Tips for Taking a great headshot

We want you to look your best! Here are some tips and things to avoid when considering your headshot.

First off, you DO NOT NEED to have a photo taken by a professional photographer. If you have a professional headshot, that’s great, but it’s not required. You can have someone take a great headshot of you with just your phone.

  1. Find good light - facing a window, or outside on an overcast day works best. Avoid direct sun and turn off your flash.
  2. Find a background that is not distracting. No foliage or busy patterns, please. A plain wall with a solid color works great.
  3. Get close, but not too close. Your shot should include your head and shoulders and not crop the top of your head.
  4. If you have an optical telephoto or 2x setting (like on iPhone plus models), use it. It will create a more pleasing photo. Please do not use portrait mode where the background becomes blurry.
  5. Face the camera and smile! Take a few different shots to get a feel for what works.
  6. Send us the full sized images from your phone, uncropped and unfiltered.

The setup

The photo straight out of camera you send us

The final crop and adjustments we make

Dos

These are examples of great headshots. All of them show a full face, are in good light, and don’t have a distracting background.

We’ll take your full size, uncropped photo and crop it to an 800 x 800 px square of your face for the website. That’s why we ask for the largest, uncropped image you have.

Don’ts

Here are some things to avoid.

The “so far away” If your head only makes up a small portion of the image, all the cropping in the world won't help. Unlike CSI, there is no "enhance".

The “selfie” Your selfie game is on point! But it’s distracting in this setting.

The “dramatic crop” Don’t be like Shatner. We need a full face shot, please.

The “extra” Please avoid filters, props, messages, etc.

The “I just grabbed my twitter avatar” Of course we love your hilarious Twitter avatar, but it may be outdated, too small, and not necessarily professional.

The “I cropped out my friend/kid/spouse” We agree 100% that you looked fantastic at your niece’s bat mitzvah! Her shoulder just looks strange on our website.

Follow these tips and you’re sure to be happy with your headshot!