Professional Photographer Steve Glass

Thanks for visiting my website. My name is Steve Glass, I’m a professional photographer and have been serving the Atlanta area for over 15 years. I shoot all types of corporate headshots. On a backdrop, using your office as the background, a view through the window, and outdoor headshots are the most common requests I get. I also do editorial assignments and use that style to create photographic collateral for companies.

I can come to your location or you can come to my home studio in Gwinnett County very near I-85 and Old Peachtree Road exit.

All Great Headshots Have One Thing in Common

An unflinching gaze into the camera. If you are able to look into the lens with an unflinching gaze and portray warmth and confidence, other considerations tend to fall away in my opinion. There are occasions when an “eyes away” shot serve, but I think of headshots as eyes to lens. If you can meet the lens with confidence and warmth you’ll get the headshot you need. You are in fact meeting someone’s gaze in return. A future customer, an employer, a casting director, or maybe even a future partner or spouse. You want a subtle confidence and kindness that creates approachability.

The Headshot Process

Capturing Your Headshot

I work with individuals out of my home studio or at a location like your office or home. I will also go to Piedmont Park or some other locale. I charge more for location work because of the time, cartage, and opportunity costs involved. The process is the same either inside on location or at my home studio.

I shoot with my camera tethered to a computer or high resolution screen. We take a set of shots as I coach you in expression and posture. We look at the images together. We make observations and I make suggestions as to what we can do to improve your headshot. I coach you in expression and posture. We continue this process until we're confident we have some solid takes to choose from. As we review the takes we eliminate from consideration the shots that just didn't work for whatever reason. .

I do not limit the number of takes. The average person who comes in for a single headshot requires 50 to 100 takes to get a few good choices. This usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

Should I Get Professional Make-Up for my professional headshot?

It depends. Certainly for women who wear make-up, especially if you’re in the habit of applying base everyday, it can be helpful to have a professional on several counts. For men I don’t recommend it. If you you are a woman who never wears foundation, often your everyday make-up will work just fine. Since I give you all the takes from an acting session, it can improve your yield to have professional make-up. If you’re at a point in your life where aging skin bothers you, then I say it’s worth it. Some women who are in the habit of using professional make-up simply book an MUA (Make-Up Artist) because it’s relaxing.

I do not recommend stopping by the MAC or Sephora counter on the way to me. My experience is that it’s inconsistent and tends to be heavy handed. If you use one of the folks I recommend you’re using experienced MUAs who are often on the set of movie productions. It may feel heavy handed but it won’t look that way.

If you are hiring me to shoot 20 people in an office and half are women. It will go better, and those women will love you, for bringing in professional hair and make-up. It builds confidence and commitment to the process. It makes for a better headshot in every sense. There’s a team I favor, when they’re available, that help both in the make-up area and in front of camera. Always a great day.

If you don’t wear “base” everyday, don’t try it just for your headshot. Instead hire a professional. To my eye this is where the average person goes astray. Not matching color, leaving the neck undone in a different color, not finishing the make-up off so it sets into the skin but rather looks like a powdery unnatural top coat.

If you are coming to me at my home studio I can recommend professional hair and make-up folks that will meet you at my home. I do not recommend you bring your own. They may be as good as or better than my recommendations for all I know. But I don’t know their work. I know the work of the folks I recommend. They work on movie sets and television studios. I do not mark up their services and charge you. You pay them directly. All I get in return is a well prepped subject.

I don’t think men benefit greatly from professional hair and make-up. Larger societal questions and implications aside, it’s how it is. There is a visual currency and we’re not use to seeing men with make-up in most situations. Does an experienced MUA make a man look better? Yes. But in my opinion it’s not as significant as with women.

Men - Should I Wear A Jacket? (But we never wear jackets!)

Yes! You could stop reading there but please don’t. It really depends on the result you want.

Men: Let me start with an exception. If you are the kind of person who will spend $300+ on a fitted shirt and then get it altered, you might not need a jacket. The downside of a shirt only is that it shows how much you budget on shirts. For most men this is not a lot. Think of it this way. You are buying shirts off a rack where the only metric is neck size, or worse yet, a rack divided by small, medium, large, and extra large. Extra large where? This is a recipe for ill fitting clothing. The clothes are all cut big so that they fit the most people. Men: have at least one shirt that fits you great! Make it a simple one with a good structure to the collar. If it blouses on you like a tent, go spend the money and get it altered. I promise you, it’ll be your favorite shirt. You will look for reasons to wear it. Why not wear it to your headshot session?

A nice jacket covers a multitude of sins

If you are among the vast majority of men who are carrying extra weight, jackets were invented for you! Buy a jacket that hangs well on you. If that top jacket button is placed right, it’ll make you look 50 even 70lbs lighter. Make sure the shoulder seams fit and the jacket lapels hug your shirt collar. If you’re going to do a buy and return, DO NOT go to Target, go to Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom! If you’re no longer young and fit, the latest fashions may not work best for you. Go for something tried and true that hangs well. So much of clothing is about providing the form with vertical lines.

There are two industries where jackets seem non-negotiable. Lawyers and Finance. If you’re going to ask to be trusted with someone’s liberty or their life’s savings, people want to see that you can afford a nice suit! Do what you have to when you’re first starting out. Just make sure of the fit. There are places on line that will make suits from your measurements. If you get measured well it works. Certainly for a headshot.

Overshirts

Overshirts are a thing now. They are more affordable then jackets. They still provide those vertical lines that give can thin your body. They provide texture and dimension. Fit isn’t nearly as critical yet you should still do your best to have them fit well. Tech industry people would do well to wear an overshirt. A nice over shirt is a hip relaxed look and maybe $200 to $300. You can get overshirts that are somewhat formal too. Personally, I never have the need to wear a jacket. I go with Overshirts. I good fitting upscale T-Shirt and an overshirt suits a creative or tech person well.

Men’s Ties

A lost art! I’ll give it the ol’ college try for you. I can usually tie a convincing single or double Windsor in a pinch. BUT! Don’t bunch your tie up and bring it to the session in your pocket. Spend some money on a tie that’s going to have some great fabric. It’ll take a knot better. Bring some choices. Go ahead and buy a new tie or borrow one if you need to. You’ll be glad you did!

Women’s Jackets

Women seem to need much less convincing. One caveat here. A sweater is not a jacket. In my opinion you want a fabric with some structure that hangs the clothing on your frame. A well fitted jacket that hangs (versus clinging and form fitting) will shave weight off visually.

Jewelry

It almost doesn’t matter what I say here because this is highly personal and cultural. I am reminded of a woman, easily in her late 70’s, who introduced herself as “Ellen from Yonkers”. That classic old school New York City accent. Ellen greatly over accessorized. Huge multi-rowed large necklace made up of alternating round and square pieces of wood, large earrings, oversized eyeglasses. This all made up her persona. I didn’t dare try to talk her out of it. A younger woman I might have. Here’s the thing, a headshot is not a party. People don’t have the chance to get to know you. In many ways it might be the most unfair 1/2000th second of your life. It will be a first impression for many. In my opinion you do not want to distract from your expression. Simple adornments are best. Don’t distract someone’s eye with multiple layers of necklaces, bracelets, watches, rings, and earrings. Those are all well and good and should be featured in your daily wardrobe. Come headshot day, simplify. Wrist wear usually isn’t an issue unless we’re doing “table shots” or waist-up shots.

Having said that, if you’re “Ellen from Yonkers”… by all means, be yourself.

Eyelashes

The folks I use for make-up do a great job on eyelashes. They are natural and do not block the “catchlight” from the subject’s eyes. This is not always the case when ladies show up having applied their own eyelashes. Catchlights are the specular highlight, the reflection of light in your eyes. If you have lights over the bathroom mirror, stand at a reasonable distance from the mirror with your eyelashes on and see if you can see the reflection of those lights in your eyes. If your eyes are dark it’s a huge problem for any type of portrait but especially a headshot. Your eye color will not read and your eyes will seem lifeless. If I have to, I can add eyelashes in Photoshop. I’d rather do that then try and bring life to an eyeball that has been shaded by a fake eyelash.

Colored Contact Lenses

I’m not a fan of colored contact lenses that replace your natural iris. I’ve never seen colored contact lenses that I thought looked better than a naturally colored eye iris. It looks fake on at least two accounts. It doesn’t go with your natural appearance and the lenses have too much detail and look fake in and of themselves. As a portrait photographer, specifically a professional headshot photographer, eyes hold an endless fascination for me. I give special care to them to make sure the viewer’s attention is encouraged to meet the gaze of the subject. When I see colored contact lenses with the embedded detail, I can’t help but think of low budget sci-fi. Nothing looks better than what God gave you! Trust me, your eyes are beautiful! No need to cover up the iris God gave you.

“The Squinch” & Expressions in General

This term was coined by NYC headshot extraordinaire Peter Hurley. I love Peter and all headshot photographers owe him, at a minimum, a debt of gratitude. If you Google headshot preparation or search on YouTube especially “The Squinch” is bound to come up. Peter says that he implemented this in his direction after observing movie stars who do this. The Squinch is a narrowing of the eyes often with a knit brow and a flat affect or no smile. I don’t recommend it. It can easily read as contempt. If I shoot 10+ people in a day one of them will try it. If you are Sean Penn or Robert De Niro, this is cool. If you are a hard nosed litigator, maybe. For most of us it is advantageous to appear, at a minimum, approachable. As a professional headshot photographer, I use the words “warm, confident, and approachable”.

I saw some footage of Richard Avedon working with a very young Cindy Crawford. In his direction to Crawford, Avedon said, “Have a thought.” I find this very helpful. Most of us are not actors. There seems to be something in the very ambition of being an actor that creates confidence in front of the lens that the average person lacks. “Having a thought” Avedon explained, was to inform your nervous system as to how you might be feeling. There are some who are dismissive of this as “Oh yeah… find my happy place.” Which is fine if that works for you. It usually doesn’t. Having a thought that’s “a muse” of sorts is informative. Using your imagination to create an emotion will illicit a genuine expression. Which is different than a smirk smile or simply pulling the edges of your mouth back to expose teeth.

The closed mouth smile is a great look. For men especially I prefer it, many women too. The mistake people make is pursing their lips. You see the skin dimple around the mouth along with marionette lines being accentuated due to the compression. This is not a smile. Some might use the word “smirk” for this look. Again, “have a thought” but have a subtle thought. Mona Lisa but more obvious. As if a fond remembrance is occurring and there is a quiet satisfaction. Or perhaps you’re conveying subtle approval to a friend. The look one might have watching their grade school child perform in a play.

Do some work in the mirror “having a thought” and see what you can come up with.

Selecting Your Favorite Take(s)

After our session. I send you a link to a “proofing gallery” which is accessed online. Some people want to see a great many takes while others want me to cull the selections down to a manageable number. Most want a limited number to choose from. Either way is fine.

You select the images you want retouched from the proofing gallery. The proofing gallery lets you grade the images and then filter down the number to consider. Once you've indicated the selection(s) you want retouched you hit the yellow “submit” button in the upper right of the interface. The system emails me automatically and lets me know that you've made your selection.

Retouching Your Headshot

I do my own retouching. Follow this link for a discussion on headshot retouching. I'm your most affordable option for high quality retouching. I take retouching very seriously and I keep up on the latest techniques. As Photoshop adds algorithms techniques change and evolve. I purchase new courses and assimilate these new techniques into my workflow. While YouTube is replete with various techniques, and those can be helpful, I use ProEdu, CreativeLive, and a number of folks who sell their education direct.

Get It Right In Camera

“Can’t you fix it in Photoshop?” The answer is that someone, somewhere, can, but what is your budget? Some fixes are cost prohibitive. My pricing includes retouching. Yet some fixes can exceed the cost of what I charge. The better the capture the better the final product. So if you want a shot of you clean shaven, you need to shave before your headshot. If your suit jacket doesn't fit, there's only so much I can do. Cropping might be the only affordable option. Try on your clothes way ahead of time. Do the ol' buy and return if you have to. Not trying on their clothes is the most common mistake people make. So make sure of fit, clean them, and bring choices if you’re able. The second mistake folks make with their clothing is not having the clothing cleaned and pressed and on hangers to avoid wrinkles. Ill fitted clothes create wrinkles as the fabric does not hang well.

Delivery Of Your Retouched Headshot

I always deliver the image in two resolutions. One resolution is “print” and it is indicated in the filename. Joe_Smith_print_3347.jpg The print resolution is 12 inches on the long side at 300 ppi. More resolution than you'll ever need for print. The other resolution is “web” and that is 1,500 pixels on the long side at 96 ppi. I usually crop my images 4x5 (8x10) with the long side being horizontal. I deliver with both shoulders in frame and a little margin. I include the top of the head with a little margin. If you need a custom crop I can do that too.

If you're a company and I photographed 20 of your employees, I deliver via Dropbox because it's too much data for email. If you're an individual who ordered just a headshot or two, I deliver via email. I archive the work I deliver with redundancy. I do not archive all the takes though. It's just too much data to manage. If you want all the takes from your session, you'll need to decide ahead of time. I charge for that. This is rare though and I can’t imagine those who do purchase them ever use them. The one exception is acting sessions. It does make sense for actors and I have provision for that particular session. Unless you’re an advertising agency or magazine, I do not provide “RAW” images. It’s just too much data. Every image from my camera is 100 MB as of this writing. The average session for a single headshot is 5 or 6 Gigabytes.

Consistency For National and International Companies

It starts with hiring a committed professional headshot photographer. “Color Management” plays a critical role in consistency. For instance if you create a simple standard such as: “The headshots will be shot against a Savage #56 Fashion Gray Paper Sweep. The background will have a luminosity level of 65 on 0-100 scale with just a slight blue bias as evidenced by in the RGB readout on the blue channel. The lighting will be white balanced to daylight using a gray card. Photographer will use a custom camera profile in Lightroom or the provided camera profile in Capture One to insure color consistency in our brand’s headshots.” That way your CFO in San Francisco doesn’t have a yellow tint to his face and your CTO in Austin a blue tint to his.

If a professional headshot photographer can say yes to those requirements and knows how to pull that off, your Phoenix office’s headshots are going to look very much like your Atlanta’s office headshots. When you look at a company “leadership” section of their “About” page you’ll see what I mean. Gray isn’t always gray. There is a technical aspect to image making that brings consistency to different photographer’s work.

I’m not a huge fan of replacing the background. I’m asked to deliver transparent backgrounds from time to time. Or I come across headshots I’ve done where the company has replaced the background. I know it’s a matter of taste, but hey, this is what I do right? Sometimes the outcome looks very amateur to me. It usually comes down to hair and how much time and effort is needed to create a convincing “cut out”. Photoshop “auto-select” is getting better but hair is still a huge issue. “Auto-select” often just can’t handle it and it requires painstaking work to create a natural looking cut out. Why not get it all in camera? You just need to know how to ask for the right parameters. Then get a commitment from the professional headshot photographer to follow those parameters.

Lighting Matters

“Photography” is literally “light writing”. Using professional lighting is critical in my opinion. Several times a year I’m hired to re-shoot a company because the photographer was a “natural light” photographer. In my opinion this is not how a professional headshot photographer should think. The situation requires what it requires. Most of the time that means using lights. I use strobe lights. The natural light in most office buildings is not good. If you’re asking me to do a quick editorial style candid using a large window and the room environment as a background, maybe natural light would work. Even then I’ll ask for another 5 minutes to light it. It’s worth it to have a good looking portrait.

Types Of Headshot Backgrounds

It’s always good to have a shared nomenclature. I distinguish between two basic headshots. Something on a fabricated background or something using the environment. I don’t think one is better than the other but each has their advantages.

Fabricated Backgrounds

These are usually “pop-up” canvas backgrounds that I bring with me to a location. It could be paper as well. However I do have a long standing client who has their own background printed, a blurry office, then placed on one of those exhibition screens like you would see at a trade show. Works for them. They ship the same background to all their offices worldwide. The advantages of a fabricated background is that it’s clean and easily duplicated. If your company is national or international there are ways to bring solid consistency to those headshots. See below.

Environmental Backgrounds

I love doing environmental shots. The biggest issue is having a great environment. For some, the solution is blurring the background beyond recognition. That can work but personally I’d rather see gray or some subtle color on seamless paper. There’s a few reasons for that and as a photographer I’m sure I overthink those reasons. Again, I’m a professional headshot photographer, I’m entitled to my opinions.

A limiting factor is how much of the environment will end up in the shot. That is, if we take an environmental shot and you or your webmaster crop it tight, what does it matter? You’re better off shooting on seamless.

Preparation is they key to great photography. Pay me to scout your location if you’re not sure.

Environmental Backgrounds Using a Room

This is great option for C-Suite to differentiate. It’s really what I would call an editorial look. If a publication were writing up your CEO, they wouldn’t use a headshot. They might send in a photographer to capture a wide shot of him sitting on the edge of his desk. This type of editorial shot is part of our visual currency and we automatically respond to it by holding it in higher regard than just a headshot. However, your CEO should also have a headshot, and a portrait in my opinion.

If you are an individual looking to get environmental shots from me, we’ll have to talk about a location. Many folks think it’s easy to “Photoshop” or “green screen” someone into a background. Photographers most often refer to this as “compositing”. There are no composites on my website. I do them on occassion but they require some forethought. Compositing takes great care in photographing to match the lighting and color (white balance) of your backplate and subject. My philosophy is to get it as much as possible in camera. It is a misconception to think you can shoot someone anywhere, anyway you like, and plop them on any background you like. If you want a quality shot you need to give it some forethought and preparation.

Some ideas for environments are:

• Air Bnb rooms

• nice hotel rooms

• does the hotel your meeting in have an area they’ll let you use for a time?

• using a shared workspace like WeWork or Spaces

• Your home or a friend’s home that has large rooms

• A venue on an off day might give you a deal for a few hours in a couple of their rooms

• Call Bed & Breakfast and see if they’ll rent you limited use of a few rooms for a few hours

Using The View Through The Window

This is especially good if your office floor has a view through the window with an iconic view of your city. If your brand inherits some of it's gravitas from the city you operate in, it’s a great way to show your allegiance to that city and gain the prestige that comes with that city. I worked with a company on the ground floor of the Alliance Building. The CEO was able to pull a favor with building management and get us access to a high floor with a vacant office that had North, East, and West views of Buckhead in Atlanta. Another situation was shooting for Montlick and Associates. They feature their lobby in their television commercials and they have a window with a wooded view. So the marketing folks at Montlick used that to tie all their headshots in to their televised ads.

The downside is weather. You might have to reschedule or have a plan B. There are some instances where once I have a the “backplate” shot of your view through the window, I can shoot your folks and composite them into that shot.

Do you want foreground interest? This can be very attractive and give your images more context. So including a chair, or some of the conference table can be a good decision. A word of caution, the wider you go in an environmental shot, the more area I need to account for in the frame. It’s all worthwhile, but it can take longer as it requires more control of the ambient lighting. I might have to make a second trip to my car for more gear and require more time to mitigate some issue of reflection or light bouncing off a glass high rise or some other unforeseen lighting challenge happening.

Outdoors

Here are some samples. If you can find an area that has layers of different types and heights of greenery, you’ll get an image with dimension. For a headshot that background is a lot like clothing in the sense that you don’t someone to look at your professional headshot and say, “Wow! Where was that?” Generally speaking at least. Just like you don’t want a tie or blouse that’s so busy it distracts from your face.

Options might include a park, outdoor courtyard at your office complex, a neighborhood clubhouse with landscaping. Even a hedge row lining your parking lot can work. But the more more layers and variety in the greenery, the better the image works in my opinion. Many of my outdoor headshots for companies are in their parking lot. This is easy especially if you’re in an office/light industrial space. That is a single story office type space. For offices downtown I often meet at Piedmont Park or some other city park.

Downside of course is weather. I share the risk with you on outdoor headshots. Most often I do them in my front yard which provides the background with depth and dimension.

Tips For A Better Headshot

The One Thing To Do For A Better Headshot

In my opinion all great headshots have one thing in common. What I call, “An Unflinching Gaze” into the camera.

Being insecure about yourself doesn’t serve you in achieving a great headshot. We all want to be better looking and, usually, younger/thinner. We all have insecurities. We all have some feature on our face we deem undesirable. When a remarkably good looking person comes to my studio I often think, “Oh… this will be easy.” It’s rarely easy unless they’re an actor. That insecurity is apparent in their expression.

In talking with an experienced actor about the difference between a “civilian” and and actor with respects to headshots. I said, “Actors own who they are.” He agreed. Now actors own that extra 50 lbs because it is, at least in part, why they’re cast. My point is, you have to lose your insecurities and accept who you are and where you’re at physically. Maybe you do need to lose weight, maybe your jacket should’ve been altered (why not check now?), maybe your nose is this or that. In front of the camera, it doesn’t matter.

Que Whitney Houston singing, “The Greatest Love of All”. That’s really what it’s about though. You have to let go of all your insecurities and convey warmth and approachability. One of my favorite headshot sessions was a younger lady who had just recovered from breast cancer including a double mastectomy with no reconstruction. She wore a form fitting shirt and wanted a waist-up shot. She locked gaze with my lens with complete confidence. I just couldn’t help but think how attractive confidence is. Almost didn’t matter what she looked like. She was dressed “tech chic” and just pulled it off with such style I thought.

Genuine expression is involuntary. Have a thought. Practice your expression in the mirror and take selfies while bringing these thoughts to mind. This is the number one thing you can do for a better headshot. It’s about self awareness. That’s why mirror work is so important.

Often folks bring me reference shots from Pinterest or other sources. Invariably it’s the same 20 shots for the last decade. My subject’s will say, “Something like this…” I’ll reply, “Well they’re in an office setting…” A common response is, “No, I mean how she looks, her expression." My advice is to start practicing that now. Do selfies, have a friend take cell phone shots of you… you need to desensitize yourself to your own insecurities. With respects to headshots it’s all about confidence. Not bravado but a quiet internal confidence. Lately I’ve been saying, “Think about someone who loves you.”

As mentioned before, all great headshots seem to have one thing in common for me, an unflinching gaze into the camera. It’s as if they are looking into the eyes of their most trusted friend or confidant. There’s no betrayal of insecurity. There’s an implicit sense of acceptance of who they are as indicated by their expression. They have confidence. The subject is at ease with themselves. There is warmth, approachability, and satisfaction.

Clothing For A Better Headshot

Try on your clothes and make sure they fit. Make sure your jacket hangs on you well if you’re wearing one. Get your jackets tailored. You’ll always be glad you have at least one jacket and shirt that fit well.

Should I wear a jacket?

YES! Men and women… everyone looks better in a well fitted jacket. “But no one wears a jacket in my industry.” Doesn’t matter because it’s about you looking good in this picture. Especially if we’re shooting waist up or even sternum up. Everyone looks better in a jacket if that jacket fits well. If you are young and not carrying a lot of extra weight, and of average height, you can get a way with a $200 jacket off the rack if it’s a good fit, get it tailored if you need to. “But I’m in tech.” Then you should be wearing a ‘hip’ well cut jacket especially if you’re C-Suite. It’s not your picture, it’s your image. There are exceptions right? Albert Watson’s portrait of Steve Jobs in his signature black turtle neck. If you’re not going to wear a jacket, but are wearing a shirt with a collar, check the shoulder seams and make sure it’s not baggy to the point of being distracting. You can get your shirts fitted by a tailor. [You can get T-shirts fitted by a tailor.] If you’re not wearing a tie, make sure your shirt has enough structure so that the collar stands up and presents well.

Buying a great jacket is worth while. If you need one splurge. You’ll always be glad you have a great jacket. Great motivation for keeping the weight off! People want takes with jacket on/off, happy to indulge you, but get a nice jacket and make sure it fits.

If you are a creative than a T-shirt might be the thing for you. It’ll still look even more creative if you have a great jacket over top. The tech culture is the same. Your headshot will look better if you make an effort. Don’t wear a thin T-shirt. Go online and buy a heavy cotton T-shirt that is form fitting. Avoid branding and shirts from events. I’m too expensive to be hired for security badges. So I’m assuming you’re hiring me to bring some consistency to your brand. Heed this advice, you will not be sorry. I can’t tell you how many times folks walk over to my monitor or laptop and say, “Yeah you know, I read on your website but I didn’t think it’d matter, I see what you mean now.”

Should I wear a tie?

Depends. If you are asking people for their life savings so you can invest it for them… you should probably wear a tie. If you are a lawyer yes. Vertical lines, provided by clothing seams and ties, have a slimming effect.

Cropping the headshot

The more body you are going to show, the more your clothes matter. It surprises me how many companies send me their people with spec sheets and they want their people shot belly up or nearly waist up. Let’s face it, most of us carry extra weight. Shooting people with more body tends to reveal their least favorite feature, their waistline. It makes them more self-conscious in front of the camera. When they review their shots on the monitor they get more discouraged. The majority of folks haven’t even tried on their jacket until picture day.

Sadly, there’s nothing I can do because I need to deliver to this specification. In my opinion you do your people a tremendous disservice. The other surprising thing is how many companies will crop waist up, hands out of frame. Often cropping low on the forearm or even wrist. Hands in frame is a beautiful thing to me.

If you’re looking for more body in the frame for the sake of having something different, let’s talk about table shots. That is your folks seated at a table. Perhaps with slightly more dramatic lighting and a hand painted backdrop.

If you simply hate getting your picture taken read this.

THE SHORT OF IT: PREPARE

Expression: What makes most of us nervous is a lack of preparedness: fear of failure. When we are well prepared we usually look forward to the task at hand because we're executing a plan and not winging it. Why would a headshot be any different? Great expression in a headshot is about self awareness and confidence.
Practice your expression in the mirror and by taking selfies. Genuine expression is involuntary. Have a thought that produces the desired expression.  The thought could be a beloved pet, Mom's soup, your grandchild... whatever it is it should conjure those feelings and that will be reflected in your expression. For the purposes of your headshot, you're a method actor. You need to get into character but that character is yourself at your most comfortable and confident.

ERP Therapy is Exposure Response Prevention is a therapy designed to get you over your phobias. If you have a hard time sitting for pictures, you don’t need a therapist, but you can administer your own ERP with selfies and friend taking cell phone shots of you.

It’s not uncommon to have uncontrollable twitches. It’s common to carry a lot of tension around your mouth especially if you want a closed mouthed “soft smile”. That is a bit of an exaggerated Mona Lisa type smile. So practice and try to minimize those ticks and twitches so that come shoot day, you get lots of great takes and lots of great choices.

Clothes: Even if you are in a “casual” industry, good clothing makes you look better on camera. The vertical lines that seams create flatter everyone better than clothing that does not have seams. If you are heavy or you want to de-emphasize a large bosom, don’t wear clothes with patterns. The variance in those patterns, the bending of dots and lines, is what describes your shape. A solid color will make you appear thinner.

Try on your clothes and make sure they fit. Go out and buy new ones if they don't. Keep the tags on and return them if money is tight. You want simplicity in clothing. Don't wear prints or bright colors. Don't wear dresses or blouses with tie on ribbons, frilled/puffy seams, or transparent sleeves.
Don't wear something too low cut. If you're a mature woman and you no longer like the way your décolletage appears, don't wear something low cut and exposing. A beautiful fitted button up shirt with a structured collar and a jacket would be better than a low cut dress for a woman of any age when dressing for your headshot. For a headshot I believe a good rule of thumb is this: Your face should be the majority of skin showing. So wearing something sleeveless and low cut, for most women, is not a good idea in my opinion.

For men make sure you’re able to button your jacket. Make sure that if you need a formal shot your tie matches the type of collar your shirt has. Does your tie knot cover the collar gap? Or is some of the tie exposed beyond the knot? Does the fabric of your tie hold a knot well? If you’re shooting a headshot where the bottom of the frame is your sternum all you need worry about is a shirt, jacket, and tie. If we're shooting you waist up. You need to make sure your pants and belt are appropriate because depending on how you position your hands they could be in frame too. Clean and press them. Borrow or buy new ones if they don't fit. Vertical lines created by well fitted simple seams serve us all well.

Men, if you want a more formal look and a casual look consider more than just removing your tie. That’s not a bad strategy if your shirt has the structure to maintain the appearance of the collar. Many shirts only look good with a tie. Consider getting a sport coat/sweater combination.

YouTube & Social Media: The internet is replete with suggestions. The “squinch”, “smizing”, “hold the sub”, etc... My experience is that the vast majority of folks are doing well simply to be relaxed and confident. Trying to add techniques offered by “click bait” videos interfere with most people’s efforts in getting a great expression. The key is confidence in an honest glance. Actors seem to be born with it. You can say, “Well they’re good looking…” Google up some actors not known for their looks. Confidence sells a headshot. In my opinion, most of the time, that confidence has to have warmth to add approachability. A dead pan 100 yard stare is a solution for a few situations but never in a business headshot.

If you're looking for a great business headshot: take my advice. Practice your expression. Get comfortable with the process.