studio or indoor portraits

When you book your headshot session, we discuss outfits, hair and makeup, but also if you want or need photos outside or with a studio backdrop.

This is information about the different studio backdrops and why one works better than the other for certain jobs, certain outfits or purposes.

Professional portrait in black textured dress with glasses against gray background.

Dark grey Gradient

Handpainted multicolor

Executive portrait in gray blazer and pink top with crossed arms against light background.

Light/creme with flowers

Grey with pattern

A great headshot background shouldn’t be too distracting, but still draw the viewers attention towards you.

In some cases, the background of your photo can perfectly capture the style and personality of your business.

For example, if you owned a cupcake shop, having a bright and colorful backdrop would work great and represent the same fun and bubbly personality of your company.

If you work for a corporate company, they might want a certain color backdrop like white or grey. Headshots with solid colored backgrounds are perfect for your most professional aspects of work and online presence.

Generally speaking, brighter/colorful/textured backgrounds tend to work better for more casual and relaxed industries, and neutal or darker backgrounds work better for conservative/formal industries.

Dark Gray or Dark Blue

Formal Business Portraits

Formal business portraits are traditional, dark backdrop shots (blue, gray, or black). Typically, people in the following fields will get a traditional business portrait:

Consulting
Finance
Engineering
Insurance
Law

Light Gray, Light Blue

Relaxed Professional Headshots

Using an off-white background for headshots leads to a more relaxed and approachable shot. Your expression is of course extremely important to how approachable you look.

People in the following fields will benefit from these types of shots:

Creatives - Actors - Dancers - Designers
Coaches - therapists - counselors
Politicians - journalists - real estate brokers

White

No-Background Business Portraits

Anyone who starts their own business should have at least a few professional shots of themselves on a white background because of its versatility.

Because a white background can easily be removed and digitally swapped with something else.
People that should have a white background, just for the clean and crisp feeling it provides:

Bloggers
Healthcare Professionals
Marketers
Media & Newscasters
Scientists
Web Developers

black - creative patterns and colors

Stylized Portraits

Stylized portraits are much more creative than standard headshots. Anyone can use them, from financial executives to painters. A stylized portrait is a shot usually taken against a backdrop with stylized lighting in order to tell a story or get a feeling across. It is most often used for people who already have a professional headshot and want something totally different and unique. People who most-often need stylized portraits are musicians, artists, and dancers/models.