How To Relax And Be Yourself During Your Headshot Session
You Don’t Need To Know How To Pose!
Pose is a word I don’t really use in my headshot sessions. It freaks people out, they immediately start wondering and asking if they’re doing it right. Stress from the very start. For me, posing leads to stiff and un-authentic expressions, so, I don’t pose people. I like to get people in a position that is flattering with beautiful light, and then simply interact. I ask questions to get a conversation started, where are you from? Do you have kids? tell me about your work. Once everything is looking great, I throw a line in to elicit an expression. That’s perfect, head towards your left shoulder, chin down, perfect, now 5% less misery. Boom, smiles, real smiles!
I Hate Having My Picture Taken!
What if I told you that it’s my job to get it all right in your headshot session, not yours?
Let’s face it, most people don’t enjoy having their photo taken. I don’t either, it’s why I choose to be on the other side of the camera. I know most of my clients are not models, they’re CEOs and business owners. So it’s not likely they have experience with being in front of a camera or posing. Being relaxed will lead to more natural and honest expressions in your photographs and that’s the important part.
I’ll share some tips here on how I help people relax, be themselves, and dare I say it, ENJOY their headshot session with me.
Let Go Of Self-Consciousness
There are always things about ourselves that we are self-conscious about. The hard thing to remember is that we’ve lived with ourselves, so, these little things seem, huge. They almost always go unnoticed by people that are meeting you for the first time. This is a good thing to communicate with your headshot photographer about because we might be able to make things less noticeable with lighting or some light retouching.
I like to ask clients if they can tell me where the arrow on the Fed-Ex truck is, almost no one even knows where it is. Once I point it out, they can’t un-see it. So, being able to let go of things we’re self-conscious about will help lead to more natural expressions.
Image Review And Selecting Favorites
This step seems a little less obvious when talking about how to relax in your headshot session. But, It’s an important step in the process. I like to shoot tethered to my laptop. This means that images show up on a large monitor in real-time. This allows us to review images as we go. The benefit here for you is, to be able to see what we’re shooting and be able to make any changes at the moment. Two, it allows me to coach you on position and expression from the images. Finally, you get to see how awesome you look and how well you’re killing it in front of the camera.
When you feel confident, you look confident. I try and take advantage of any possible way to make that happen for you.
Get in touch.
If you’re ready to book a session and level up your professional online appearance or would like more information on my professional headshot sessions, click below. I do shoot out of my home studio in Clarksburg, Maryland, and also have a studio space in Rockville, Maryland.
About John Armato
John Armato is a professional headshot photographer based in Clarksburg, MD, and serving headshot clients throughout the Rockville, Bethesda, and Washington D.C. areas. John specializes in professional business and corporate headshots, acting headshots, realtor headshots, physician and healthcare headshots, branding headshots, and more.
No matter if you are looking for on-location or in-studio headshots, reach out to John today!