Somebody googling your name right now is looking at your headshot before they read a single sentence you've written. It's on your About page, your Google Business Profile, your LinkedIn, your email signature — the one photo doing the most silent work of anything in your marketing. A blurry selfie or a cropped-out-of-a-group-photo shot tells them you haven't gotten around to this yet. A clean, confident photo tells them the opposite.
You don't need a $500 studio session to get a great headshot. You need good light, the right setup, and a few minutes of actual shooting. Here's exactly how to do it well.
"A viewer decides whether to trust your face in about a tenth of a second, long before they've read your bio or your reviews."
The Non-Negotiable: Get the Light Right
Bad light ruins headshots more than any other factor — more than background, more than camera quality, more than clothing. The easiest great light is a large window on an overcast day. Stand facing the window (not sideways to it), about 3–4 feet back. The diffused daylight wraps around your face and eliminates harsh shadows under your eyes and nose. Avoid direct sunlight, which creates squinting and harsh shadows. Avoid shooting with a window behind you, which turns you into a silhouette.
No good window? A $35 ring light positioned at eye level gives you a clean, even, professional-looking light source. Combined with a plain wall background, it's a setup that works for video calls, content creation, and headshots alike.
6 Tips for a Headshot That Actually Works
1. Choose a background that doesn't compete
A plain wall in a neutral color — white, light gray, warm beige, or a muted tone that complements your clothing — keeps the focus on your face. Outdoors works if the background is naturally soft (blurred trees, a brick wall at distance, open sky). Avoid busy offices, cluttered rooms, or bold wallpaper. If you want an environmental portrait that shows your workspace or a location relevant to your brand, make sure the background is clean and deliberately chosen — not accidental.
2. Frame from the chest up, not the chin up
A tightly cropped face-only shot can feel confrontational and is less versatile across different platforms. Frame your shot from chest to top of head, with your face occupying roughly the top two-thirds of the frame and eyes approximately at the one-third-from-top mark. This framing looks natural across a website About page (landscape crop), a LinkedIn profile (square crop), and a business card (small crop). Shoot with room to crop rather than cropped too tight from the start.
3. Position the camera at eye level or just above
Shooting from below gives a double-chin and makes the subject look imposing. Shooting from above can look cute on Instagram but comes across as unserious in a professional context. Position your phone or camera exactly at eye level or 2–3 inches above — this is the most flattering and natural angle for a business headshot. Use a tripod or prop your phone on a stack of books; handheld selfies at arm's length will always look like selfies.
4. Wear what you'd wear to meet your best client
Your clothing should match the professional level of your work and your target client. A Portland craft brewery owner might look more authentic in a clean flannel than a suit — and that's right for their brand. A business consultant probably wants something sharper. Avoid busy patterns, thin stripes (they moiré on camera), and logos on clothing. Solid colors photograph cleanest. Whatever you wear, make sure it's pressed or wrinkle-free — wrinkled clothing photographs much worse than it looks in a mirror.
5. Shoot dozens of frames — the good one is in there
Professional photographers shoot hundreds of frames to get 10–20 selects. If you're shooting yourself with a timer or having someone else shoot, take 50+ photos across 2–3 outfits and 2–3 positions. The difference between a good headshot and a great one is often one tiny shift in expression — a more genuine smile, slightly relaxed shoulders, a subtle tilt of the chin. You need volume to find that moment. Shoot in burst mode if your phone supports it.
6. Edit lightly — clean up, don't transform
Good headshot editing means: correct the exposure so your face isn't too bright or too dark, remove any temporary blemishes, reduce harsh shadows if present, and optionally adjust the background to be cleaner or more consistent. What editing should NOT do is smooth your skin to a plastic finish, change your eye or hair color, or make you look 10 years younger. Your headshot should look like you — on a good day, in good light, well-rested. Apps like Lightroom Mobile (free tier) or Facetune (used minimally) handle these adjustments well.
When to Hire a Professional Headshot Photographer
DIY headshots are fine for social profiles, early-stage businesses, and situations where "good enough" is genuinely enough. But there are moments where a professional session is worth every dollar: when you're launching a rebrand, when your headshot appears at large sizes (conference programs, billboards, press features), when you're building a speaker profile, or when your current photo is so outdated or low-quality that it's actively undermining your credibility. A single good headshot session typically produces 10–20 usable images that serve you for 2–3 years.
Your headshot is just one piece of the visual identity you present online. Our guide on product photography for small businesses covers the same principles applied to what you make or sell — and our post on creating a brand style guide explains how your headshot, product photos, and other visuals should all work together as a coherent system.
Tired of using the same headshot from three jobs ago?
Joskie Productions runs headshot sessions for Portland business owners and teams — usually under an hour, with a gallery you'll actually want to post.
Book a Photography Consult →