Lifestyle Headshots Explained: Elevate Your Brand

So, what are lifestyle headshots?

Lifestyle headshots are images that are more relaxed, these headshots clue your clients in on who you are as a person. They might be headshots of an author at their writing desk, or a doctor in their office. They can include props as well. Musicians with guitars, doctors with important pieces of equipment that they want to showcase, educators, and public speakers, giving lectures or keynotes.

Lifestyle sessions are perfect for the person who wants to use images across their social media and website platforms to help show their audience what it is they do and how they solve their client’s problems. It’s not good enough anymore to just tell people how you work. Showing people how you work creates credibility, it helps build trust with your clients.

Why Choose Lifestyle Headshots?

The days of only having studio headshots are gone. We live in a digital world and have so many avenues to reach and educate our clients. Creating a variety of digital image assets that you can use and reuse across the many platforms we have is crucial. These images go way beyond just showing your face, they show who you are as a person, what your interests are, and what you stand for. When I photograph doctors, I always shoot lifestyle. It’s important for doctors to show that they are warm, inviting, and friendly. It’s also important to show prospective clients what their space looks like. This helps to bridge the gap between seeing you online and then shaking your hand in person. There should be no surprises.

Planning Your Session

When you are planning a lifestyle session with me, a lot goes into the planning. Before we set up a light and start shooting portraits, I like to have a strategy call with you, or we can talk this through over coffee. I want to deep dive into your business, how do you want to be seen by your clients? What is that you do? How do you do it? I want to learn about how you meet with your clients, how you brainstorm ideas on solving their problems, what technology you use, and how you implement these things. All of these little details help me create a shot list so we can plan each step of your session. Again, it’s not good enough to just tell your clients what you do. SHOW THEM!

Posing and expression

Here is where most people get freaked out. Pose? What! I don’t know how to pose, I’m not photogenic. First, relax, I got your back and yes you are. When it comes to posing and expression, I coach every client through the process. Whether I’m photographing a family with their first newborn, or a corporate CEO, everyone gets coaching. You’re an expert in your field, you need to look like one. I find capturing a wide variety of expressions to be key. Owning a business is not always rainbows and butterflies so capturing expressions that range from total defeat to victory is important. You want to have images that make you relatable, and showing your vulnerable side is a great way to do that. We’ve all been there and it’s comforting to see that someone else has too. I like to get a wide variety of posing as well, we start with headshots, and move to direct address portraits where you’re standing, sitting, and leaning, showing 3/4 to full body in these. I like to shoot some poses with any props you might have that relate to your brand.

Lighting and composition

Here is one spot we get to really have some creative fun. I like to get to my location early to scope it out and see what it’s all about. The lighting will directly relate to your brand’s look and style. Do you like more brightly lit upbeat images, or do you want a more dark and edgy look? This is something we will have talked about in our strategy call. Once we’re in our location we will have the opportunity to really play with the space. I know the basic necessary photos I need to take, but, as the moments present themselves we’ll jump away from our shot list and improvise a little bit. This is a great way to get some really killer extra shots.

Post-processing

Once your session is complete, I’ll get the images edited. I like to add in some black and white, play with some angles, and be creative. I do not however over bake your images and make them look like they went through 100 Instagram filters. Lifestyle headshots should still look like you so I keep my retouching and editing to a minimum to keep everything looking as natural as possible.

If you’re interested in booking a lifestyle session with me or just want to know if that’s the best choice for you, reach out below and get in touch. Let’s talk about where you are in your business and get you the images that you need.