Your professional headshot—it’s the first impression you leave on your partners, potential employers, clients, and even customers. Some people even use headshots in their dating profiles. So as you can see, a professional headshot serves many valuable purposes. Your professional headshot should portray you as capable, approachable, and modern But this isn’t always the easiest of feats to accomplish. After all, it’s difficult to know exactly how to pose, style your hair, or even how to make wearing eyewear work in a photo shoot!
You can always hire a professional photographer to assist you in achieving the best angle and background for your headshots, but this process is costly and time-consuming. That’s why many people turn to AI for AI-generated headshots using services like PixelPose instead, resulting in faster turnaround times, a wider selection of headshots to choose from, and a more affordable and convenient service overall.
Achieving a professional headshot in 2024 isn’t difficult once you’ve got a little guidance. From choosing an outfit to styling your perfect pose, read on to learn quality tips for preparing for your professional headshots. You’ll also learn why AI is an essential tool for getting that perfect shot. Let’s get started!
First of All, What’s Your Goal?
What message are you trying to send with your professional headshot? Are you seeking to present yourself as a person of authority, or are you wanting to show your creative, artistic side? Are you wanting a serious approach or a more casual and friendly demeanor to be portrayed in your photographs?
The industry you work in has a lot to do with what your headshot goals should be. For example, if you work in childcare or education, you’d want your headshot to be full of personality and color for an approachable, easygoing but also authoritative appeal. If you work in law or the medical field, a professional headshot in solid colors and a basic background will provide the no-nonsense and courageous appeal you desire.
Your headshot says a lot about you and should do much more than just show your most appealing side; it should also portray a message of confidence and personality to whoever sees it. Based on how you want your professional headshots to be received, you can then move on to choosing outfits, poses, backgrounds, hairstyles, and more.
12 Tips for Choosing the Best Apparel for Your Photoshoot
With so many outfit arrangements to choose from, narrowing your options to just a select few can be as hard as selecting a final headshot itself. Use these 12 tips to help you out.
1. Stick to Colors You Love
Now isn’t the time to determine if you look great in eggplant or if royal blue makes your eyes pop. It’s also not the time to go with trending colors simply because everyone else is doing so. Stay true to what you know looks good on you. If you stick to colors you love for your professional headshots, you’ll feel more confident and comfortable in front of the camera.
Just make sure the colors you love aren’t too bright or dull. For example, if you love wearing pink, then flamingo pink may not be the wisest of choices, but a dusty rose or soft pastel pink can be a wise selection. If earth tones are your favorite color palettes, then stick to muted hues with a gray undertone so you don’t appear washed out and yellow on camera. A fine balance in colors will even things out nicely.
2. Choose Clothing That Fits You Well
You don’t want your color choices to drown out your frame and make you look hunched over and dumpy, nor do you want your clothing to be so tight it restricts your range of motion and overly accentuates your body shape. Stick to clothing that fits you well. If you can get up and down from a chair or couch easily without having to adjust your outfit, then you’re on the right track.
It’s wise to choose tailored clothing that fits you expertly. But if you don’t have the time or budget to do this, then opt for your exact size or a half size up in both a top and bottom. Even though your shoes and socks aren’t likely to be in frame, make sure they match your attire and don’t take away from your professional outfit—you’ll give off more confidence when your attire is totally on key.
3. Choose Business, Casual, or Business Casual
You want to give off a clear message of who you are and what your clothing represents, so make sure your outfit is cohesive throughout. Since casual clothing is now acceptable in most workplaces, it may be a more modern approach to a headshot to go with a business casual outfit than a full-on suit—that is, unless your industry is highly professional, such as law or psychiatry, where a suit is the best type of attire to wear.
4. Wear Clothing That Fits Your Field
It’s been touched on a few times that your professional headshot should reflect the field you represent or want to get into. Here are some suggestions:
- Hospitality: Wearing a long chef coat or hospitality blazer with crisp lines gives you a clean, approachable appearance
- Medical: Wearing a lab coat over a button-up shirt with your hair pulled back presents you in a professional, intelligent light
- Blue Collar: Wearing flannel, protective gear, and casual khakis shows you mean business and aren’t afraid of hard work
- Educational: Wearing a bright top with a small accessory shows your approachable, fun, and creative side
- Real estate: Wearing a crisp blazer over a bright and commanding color (such as red, royal purple, or even a black) shows your dedication to detail and fearless spirit
- Entrepreneurship: Wearing a button-up shirt over a casual pair of trousers with your hair down shows you’re a direct self-starter
If you’re a student or just want a professional headshot for a website portfolio, social media page, dating site, or other purpose, simply choose clothing you enjoy that doesn’t fit any particular niche.
5. Stay Away From Logos and Trends
What’s commonly referred to as ‘fast fashion’ will come and go before you even have your professional headshots printed. This can leave your resulting photos looking cheap and dated when you want headshots you can use for years to come.
Stay away from logos because you don’t want to be seen as endorsing any one company (plus, logos aren’t entirely professional on clothing—they scream casual). Also,d keep major trends like ruffles, color schemes, cut-outs, holes, textures, and other fashion adventures to your other activities.
6. Pick Clothing You Can Pose In
If your pants go up to your knees when you sit down, your skirt billows about your body when you turn to the side, or your shirt rides up when you raise your arms, you’re going to have a difficult time posing for your professional photos. This also means you’re going to look like you’re having a difficult time posing for your photos.
Pick clothes you can pose in—and then practice posing in them. Use a mirror so you have a general idea of movement and flow with your clothing choices before you’re put on camera. This way, you increase your chances of having your clothing work with you, not against you, as you move about to capture your best angle in every frame.
7. Choose Clothing That’s Not Wrinkled or Stained
This should go without saying, but sometimes it’s hard to remember that even though you’re focusing on a headshot, part of all of your outfit can show up on camera, too. The camera picks up on every dark stain or spot, and every shadow of a wrinkle or crease.
Some clothing, such as satin, can be more prone to wrinkling than others. If you don’t have time to iron clothing prior to wearing it for a photo shoot, opt for materials that don’t wrinkle easily. These include wool, polyester, cotton, and even cashmere. Silk and denim also don’t wrinkle easily and can be incorporated into business casual attire.
8. Choose Classic Styles
Now is not the time to show your trendy side, nor is it the time to break out old vintage clothing. To prevent your professional headshot from looking like something out of a movie set, choose classic styles for your photo shoot. It’s OK to throw in some vintage or trendy nods, just don’t go overboard choosing pieces that are clearly out of style or freshly new off the runway. After all, you want your face to be what people notice about your headshots, not your clothing.
If you have trending eyewear, that’s OK: just make sure your glasses don’t leave a glare in photographs; stick to anti-reflective lenses without bluelight filtering if you can. When in doubt, go without: You can take some photos with your glasses and others sans eyewear so you have more styles to choose from.
9. Accessorize with Caution
Who doesn’t love a trendy belt or a stunning pair of gold hoops? You want to look your best and absolutely shine for your professional headshots, but proceed with caution when it comes to accessorizing your look. Any distractions in your headshot can come across as too busy or unprofessional, but this doesn’t mean you can’t accessorize your chosen outfit well.
Choose one accessory for your attire, and only if it makes sense; a tie pulls together a button-up shirt nicely while earrings go well with an up-do, for example. Leave scrunchies, headbands, scarves, bow ties, lapel pins, broaches, and layered necklaces for another occasion, however. If you have pierced ears, select a single pair of small studs, or leave your ears bare, for your photo shoot.
Related here is your hair and makeup: Keep it simple; pull hair away from your face and use neutral, natural makeup to brighten and highlight your best features, if desired. Your headshots can always be retouched later to add a splash of color as needed, but it’s easier to add color than it is to remove it.
10. Choose Solid Prints
Whether you choose to work with a professional photographer to get your headshots done or you wish to go the AI route, solid prints will work in your favor far more than busy patterns will. For starters, solid prints are, as a rule, more ‘grownup’ and professional than patterns. Solid prints allow your face to take center stage, which is the goal of your professional headshot in the first place.
Secondly, patterns may not translate as well in photographs as you think they might. For example, tiny stripes or floral prints may show up blurry in photos, making the resulting shots look cheap and out of focus. This isn’t the image you want to portray in your professional headshots, so leave the patterns to in-person interactions.
This doesn’t mean you can’t be expressionable in the solid prints you choose, it just means you have to get a little creative if you want more color and dimension in your headshots. One way to do this is by layering different solid prints to create the illusion of a pattern and add more depth to your attire without confusing the camera. For example, a mustard yellow blazer over a solid cream top adds depth and multiple colors without being too patterned to pull off for a professional shoot.
11. Choose the Right Silhouette
Your silhouette is the frame of your body against the light, and on camera, it’s important that your silhouette be tight and well-framed in front of a background. This means avoiding bulky or puffy sleeves, wide or flowing skirts, or wide-legged pants with a flare at the hem. The more professional your silhouette appears on camera, the better your professional headshot will turn out. After all, you don’t want an unintentionally silly silhouette stealing the limelight.
Here’s an easy tip to make appropriately framing your body less daunting: Try to accomplish as close to a suit silhouette as possible. This means wearing a well-fitting and buttoned jacket, rounded or tipped shoulders, ankle-length pants (in a wide or boot cut) and sensible shoes in a way that shows how the suit’s proportions work together.
12. Ditch the Novelty Socks
Although headshots are usually from the chest up, sometimes you’ll want to take whole-body shots. And some of those, you want to do in a seated pose. We all love a cute pair of socks, but leave those for once you’ve achieved your goal with your professional headshots. While novelty socks surely have lots of personality, they can take away from the overall professional appeal you’re trying to achieve and ruin your moment.
While a splash of color in your chosen socks is fine (so long as patterns aren’t busy and the color(s) work with your suit or other attire), don’t go overboard. Your socks may tell more about you than you know—and you don’t want to give the wrong impression.
Why AI Is Worth Investing in for Professional Headshots in 2024
So, now that you know how to dress to impress for your professional headshots, it’s worth exploring why AI is a wise option. AI tools have come a long way in allowing people to accomplish many tasks with less effort (and less money), so if you need a headshot ASAP, you can get realistic headshots in just a few hours utilizing an AI headshot generator like PixelPose.
How AI Headshots Work
AI works its magic by using the several shots you take and upload into a database to create realistic backgrounds, poses, hairstyles, and facial expressions that give your traditional selfies a major upgrade. You can use existing photos from your phone to create AI-generated headshots or take selfies specifically for the purpose of creating professional headshots with the assistance of AI.
What to Expect
With AI generators, you’ll upload a series of photos and add a few specifics about what you’re going for (if applicable) to prompt your AI tool to create custom photos you’ll love. You’ll submit the photos, pay an applicable fee (which is much cheaper than what you’d pay a professional photographer), and then await your results.
You’ll be sent a set number of headshot results, and you can pick the ones you like most from there. Realistic AI headshot generators like PixelPose simplify the process of getting a professional headshot done, so the experience is efficient, quick, and affordable.
Get Ready to Put Your Best Face Forward
Whether you choose to hire a photographer to take your headshots or you want to explore your options with an AI tool like PixelPose, knowing how to dress the part will help you take your headshots to the next level. Choose your outfits with care, keeping in mind the goal of your professional headshots, and practice wearing your attire before your photoshoot. This way, you’re best prepared to put your absolute best face forwar