Executive Headshots: The Rookie Mistakes Series #5

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

Mark Twain said that. We say it around here a lot, too. Professional photographers “know for sure” how to craft a professional Executive Headshot. People seeking a headshot “know for sure” that all they have to do to get a great headshot is hire a professional photographer. And sometimes … that just ain’t so.

Crafting a professional headshot requires more than a studio, a good camera, and the knowledge of how to use the two. The majority of professional photographers are portrait photographers. They can create perfectly adequate family photos. But executive headshots are commercial documents, not nice portraits, and they have to be crafted with that in mind. Take the example below:

It would be easy to say that both headshots look fine, wouldn’t it? Many executive headshots we see in our travels are lit just like the photo on the left. It’s a very common – and very portrait-y – lighting style. Because you see so much of it, it can be easy to think that that’s how a headshot should look. And yet, it is wrong. Why?

A face in shadow creates disconnection. It conveys that something is hidden. There is a subliminal hint of dishonesty and concealment. Connection is created through openness and honesty. Anything that undermines that message undermines the effectiveness of your headshot. There’s a reason we say that a dishonest person is a little shady. Or that we say that someone who withholds information is keeping us in the dark. The sense that we should know something we don’t makes us uneasy, and we aren’t likely to form a solid relationship with someone who makes us feel uneasy. When that underlying uneasiness is a side effect of a shadowy business headshot, potential clients might avoid you without even knowing why their instincts are telling them to.

I don’t suppose we need to tell you why that would be bad.

Learn more about how we craft our executive headshots by visiting our website, or call to talk to us today.

Walter Schnecker, CPP, CPC, CCH

Walter Schnecker is the owner of C1M Photography, LLC, in Amherst NH. He specializes in Executive Headshots and  loves using his years of experience in the industry to provide each and every client with a polished, professional and, most importantly, effective headshot.