How to Prepare for a Headshot Session

Start About Two Weeks Out

The single most common mistake is treating a headshot as something you prepare for the night before. The things that most affect how you look on camera — a haircut settling in, sleep, hydration, knowing what you are going to wear — all need a little runway.

Two weeks out, answer one question: what is this headshot actually for? A LinkedIn profile, a speaker bio, a law firm website, a real estate sign, and a magazine feature all want slightly different things from framing, wardrobe, and expression. Tell me the answer at your consultation and I will build the session around it rather than handing you a generic portrait and hoping it fits.

Ten Steps to Prepare for Your Headshot Session

If you want the whole checklist in one place, this is it. Each point is expanded below.

1. 1Decide what the headshot is for — profile, website, press, or all three — and tell me at your consultation.
2. 2Book any haircut or color one to two weeks before the session, never the day before.
3. 3Choose two or three tops in solid colors that suit your brand, and check the fit and neckline on each.
4. 4Have everything cleaned and pressed, and bring it on hangers rather than folded in a bag.
5. 5Add one structured layer — a blazer, jacket, or cardigan — for shape through the shoulders.
6. 6Drink water consistently in the two or three days beforehand, not just that morning.
7. 7Get a full night of sleep the night before, and skip very salty food that leaves you puffy.
8. 8Keep your skin and makeup routine familiar; a headshot is not the day to try something new.
9. 9Bring your glasses, a lint roller, and any small items you actually use day to day.
10. 10Arrive a few minutes early so you can catch your breath before we start.

What to Wear

Solid colors do the most work. They keep attention on your face, they hold up when the image is cropped to a small circle on a profile, and they age well. Choose shades that sit comfortably alongside your brand palette — if your firm leans navy and grey, wearing something in that family makes the portrait look like it belongs to your business rather than to a stock library.

Fit matters more than price. Clothing that skims your shoulders and closes cleanly at the button will photograph better than something expensive that pulls or bunches. Necklines are worth a moment of thought too, since a headshot crops close: a neckline that sits well on you in a mirror at arm's length is the one that will work on camera.

Keep patterns minimal — tight checks and very fine stripes can shimmer oddly on camera — and avoid large logos unless they are genuinely part of your brand. A structured layer such as a blazer, jacket, or cardigan is the most reliable upgrade there is, because it gives your shoulders a defined line. Bring two or three options rather than committing to one; every branding client gets a personalized styling guide from me in advance, so you will not be working this out alone.

Hair, Grooming, and Skin — Timing Matters

Book a haircut one to two weeks out. A cut needs a few days to settle into how it actually falls, and photographing it the day after means photographing it at its least characteristic. The same is true of color: schedule it so it has softened slightly but no regrowth line has appeared. For beards, shape a few days ahead and keep it tidy in between.

Whatever your skin routine is, keep it familiar in the week before. A headshot session is genuinely the wrong moment to trial a new product, a first facial, or a treatment you have not had before — reactions have a way of arriving on exactly the wrong day. Stick to what your skin already knows.

Professional hair and makeup is optional but worth considering, particularly if you want the images to hold up across a whole website. It is built to read well under camera and daylight rather than across a room. If you go that route, schedule it to finish comfortably before your session start time rather than right up against it.

The Day Before and the Morning Of

The day before is mostly about the unglamorous things. Drink water steadily — hydration shows in skin and in eyes, and it is not something you can fix in the last hour. Go easy on very salty food and on alcohol, both of which tend to show up as puffiness around the eyes. Lay out your clothes, steamed and on hangers, so the morning is not a search.

On the morning itself, eat something. Sessions are short but they take more energy than people expect, and it is difficult to look relaxed when you are hungry. Give yourself enough margin in the drive that you are not arriving mid-sentence from a phone call. Those few settled minutes before we start genuinely change the first ten frames.

What to Bring

• Two or three tops on hangers, cleaned and pressed, plus the structured layer you chose.
• Your glasses, if you wear them day to day. Photograph yourself as people meet you — we can manage reflections in the studio.
• A lint roller. Dark fabrics collect more than you would believe on the drive over.
• Anything that is genuinely part of your professional identity: a stethoscope, a tool, a signature piece of jewelry, or your dog if your clients meet your dog.
• Touch-up items you already use — powder, a comb, lip balm.

If we are photographing on location at your business rather than in my Grover Beach studio, it is worth a quick tidy of whatever will be behind you — a cleared counter or a straightened shelf saves more than editing can. On-location sessions are one of my specialties, and I scout the space in advance so we already know where the good light is.

Looking Like Yourself in Front of the Camera

This is the part people dread, and the part you can most safely hand to me. You do not need to know how to pose. I direct everything — where to put your weight, what to do with your hands, which way to angle your shoulders, how far to bring your chin forward. Nobody arrives knowing this, and being told clearly is a relief rather than an embarrassment.

Two things do help if you want to prepare. The first is to think about what you want the picture to communicate — approachable, authoritative, warm, precise — because a real expression follows a real thought far better than it follows the word “smile.” The second is simply to talk to me. Most of my favorite frames happen mid-conversation, in the half second after someone answers a question about their work.

And if you do not love the first few minutes, say so. We adjust. A session is not a single attempt at one pose; it is a series of small corrections, and the images improve as you settle.

Know What the Headshot Is For

A profile photo is usually cropped square or round and viewed small, which rewards a tighter frame, a simple background, and strong separation between you and what is behind you. A website banner or an “about” page often needs more room around you and horizontal space for text. Press and speaker submissions frequently ask for a specific orientation or a high-resolution file.

Tell me all of the places this image needs to live and we will shoot for each of them in the same session — a tight crop, a wider environmental frame, and a horizontal option. It costs almost no extra time on the day, and it saves rebooking three months later when a conference asks for something you do not have.

What I Handle So You Do Not Have To

Lighting, background, lens choice, posing, expression, and the retouching afterward are mine to worry about. With a background as an art director and more than twenty years photographing Central Coast professionals, I would far rather you arrive rested and comfortable in your clothes than arrive having tried to art-direct yourself. Your images are delivered with a commercial use license, so they can go straight onto your site, your profiles, and your marketing materials.

You can see how the full process works on the experience page, browse recent work on my headshots and branding photography page, or look at sessions in San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. If you would rather know who is behind the camera first, that is my story.