A professional headshot is a small number of adjustments repeated reliably. None of them are difficult; they're just not obvious, which is why an unposed photo of a perfectly photogenic person still looks like a driving licence.
The base position
Almost every good corporate headshot is a variation on this. Build it once and you can shoot from it.
- 1Angle your shoulders about 30 degrees away from the lens. Square-on shoulders read as flat and institutional. A slight turn gives the frame depth.
- 2Bring your face back round to the camera. Shoulders turned, face front. That counter-rotation is the single thing that makes a headshot look composed.
- 3Put your weight on your back foot. It stops you leaning towards the camera, which is what causes looming.
- 4Push your chin very slightly forward and down. Not up. Forward-and-down defines the jaw and removes the soft area under the chin. It feels absurd and photographs well.
- 5Drop your shoulders on an exhale. Held shoulders creep towards your ears and read as tension in every frame.
- 6Lean in about five centimetres from the waist. A fractional lean towards the lens reads as engaged. Any more reads as intense.
The order that matters
Set the body, then the face, then shoot. People do it backwards — fix the smile, then move, then wonder why the smile has gone.
What to do with your hands
Hands are where most headshots fall apart, because a tight crop makes them either invisible or strange.
- Tight head-and-shoulders crop: keep hands out entirely. A hand entering the bottom of a close crop is always distracting.
- Three-quarter crop: arms crossed loosely, or one hand in a pocket with the thumb out. Crossed arms read as confident in a headshot, not defensive — that rule is from body-language advice about conversations, not photographs.
- Seated: forearms on the desk, hands loosely together, or one hand resting near your chin without touching your face. Never a fist under the jaw.
- Always: relax the fingers. Tension shows in hands before it shows in faces.
Expression
There are really three usable expressions, and which one you want depends on the field rather than your preference.
| Expression | Reads as | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Genuine open smile, teeth | Approachable, warm | Sales, real estate, healthcare, coaching, most of LinkedIn |
| Closed-mouth smile with the eyes engaged | Competent, calm | Law, finance, consulting, senior leadership |
| Neutral with a slight lift at the mouth | Serious, unfussy | Academia, technical roles, some editorial |
The mechanical part: a real smile involves the muscles round the eyes, and you cannot fake those by holding a mouth shape. Think of something specific and mildly funny, then shoot in the two seconds afterwards. For the rest of the preparation, see what to wear for headshots.
The poses to skip
- Arms folded, square to camera, chin up. Reads as a challenge.
- The hand-on-chin thinker. It has been a cliché for thirty years and it hides your jaw.
- Leaning on a wall at 45 degrees. Casual to the point of looking like you're waiting for someone.
- Chin lifted. Foreshortens the face, emphasises nostrils, looks haughty.
- A hard body turn with the eyes cut back over the shoulder. Fine for fashion, wrong for a company directory.
Shooting it yourself
If you're doing this without a photographer: phone on a shelf at eye height, rear camera, three or four steps back, facing a large window with the light coming from slightly to one side. Run the base position, take thirty frames, move a little between each. How to take professional headshots at home has the full setup.
Or skip the shoot: AI headshots generate the posing, lighting and background from a few selfies, which is the point at which the posing question stops being yours to solve.
