What to Wear (and How to Prep) for Your Headshot Session

I've shot headshots for LinkedIn profiles, corporate team pages, and personal branding, and the sessions that go smoothest are almost never the ones where someone shows up with a brand-new outfit still creased from the bag. They're the ones where people put a little thought into it a few days ahead, then show up and just let me do my job. Here's what actually matters.

1. Solid colors beat patterns, every time. Busy patterns, thin stripes, and small checks do weird things through a camera sensor — they can shimmer or vibrate in a way your eye doesn't catch but the lens does. Solid navy, charcoal, deep green, burgundy — these hold up. If you love a pattern, fine, but don't make it the only shirt you bring.

2. Bring a backup top, even if you think you don't need one. I ask most clients to bring two options. Not because the first one's wrong, but because when we pull up the first few frames on the back of the camera, sometimes a color that looked great in your closet reads differently against the background we're using, or it's just not doing your skin tone any favors. Having a second shirt means we can pivot without ending the session.

3. Think about what's actually going to show in the frame. A headshot crop usually lands somewhere around mid-chest to the collarbone, sometimes a little lower for corporate or branding shots. That means wrinkles on your lower shirt, weird bunching at the waist, or a busy tie clip you forgot about — none of that matters if it's below the crop line. But your collar, your neckline, your shoulders? Those are in every frame. Iron the parts that count and don't stress about the parts that don't.

4. Skip the logo tees and heavy branding, unless the shoot is specifically about that brand. For NIL and athlete branding work this rule flips — Sophie's shoot in Snohomish was built around her adidas deal, so the branding was the point. But for a standard LinkedIn or corporate headshot, you want people looking at your face, not reading your shirt.

5. Sleep matters more than makeup or grooming, honestly. I can't fix a night of bad sleep with lighting. Puffy eyes and a tired expression come through even with a fast lens and good light. If you've got a session booked, treat the night before like it matters — skip the late night, drink some water, show up rested. Everything else — hair, makeup, a fresh shave — is easier to dial in than energy is.

6. If your session is outdoors, check the actual weather and location, not just the forecast icon. When I shot Aniruddh's corporate headshots at Bellevue Downtown Park, we picked that spot on purpose — it's got some green backdrop options and also more architectural, clean-line spots depending on the mood the shot needs. But wind, direct overhead sun, and wet pavement after rain all change how a session runs. If we're meeting somewhere like that, dress for the ground and the air temperature, not just for the camera — you can't fake being comfortable, and it shows in your shoulders and your face.

7. Bring layers if the vibe calls for more than one look. A jacket or blazer you can add or remove mid-session gives us range without a full outfit change. This works especially well for corporate or LinkedIn headshots where you might want one more formal frame and one slightly more relaxed frame from the same twenty minutes. Aniruddh's session used this — a couple of frames with the jacket on for the more formal corporate look, a couple without for something that reads a little more approachable.

8. Don't over-rehearse your smile in the mirror beforehand. I know that sounds backwards, but the smiles that photograph best are usually the ones that happen mid-conversation, not the ones held for three seconds on command. I'll talk to you during the session, ask about your week, whatever it takes to get a real reaction instead of a held expression. Your job on this one isn't preparation so much as just being willing to relax into it once we start rolling.

A few other small things worth knowing going in: avoid anything with a heavy sheen or a lot of reflective texture (satin, sequins, glossy fabric) since studio or flash lighting can bounce off it in odd ways. And if you wear glasses, bring them — but let me know ahead of time so we can angle things to cut down on glare rather than fighting it mid-session.

None of this is about being perfect. It's about giving me clean, simple things to work with — solid colors, a rested face, a little bit of range in your wardrobe — so I can spend the actual session on light and timing and getting an expression that looks like you, not like you're posing for a headshot.