How to Prepare for Your Corporate Headshot Session

A great corporate headshot starts well before the camera clicks. I've photographed over 4,000 professionals at this point, and the pattern is undeniable: people who spend 20 minutes preparing the night before get dramatically better results than people who wing it. Not because of luck, but because they walk in confident, relaxed, and ready to be directed. Here's exactly what I tell every client before their session.

What to Wear (and What to Avoid at All Costs)

Solid colors photograph best. Full stop. Patterns, stripes, plaids, and herringbone create moire effects on camera, a distracting wavy distortion that shows up in digital images and can't be fixed in post. I've had to reshoot people because of a houndstooth jacket that looked fine in person but turned into a visual disaster on the tethered monitor.

Color choice depends on your industry. If you work in law or finance, stick with navy, charcoal, or black. These project authority and photograph consistently under studio lighting. Healthcare professionals wearing a white coat should keep the underlying shirt simple. A solid blue or gray works well beneath it, and avoid patterns that peek out at the collar. If you're in tech or a startup, smart casual is the move: a well-fitted button-up without a tie, or a quality crew neck under a blazer.

Jewel tones like deep teal, burgundy, and forest green look great on almost everyone. They add warmth without competing with your face. Avoid pure white tops because they bounce light back and can wash out your skin tone. Cream or off-white is a safer bet.

Two more things that trip people up: skip anything with logos or text (it dates the photo instantly and screams "casual Friday"), and make sure everything fits well. A collar that gaps or a jacket that bunches at the shoulders will be visible in a tight headshot crop. Check the fit sitting down, not just standing, because that's the posture you'll be in.

For a deeper dive on wardrobe by industry, read our full wardrobe guide.

Grooming Details That Show Up on Camera

Get your haircut one to two weeks before the session, not the day before. A fresh cut looks too sharp and "just done" on camera. Give it a few days to settle into its natural shape.

Moisturize your face and neck the night before. This is the single easiest thing you can do to improve your photos. Studio lighting is brutally honest with dry skin. It picks up every flake and rough patch. A basic moisturizer the night before makes a visible difference in how your skin reads at 100 megapixels.

For makeup, go matte over dewy. Studio lights amplify shine, so anything with a shimmer or glossy finish will create hot spots on your forehead and cheeks. If you wear foundation, make sure it matches your neck exactly. The camera catches mismatches that mirrors miss. Skip heavy contour or bronzer. Studio lighting does the sculpting for you, and layering more on top just looks heavy.

Men: decide on facial hair ahead of time and commit. A groomed beard photographs great. Clean-shaven works. Day-old stubble is inconsistent under directional light and reads as messy in a tight crop. I had an attorney show up with patchy stubble and we both knew immediately it wasn't going to work for his firm's team page.

If your ears, nose, or eyebrows need maintenance, handle it a few days before. Not the morning of. Redness and irritation show up under studio lights.

On the Day

Arrive hydrated. It sounds minor, but hydration shows in your skin and your eyes. Drink water steadily the morning of your session. If you're a coffee drinker, have your coffee early and rinse or brush before you arrive. I've retouched more coffee-stained teeth than I'd like to admit, and it's much easier to just brush.

Eat a real meal before you come. Low blood sugar makes people look tired and feel impatient. I can always tell when someone skipped breakfast. The energy drops, the expressions go flat, and we end up working twice as hard for the same result.

When you arrive, I'll show you where to put your things and where to check your appearance. If there's a mirror in the room, use it for a final check: collar straight, hair in place, nothing in your teeth. Then I take over.

Since we shoot tethered, every single session, and you'll see a large 32-inch monitor near the camera showing every image as it's captured. This is your real-time review. You'll see exactly what I see, and we'll adjust together until we nail it.

What to Bring

Bring two to three outfit options. Even if you're confident in your first choice, having alternatives gives you flexibility. I had a client last month whose navy blazer looked great in person but washed out against our navy-gray backdrop. Her charcoal backup solved that in 30 seconds.

Bring a lint roller. Dark fabrics pick up everything: pet hair, dust, lint from your car seat. A quick pass before you step in front of the camera saves retouching time and looks cleaner straight out of camera.

Bring your phone loaded with reference photos. If there's a headshot style you like, a certain crop, expression, or vibe, show it to me. This isn't insulting. It's genuinely helpful. It gives us a shared target to aim for instead of me guessing what you have in mind.

If you wear glasses, bring a cleaning cloth. Studio lights reflect in lenses, and fingerprints or smudges become very visible under controlled lighting. I can angle the glasses to reduce reflections, but clean glass makes that much easier.

What Actually Happens During Your Session

Most team headshot sessions take eight to ten minutes per person. Here's the real breakdown.

You step in front of the lights and I position you: shoulders angled slightly, chin adjusted, posture checked. Then we start with expression coaching, and this is where the magic happens. I'll demonstrate a position, you'll mirror it, and we'll refine from there. Most people visibly relax within the first 30 seconds once they see themselves looking good on the tethered monitor. That moment of "oh, I actually look great" changes everything.

I'll direct you through several expressions: a confident, closed-mouth look for formal use (think website bio or firm directory), and a warmer smile for approachable contexts like LinkedIn or team pages. We capture both so you have options for different platforms.

Each "look" takes about three to four minutes. If you've brought a second outfit, we'll do a quick change and repeat. The tethered monitor lets you see every frame as we go, so there's zero guessing. You'll know we got the shot before you leave the room.

After the session, your proofing gallery arrives the next business day. You pick your favorites, I handle the retouching, and final files land in your inbox within a few days.

For the full step-by-step on what happens before, during, and after, check our headshot preparation guide.