More often than not, our corporate headshot is our first introduction to prospective clients and colleagues. Although these LinkedIn-worthy photographs can seem pretty stock standard on the face of them, your corporate headshot can actually say quite a lot about you too.
Everything from your pose and your outfit selections to your facial expressions, can help to communicate just what you value in yourself as a professional. And most importantly, your headshot could also help establish the tone of your communications as a professional.
So how do you make sure that your corporate headshot represents you to a tee? Thankfully, you can use all the small elements that make up your corporate headshot to let the business world know just who you are.
We’ll be outlining some of those key elements today by sharing our top 6 tips to help you snap that picture-perfect corporate headshot. Get ready to change your Slack profile pic today.
Table of Contents
1. Edit your pictures as PNG files
The first tip that we’ll provide is uber practical: use a PNG editor to edit your corporate headshots. This is just to ensure that your corporate headshot is suitable to be posted on a range of different forums or platforms.
How does using a PNG editor help improve the quality and versatility of your professional headshot? For starters, PNG files actually enable transparent backgrounds, which is why PNGs are considered to be more versatile than standard .jpg files. PNG files can also be compressed without negatively impacting photo resolution. This means that you can easily share your corporate headshot as a PNG file between all your work devices without having to worry about a drop in quality occurring along the way.
2. Choose the right backdrop for your corporate headshot
The first thing you’re likely to do when you sit down to take a photo is consider the backdrop that will appear behind you. For corporate headshots, you actually have a few options here. You could take a photo at your desk, or you could take one alongside a feature wall in your office.
Or you may choose to go off-campus entirely, so to speak. For some professionals, the ‘right backdrop’ for their corporate headshot is a backdrop that actually represents them as a person over a professional. For instance, you could opt to take a corporate-appropriate headshot along your favourite hiking trail. Or you could make your professional headshot a family-oriented one, with your son on your shoulders after a spirited game of beach cricket.
For other types of professionals, the ‘right backdrop’ could even be a setting that speaks to the passion you have for your profession. If you work in tech, for instance, a good photo of you at a tech convention could be the perfect way to present yourself to your industry.
3. Dress professionally to make a strong first impression
Your attire in a corporate headshot plays a critical role in how you are perceived professionally. In fact, Princeton University researchers found that people quickly decide how capable someone is just by looking at their clothes. So it turns out that it’s true what they say, about dressing for the job you ‘want’.
So what’s the best way to dress for professional headshots? The general consensus is that business casual outfits are a safe bet. This ensures that your attire conveys professionalism without being overly rigid – making it the perfect mix between boardroom-savvy and self-expression. We recommend going for colours like white, grey, or basic patterns in your pics. They don’t take attention away from your face, keeping you as the main focus.
4. Perfect your power pose
Posing for any kind of headshot may initially feel uncomfortable, but it’s vital to making sure that you make a strong first impression. A relaxed and natural look is always the goal here. This doesn’t mean you should be casual or slouched, but instead appear at ease and comfortable. It’s also important to position your body at a slight angle. On top of being a flattering and simple pose, this stance can add depth to your headshot.
Turning your head towards the camera is another essential tip. This pose often appears more inviting and engaging, which is why many professional photographers call it a subtle power pose. Just remember to relax your shoulders when posing for that full effect of confidence.
5. Consider the lighting behind your headshot
It goes without saying that lighting can make a world of difference when snapping any photographs – and corporate headshots are no exception here. In fact, lighting is the difference between a professional, flattering image and one that falls flat. Photos taken during the “golden hour” (or what photographers call the period shortly after sunrise or before sunset) are undoubtedly going to be more flattering than photos taken in other less flattering kinds of lighting conditions.
Warm lighting is also perfect for bringing out the natural colour in portrait shots. It’s all about getting that natural glow that makes for a superb portrait photo. So the main takeaway point from this pro photography tip: it’s best to schedule your photo shoot during golden hour or at least daylight hours so you can take full advantage of all the natural light.
If you’re not planning to shoot outdoors, however, then you still have the option to use diffused lighting. This kind of lighting imitates natural light by organically reducing harsh shadows or bright spots against a uniform backdrop. You can achieve this by using studio lights with a diffuser or by shining light through something like a softbox.
6. Express the real you
Finally, there’s no better way to represent yourself than to actually showcase who you are. And the best way to do that is with a genuine smile. Let your natural warmth shine through in your corporate headshot. That way, anybody who receives an email from you or even clicks through to your LinkedIn can feel like they’re connecting up with a real person – because they are!
It’s also a lot easier to smile a genuine smile than it is to prop up a fake one. So if you go into your corporate photoshoot with the intention of smiling like you mean it, you can ensure that you’ll have a good time.
All in all, snapping a picture-perfect corporate headshot definitely does require practicing a little attention to detail. But so long as you’ve selected the right setting, wardrobe, lighting, and smile that showcases you in all your authenticity, there’s no reason why you can’t secure a corporate-appropriate headshot that you can use over the course of your career. So get to snapping!
