Headshot Advice: What to Wear to a Headshot session
How do clothes tie the shoot together? This is pretty important headshot advice. Clothing really makes the difference between standing out and blending in, and clothes tell us so much about ourselves everyday. When we attend important events, interviews and auditions, most people consider what they wear pretty important. Your headshot is like an interview, meeting, and audition every single day, to everyone who sees it.
Headshot Advice:
Feeling Comfortable & Dressing as yourself
It is best to stick to what you know!
If your headshot is for work, perhaps wear something your clients will see you in. For an acting headshot, wear something that you would consider appropriate for an audition or something that portrays the character and emotion you want to convey.
If you’re really unsure then bring extra items along! You and your photographer can look at the options together and find the best outfit for the shoot.
Headshot Advice: Considering Colour
Colour! It communicates so many things. I love working with colour and creating colour imagery. You can do so many things with it and it really creates cohesion in the final images.
Begin thinking about what colours work with your eyes, hair, and skin tone. You can look at past photographs of yourself to get a feel for it, and try a few things on in front of a mirror too. Some colours can really make your eyes pop. Other colours may make your skin looked washed out. Knowing what colours work for you is a great step in the right direction.
Colour & Backgrounds:
You will also need to consider your backgrounds too. It’s great to discuss and think about this with your photographer before your shoot so it can be planned in advance, and help bring your image together.
I often find in the studio, shooting against a pale wall enables me to tone my backgrounds in post production in order to find a precise shade that compliments the rest of the image, this tends to be effective for images with relatively pale backgrounds. As in the middle image below, the pink shirt and pink background create cohesion.
For outdoors, a little more planning is required, and knowing what types of backgrounds you want will also help you when choosing your outfit.
The blue of Ben’s shirt compliment his eyes, as well as work well with the darker background. You will notice how the background has a bit of blue in the patterns, so a very cohesive look is achieved.
Alesha wore one of her favourite shirts. We incorporated a similar toned background to create an overall cohesive image.
Black and White:
Even for shoots with an intention of being in black and white we need to consider what colours you wear. Colours translate to tones and if you have something particular in mind then you will need to consider how the tones will translate to black and white.
Have a look at some examples below of a basic Black and White conversion to various colours. For paler translations we can see colours like yellow, pale pink and light blue translate better.
Most of it is common sense and pretty obvious. Sometimes it is easy to forget all these little consideration, so it is worth some thought!
Headshot Advice: Clothing style.
Your style helps reflect who you are. Our clothing choices tell us a little bit about who we are. Remember, people often use your portrait as a first impression. It needs to be a good reflection of who you are.
Often I find simpler clothes work really well, and are less likely to clash with things like background, your hair etc. Patterns can be really fun too, so if patterns reflect you, then by all means! You can have a look at my range of work to see what other people have worn in their sessions. It will help give you an idea too.
If you have characters, auditions, or a role in mind as an actor, by all means dress to the style you want to convey. I have written a blog post a little about character too.
Ultimately…
You need to be comfortable and confident! You will always look your best when you feel your best. Bring along options, discuss it beforehand, and have a look at headshots you love to get an idea of what inspires you!