How to Prepare for Your Corporate Headshot Session in Grand Rapids (or wherever you are in the world)

Let’s be honest, a great headshot does more than fill a square on your company website. It's often the first impression a client, partner, or recruiter has of you — sometimes before they've ever heard your voice. Do you look professional? Or do you look like someone went into a boring corner of an office with an iphone? Does the tone of your picture fit the vibe of your business or organization? A little preparation goes a long way toward making sure that first impression is the one you want.

Here's what we walk every client through before a corporate headshot session in Grand Rapids, or wherever we are around the country.

What to Wear

Solid colors photograph best. Busy patterns, fine stripes, and small checks can create a distracting visual effect called moiré, especially on camera. Stick to colors that complement your skin tone and avoid pure white or pure black if possible — both can be tricky to expose correctly and tend to wash out detail. Of course if that’s your brand, we can work with it to make you look the best possible given the circumstances. That said, it’s more important to connect you with your brand, so if you’re a clown college, we’ll make the red nose & polka-dots pop!

Bring a backup outfit if you can. Lighting and backgrounds can affect how colors read on camera, and having a second option means we can adjust on the spot if something isn't working, keeping your branding in mind.

If your headshot will sit next to colleagues' photos on a website or directory, loosely coordinate (not match…you all are individuals after all) so the team looks cohesive without looking uniform.

Grooming and Prep

Plan grooming — haircuts, beard trims, brow work — about a week ahead, not the day before. This gives everything time to settle in naturally rather than looking freshly done. It also allows time for tweaks in case that “fresh look” you thought would be amazing is…less so.

For makeup, slightly more coverage than your everyday look usually translates better on camera, since studio lighting can be unforgiving on uneven skin tone. If you don't typically wear makeup, that's completely fine too — we'll work with your natural look and adjust lighting accordingly. While we have no trouble doing touch ups in post, we prefer to showcase you as you are, not as an instagram filter.

Also! Get a good night's sleep. It sounds simple, but it shows.

What to Expect During the Session

Most corporate headshot sessions run 15–20 minutes per person once we're set up. We'll guide you through a few poses and angles — you don't need to know how to "model," that's our job. We'll direct you the whole way through.

We typically capture a mix of:

• A standard front-facing professional shot
• A slight angle variation
• A couple of more relaxed, approachable options

Having a few different options gives you flexibility for different uses — LinkedIn, your company site, press materials, or a conference bio. We bring that energy to every project we work on, maximizing what you receive for what you invest. 

Getting Photos You'll Actually Use

The goal isn't just "a photo of you" — it's a photo that represents how you want to be perceived professionally. Before the session, think about where this photo will live and what tone fits: buttoned-up and formal, or warm and approachable? Letting us know ahead of time helps us tailor lighting, posing, and direction to match.

After the shoot, you'll get a select gallery to choose from, and we handle the retouching so the final image looks polished and professional — without looking overworked.

At the end of the day, it’s your call. You can do crazy things with AI and computer editing these days, and if that sort of cookie-cutter generic look works for your goals, by all means, go for it! We’re not in the business of pushing companies to spend where they don’t need to. That said, if you want a hand in making your organization look its best, we’re here to help.

Ready to Book?

If your team needs corporate headshots in Grand Rapids, we'd love to help. Start your project or book a discovery call to get on the calendar.

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