Learning a few posing techniques for your professional headshot will give you a leg up in your headshot session.
INTRODUCTION
Posing matters, even in a headshot. A headshot is a cropped photo of the face from the shoulders up. You’d think that you just have to worry about which side of your face is more flattering. After all, we are all asymmetrical and one side may look better than the other.
Posing for a professional headshot is different from taking selfies. Below are a few tips on how to pose for a professional headshot photography session.
use your whole body
That’s right. Even though a headshot captures you from the shoulders and up, use your whole body because you can’t force your face to relax when other parts of your body are tense.
Key rule of thumb here is to have good posture. Keep your spine straight. We like to relax which means we have tendencies to slouch (when nobody’s looking!). But for your headshot session, keep that spine straight. Imagine there is a string on the top of your head and someone is pulling the string up.
A lot of people have tension in their shoulders. While your spine is straight, keep the shoulders down and back.
Tension in the body will show on your face. And the camera does too good of a job capturing tension. Try to relax your whole body and be as comfortable as you can. A quick way to do this is to close your eyes and take a few long, slow deep breaths.
your face
For a headshot, you want to move the forehead forward and chin down. You don’t want the chin too high nor too low. Too high means we’ll get front row seats to your nostrils and too low can cause the double chin effect.
It’s tricky to position your chin just right especially when you can’t see yourself as you pose. So, have your photographer direct you.
your eyes and smile
Your eyes and smile are probably two of the most important things to focus on to get a great headshot. They work together in that when you have a genuine smile, it will make your eyes light up.
A key thing is that your smile has to be real. A real smile will involve the muscles of the mouth and the eyes. A fake smile will only involve the muscles around the mouth.
Fun fact: You can tell someone has a genuine smile when their eyes crinkle, meaning a real smile causes the muscles around the eyes to move. If you want to know more on fake smiles, check out this article from Medium, How to Spot a Fake Smile.
conclusion
A simple headshot is not so simple when you break things down. Posing for your professional headshot is a specific skill and with practice, you’ll be able to pose for any photograph for any occasion. As this is a skill, it does take time. But not to worry! Your photographer will be there to direct you with posing your body, eyes and smile.
