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Vancouver Headshot Photography – What to Wear + Other Tips
Okay, so you booked your headshot photography session in Vancouver with Anita + Cherish. What’s the most common question we get next? Do you have any tips about what to wear and how I should look? Get ready, because we have many tips to share with you about how to best get ready for it.
GETTING READY FOR YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION
THE BASICS: YOUR FACE AND HAIR
First, let’s talk basics. Here are a few recommendations that go a long way to help you start putting yourself together for your business headshot or branding photography session.
1. HAIR – Ensure your hair is well kept. Importantly, make sure it is washed, brushed, styled, and overall tidy. Important note if your session is outdoors: it’s Vancouver. It will likely rain, carry an umbrella and use it on your way to meeting us at our location. Bring a brush too, if you need one.
2. FACIAL HAIR + BROWS – Clean shaven. Or, if you wear facial hair, give it a good tidy up. You want to be trim and clean. If you want to get your brows cleaned up, be sure to do it more than 2 days before your headshot date, no need for redness!
3a. SKIN – WATER AND HYDRATION – Start this one now. Drink plenty of water. In fact, 6 to 8 glasses a day. You already do this? Great, keep it up! Ultimately, start the daily hydrating at least a week before the day of the photoshoot. Trust us, your skin will thank you for it. To top it off this will help keep your lips moisturized. You can bring lip balm to the shoot if you like.
3b. SKIN – Should be clean. Want to get a professional facial? We recommend you get a facial no less than 5 days before your headshot session with us. Alternatively, you may want to do an at-home deep exfoliating cleanse 5 days prior to your shoot.
4. MAKEUP – If you choose to wear makeup we suggest it be natural and only highlight your favourite features. Having fun with a vibrant lip colour allows for some fun! Contact us if you would like a professional to handle makeup and hair needs!
WHAT TO WEAR
5. CLOTHING – Your clothes should be well pressed, well fitting, and not oversized or too tight. Also, you should be able to move with relative ease in them. Good TIP for those working on the day of your session: We highly suggest you bring your headshot wardrobe to work on hangers and change into them just before you meet us for your headshots.
6. PATTERNS + TEXTURES – These are fine, please, just no graphic tees and tops.
7. COLOURS – Neutrals with a POP of colour. We’ll explain below.
7a. FLATTERING + SLIMMING – Ok, who doesn’t want these tips? The magic word: length. It is what flatters our silhouette the most, whatever size you are. To help achieve that, we highly recommend to go monochromatic with your colour choice, particularly a good one if you are having both almost and full head-to-toe photos done. Having said that, it’s not a bad thing to include a pop of colour. The key word here, and we will talk more about this later, is “pop”. If you like patterns, try patterns that are small and tight. V-necks or more open necks with an elongating accessory, such as a long necklace really helps to lengthen as well. Our biggest suggestion is always refer back to tip #5 – ensure your clothes are well pressed and well fitting.
8. FOOTWEAR – If your headshots are actually going to be full head-to-toe shots, remember your shoes should be like your clothes, tidy and clean.
9a. CORPORATE HEADSHOTS – WOMEN – Our top tip is a blazer or suit jacket over a blouse. If you elect to go without a blazer or jacket, we do ask you to avoid sleeveless blouses. Jewelry is always recommended. Either all understated or understated with a single statement piece.
9b. CORPORATE HEADSHOTS – MEN -We recommend men wear a blazer or suit jacket, shirt and tie. Vests are also an extremely flattering look.
10. BUSINESS CASUAL HEADSHOTS – Okay, this one is a bit wide open. Clothing wise, it pretty much depends on what you want to wear. However, stick to tips 1-6 and you should be in good shape. Colour wise, we suggest neutrals with a POP of colour. More on this later.
11. GROUP OR TEAM HEADSHOTS – Most likely, you will all be shown together either on a single page for web or print. For this reason, we highly recommend that the team wear colours that are more complementary. Your safest bet would be, again, neutrals with a POP of colour. However, for teams we recommend only a few people wear the colour, this would vary depending on the group size.
COLOUR, GLORIOUS COLOUR!
All right, what exactly do we mean by Neutrals with a POP of colour?
Well, two things:
- Neutrals are basic and easy colours to coordinate. You also probably own a few or several neutral coloured pieces in your wardrobe already. We’re talking off-whites, beiges, soft natural shades in rose, tan, or light olive, for example.
- A pop of colour is any colour that you coordinate with your neutrals. A little bit of colour goes a long way and adds that much needed pop to your headshot. It doesn’t have to be a bright bold colour. Just something more than say black, white, or beige.
Have a look below to see what some of our past clients brought to their headshot sessions! Check out how they combined some of the different palettes together to create cohesion. Below the images you will see some good basic colour palettes that serve as great visual aids for you and your team.
