Tips for Preparing for Your Headshot

You’ve booked a headshot session and are preparing to come to your appointment. What is the proper headshot preparation? What should you bring? Below are the instructions we give to our headshot customers at SRK Headshot Day. But these should work well with any photographer.

1. Hair cut or styled the way you want.
2. Three Options for Clothing (See tips below).
3. Glasses clean and in good repair.
4. As little makeup on as possible. (This assumes professional makeup will be part of your session.)
5. Get a good sleep the night before.
6. Be prepared to have fun.

The most important is a great attitude and being prepared to have a good time. (There is a lot of laughing and music at our SRK Headshot Day sessions.) Even though many people use these photos as business headshots, we think having a good time lets the real you come through in your photo.

Headshot Preparation for Hair

Both men and women should come with their hair styled and ready to be photographed. Men, if you are going to get a haircut, have it done at a few days ahead of your appointment. Make sure nose hairs are trimmed. Eyebrows should be trimmed or plucked the way you like. Unless you normally wear a beard, have a good shave the morning of your photo.

For women, salons offering blow outs offer convenient times and affordable pricing. Both Halo Blow Dry Bar and The DryBar have locations throughout the SF Bay Area and Bounce Blowdry Bar has locations in Oakland and Berkeley. For more tips on Blowouts see our blog post. 

Get plenty of rest the night before.

Wardrobe for Headshots

Bring three or more different shirts or tops for the shoot for a typical 30 minute session. Double the number for a 60 minute. Clean and pressed is always best. Make sure at least one is a solid colored shirt. Don’t bring all black or white items. Medium tones work better, especially if you are going to use them in black and white photos. Jewel-colored solids look great. If you sometimes wear a blazer or suit coat, bring it as an option, same with a tie. These can look great in corporate headshots. Use this opportunity to be photographed in multiple looks for different places you would use the photo. View suggestions of Women’s attire for Headshots and Men’s attire for Headshots in our other blogs.

When choosing your clothing, strongly consider your audience and the message you want them to receive. Where will you be using the photo? — website, LinkedIn, brochures, etc. Go ahead and bring a tie just in case you need one a photo with a tie in the future.

If you wear glasses, by all means wear them in the photo. If you have multiple pairs, bring them. Make sure they are clean and in good repair. See more tips for wearing glasses in professional headshots.

Makeup for Headshots

Wear as little makeup as possible to speed up the makeup process. If you have makeup you like, feel free to bring it. View more tips on wearing makeup in portrait photography. This assumes makeup will be done before your session by a professional makeup artist. If not, we recommend hiring one who has worked with flash photography prior to your session. 

For a deeper dive, take a moment to view my tips for looking your best in your professional headshot.

Finally, if you would like advice from experts about keeping your website or social media relevant using photos, sign up for our email newsletter. When you sign up you will receive a free 10-page PDF about looking great in your headshot full of photos and tips.

I look forward to creating some beautiful portraits with you.