see in a headshot. However, this guy is a running/workout coach so what he is wearing is exactly what a professional in his industry should be wearing. If he was wearing a button-up shirt and slacks, your first impression would be that he works in a more formal office job. Creating that kind of disconnect with people finding you for the first time can have a negative impact on their first impression of you.
What Message Are You Trying To Send With Your Headshots
This ties in with dressing for the job you want, but here you will need to think a little bit deeper about the purpose for your professional headshots. What is the first impression you want people to gather from seeing your headshot? That can be a difficult question to answer depending on your circumstances. Here’s a way to simplify it a bit and this is a question I often ask people before taking their headshots. If people were to describe you in three words, what words would you hope they used?
The answer to that question will help inform what outfit makes the most sense for you. This is something that you should discuss with your photographer before the shoot. They should be able to give you suggestions based on your needs. Here are some examples:
-Trustworthy, reliable, knowledgeable —-> Wear something a bit more formal, but doesn’t necessarily need to be a suit. Dress well and definitely wear something that closely represents your industry so people can easily see you are a veteran in that field
-Kind, listener, comforting —--> Wear something simple and comfortable looking. Not a sweatshirt and sweatpants though, there should be a baseline level of professionalism with your headshot outfits.
-Professional, ambitious, smart ——> Ok now a suit and tie makes sense
Wear something you feel good in
It is important to wear something that you feel comfortable in, both physically and mentally. The way you feel is the way you’ll appear in the photos. Don’t wear something uncomfortable because that will be visible in your headshots, even if just very subtly in your expression. These subtle things like that can have a big difference on how you’re perceived by bosses, hiring personnel, coworkers, etc. and differentiate good headshots from great headshots. Make sure your outfit fits you well and is something you think you look good in. You may not like the way you look in an outfit, but your significant other insists that you look great. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong, YOU need to truly feel good in the outfit you’re wearing.
How comfortable the outfit is, does not only depend on how it fits you. Part of the comfort of your outfit is how confident you are in it. Many studies have shown that simply wearing more formal clothing can improve your feelings of power and confidence. That does not mean black tie formal is required for a headshot, but you should air on the side of dressing up a bit more than you would normally at work because that confidence definitely shows up in your photos. Consult with your photographer on what this means for you your specific situation.
Remember That YOU Are the Star of Your Headshots, Not Your Outfit
As important as your outfit choice is, keep in mind that is it just a supporting character to the star, you, or more specifically, your face/eyes. You don’t want to wear an outfit that draws too much attention away from you, like flashy colors or crazy patterns. For this reason, it is best to wear something nice, but not distracting. You’ll also not want to wear too many attention grabbing accessories. Accessories are not a bad thing to have in a photo by any means, but if you go overboard with them, the accessories might become the focus of the photo rather than you.
A great, professional looking headshot will draw people’s eyes to yours. They should immediately lock eyes with you at first glance. It’s much like in person interactions, the real connections are made through the eyes. It is important to keep your eyes at the top of the visual hierarchy of your headshot.
Contrast is Good
You don’t want your whole outfit to blend together with itself, and you most certainly don’t want to blend in with the background. A general rule of thumb is that contrast is good. You want to have contrast between your outfit and the backdrop. If you have a very dark backdrop, wear something a little lighter, even a Navy jacket will be better than a black one. If you have a light backdrop, keep your outfit dark. This will provide some separation between you and the backdrop which will look a lot better. Hopefully, your photographer will have communicated this to you prior to showing up to the shoot.
If you are using a colored backdrop, it can be impactful to match the backdrop color. This conveys a more fun, high energy atmosphere. However, you will still want to create contrast by wearing either a darker or a lighter shade of that color. If you do not create any contrast between your outfit and the background, then in most cases, your picture will look like just a floating head at first glance. You may think you can easily see the boundary between outfit and background, but when your headshot is shrunk down in a profile picture on Linkedin, or in a grid of employees on a website, it will become much harder to tell at first glance.
If you are wearing an outfit with multiple elements, like a suit or a sweater-scarf combo, there should be contrast within your outfit as well. For example, a dark jacket, with a light shirt. You can wear an outfit that is all the same color and it can work very well. Depending on the outfit, it can look very stylish, dramatic, sophisticated etc. Just make sure that is an intentional decision and not just because you didn’t realize.
And lastly, you want contrast between your outfit and your skin tone. This way you don’t look like you’re blending into your outfit and it further draws attention up to your face. Not doing this will make it look like you are naked in your picture at first glance.
Remember that most of the time, people will initially see a smaller thumbnail version of your headshot. Having no contrast between your outfit and the background can cause you to look like a floating head. Having no contrast between different elements of your outfit can make them all look like the same piece of clothing like a jumpsuit. Having no contrast between yourself and your outfit can make you look naked.
Bring options
It never hurts to bring wardrobe options to your shoot so that you and your photographer can find a look that works best for you. This couple be small variations on your outfit such as different colored shirts or entirely different outfits. Sometimes there’s no substitution for a little trial and error. Talk with your photographer to see how many different outfits can be included in your photo shoot.
The Photographer is key
Your headshot photographer should be able to sit down with you and figure out specifically what outfit will work best to fit your needs. There are many other factors to consider when crafting a professional headshot. Background, lighting, posing, editing, and props are all important considerations for effectively sending a message with your headshot. Check here for more info.
Professional Headshot Photographer Near You
Are you looking for a professional headshot photographer in the Denver area? Book your free consultation call to discuss your headshot needs or check out my headshot portfolio!
William Weeks
1474 S Acoma St, Denver, CO 80223
719-640-7438