Headshot photography is changing. Over the past few years, we’ve moved away from the standard head and shoulders headshot to a cleaner, more modern professional portrait that truly speaks to the new way both photographers and clients are approaching this genre.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the five qualities that really set modern headshots apart from the traditional approach.

Simple background

Painterly backgrounds are out and simple color backdrops are in. Most modern headshot photographers don’t use a snazzy background for their headshots because seamless paper backgrounds are visually simpler and less distracting. One of the reasons for this shift is that a plain backdrop reads better in a smaller size that often appears in social media profiles. When you shrink a headshot down to a thumbnail, you often lose a lot of detail, so having a plain color works better than a more complicated background. This is definitely one of those trends where the final use of the photo is really dictating the direction we’re moving in!

Clean, bright lighting

Traditional headshot photography is a 3-light setup with specific ratios for each light. This includes the main light (bright side), fill light (shadow side), and a hair light (which separates the person from the background). Modern headshots, however, can utilize a variety of lighting options, but personally speaking, my goal is always to create a clean portrait without harsh shadows while still maintaining the dimensionality of a person’s face. I also adjust lights depending on the bone structure and body type of the person I’m photographing to make sure the lighting on their face is the most flattering possible. Every person’s facial structure is different and moving the main light just a few inches one way or another can completely change the look of the shadows. But one thing is for certain, following the traditional lighting setup for headshots is no longer necessary for photographers who are looking to achieve a more natural result.

Natural expression & posing

There are plenty of photography posing tricks that have traditionally been used to make a person look slimmer in a photograph. However, most of that type of posing looks stiff and frankly “posed”. When it comes to modern headshots, it’s all about the relaxed natural expression that captures the in-between moments. Most of all, it doesn’t look like the person was instructed to sit or stand a certain way. This is actually harder to achieve than you might think since most people are quite nervous in front of the camera and tend to stiffen up automatically. This is why headshot and portrait photography is less about camera equipment and more about having the necessary people skills to create a comfortable and relaxing environment during a situation that tends to stress out most people.

Rectangle instead of square

Headshots are becoming more than a LinkedIn photos or a Facebook profile pics. Now, they are being used for online and printed articles, websites, advertisements, and Blog posts… which fully utilizes the rectangular format and shows more of the body language instead of the traditional head and shoulders crop. This allows personality to really shine and makes a statement that wouldn’t be possible when cropped in on the head only. It’s also really nice to have these images to share on social media! Both, the full rectangle view and the square crop for LinkedIn are included with my Signature Headshot Sessions and are provided to my clients in high resolution and web-ready formats.

Natural retouching

Gone are the days of skin so smooth that it’s blurry and plastic-looking. A modern headshot is all about looking naturally beautiful without obvious retouching. This requires a more advanced Photoshop skillset to achieve, but is well worth it because nobody will be able to tell how much retouching was actually done. This is key to a headshot that looks great but also reflects who you are on a daily basis!

One thing to remember with portraits is that they capture a still moment in time. But when we see people in real life, their faces are fully animated and moving every second. This is one of the reasons why some people hate having their photo taken - because it’s never a true representation of what they see in the mirror. This is also why posing and yes, retouching, is so important.

When you freeze a face in a photograph, every little blemish or wrinkle becomes magnified since we’ve lost the natural movement that exists in the real world. Retouching is that final step to bringing a headshot in line with what we expect our image to look like, not to mention makes it a lot less stressful if you don’t get a full night’s rest before your session. We can always adjust the image in post production while still maintaining the true to life feel that doesn’t look Photoshopped.

Photography is a 100+ year old profession that is constantly changing and evolving, which is why it’s so important for photographers to continually learn as they progress in their career. Headshots might have looked a certain way 20 years ago, but they’re looking quite different now! And I’m sure in another decade, we’ll see different trends take hold of the portrait industry and adjust the way headshots are being photographed.

And if you’d like to learn more about headshots and potentially get an updated professional photograph for LinkedIn or your business website, you can check out https://www.nlalorphotography.com/headshots.