What is the importance of a professional headshot?

More often than not your potential clients will not know you personally, so having a good professional headshot against your online profile is a great way to create an effective first impression. When I take headshots for my clients one of key elements in their headshot is engagement. The viewer needs to feel a connection with them straight away. Now, here’s the truth… whether you like it or not, the online world - people - will judge you for the way you look when they see your photograph. Now, you also might be sitting there thinking ‘i don’t really care’ and that is fine… but I guess I would like you to hear me out - so lets keep going…

Myself and many other portrait photographers out there have said this many times before, ‘your headshot is the logo to your own personal branding.’ Me personally, my actual “logo” is no where to be seen on any of my social media platforms. It sits only at the top of my website, on invoicing, product & marketing etc… but on my private and business socials I have are professional headshot. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve sold something on Facebook Marketplace and the purchaser has made a lovely comment on my profile picture - and 9 times out of 10 these comments are coming from women. If you take a selfie or have your friend take a headshot for you, that’s all good and well, but they will they get the lighting right? Pose you properly? or will they edit your photo so that is looks like you? Too many times, I’ve seen blown out headshots, poorly corrected skin toning, double chins (I do understand sometimes this cannot be helped but most of the time with good posing this can simply be avoided), the list goes on. Having a professional photograph taken where the photographer understands lighting, good posing for you and your body shape and can edit all elements of an image correctly, you will not only love this image of yourself, you will gain the confidence to put that image of you online for potential employers, clients, investors, collaborators to see. Now, when you have confidence in yourself what does that lead to - success?! - you betcha!

Below was session I did late last year. Rennie wanted to update her online profile. It had been quite some time since she hers updated. She found me and loved my style (which is very important). After speaking on the phone she felt confident in booking me, even though she was not confident in having her photograph taken… very much like every person I speak to before a session. I was extremely happy with how these images turned out. I was forced to work outside, due to Covid19 restrictions and couldn’t photograph within my home studio. I used only natural light around me (I predominately work within my home studio and rely on studio lighting to light my clients). three different locations later and these are how they turned out.