Why you should think about how your business Headshot looks.

When I started shooting headshots, all my business came from Actors, but in the last few years, there's been a shift. Now, 60%-70% of my calls are from business professionals. Between corporate web sites, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pages and other online destinations, everybody needs a headshot. A professionally photographed headshot. Frankly, using a re-purposed vacation selfie cropped to look mike a headshot just sends the wrong message about your professionalism. How your headshot looks says a lot about you and your business.

When I have business clients in for a headshot, I ask them what they'd like for a background, and do they prefer a studio shot, or natural light. Most tell me that they hadn't thought about it or maybe worse, seem to not care. I get it - they're busy and have a lot of other things going on, and having a "picture taken" ranks pretty low on the list of things they want to do today.

First off, let me say - once we agree that they need to Professionally photographed, there are no hard and fast rules about how business photos should look. Except in cases where a company may have established parameters about how their staff should be presented in order to maintain a consistent look. I work with some companies that spell out background color, lighting, and image resolution.

Absent specific corporate direction, it all depends on what you do, how you want to present yourself to the world. Here are some things to think about:

Lighting and wardrobe play a part in showing who you are. If I asked you to guess which person is a Lawyer and which is an Teacher, I think you'd probably get it right...