DC Corporate Headshots

For women

Women in business have a distinct dilemma to navigate when getting their headshots taken. We need to avoid looking too…timid, meek, submissive, suggestive, aggressive, mean, assertive, ditsy, dumb, etc. Kristina knows this all too well given her time speaking publicly for Adobe, Canon and LinkedIn Learning.
So when she gets the chance to photograph a fellow female corporate bad-ass, slaying in her field, she makes sure to coach her client into the perfect facial expression that says; “I can do this job with my eyes closed, but I’m still nice enough to work with daily.” Your corporate headshot is the first thing people connect with on the internet so it’s important to make sure your it’s quality is second to none!

Headshot Posing and Facial Coaching…

At Kristina Sherk Photography, we’re invested in making sure your expression looks genuine, fresh, and most of all; like you! Pose coaching and helping you achieve the best facial expressions (no matter how awkward they feel) happens during every shoot. Often, people actually don’t know what goes into a genuine smile, but we do, and we coach you to get there so we can capture it in your best headshot.

Elevating corporate headshots for women in DC.

DC headshot session: What to Wear?

We suggest clients bring a minimum of 2-3 outfits with them to their corporate headshot session just to be sure we have outfit variety. If you’re having second thoughts on what to wear, here are some helpful tips:

  • Pick clothes you feel confident and comfortable in. This will help you relax while we’re shooting. The better a piece of clothing makes you feel, the more confidence you’ll exude while posing. 

  • Avoid clothes that “wear you.” Bulky blazers are ‘in’ fashion-wise currently, but when it comes to picking outfits for a headshot session, the clothes shouldn’t upstage the wearer. When people bring blazers in a bulky cut, Kristina clamps them in the back so they appear slimmer. The bigger the blazer looks on you, the heavier you’ll look in your headshot. Kristina usually suggests choosing snug fitting clothes as opposed to baggy ones. 

  • Neckline matters. Kristina tries to elongate client’s necks while shooting portraits. There are two easy ways to do this. You can pick a “V neck” neckline, or you can opt for a shell with a cardigan or slim fitting blazer on top. This creates two vertical lines along the chest which photographers refer to as “leading lines.” Not only do these elongate the neck, but they also lead the viewers eye straight up to the face. Avoiding boat neck cuts is usually recommended during your session. 

  • Bold isn’t always beautiful. Bold patterns (and sometimes intricate ones) on clothing should be avoided when choosing outfits for your session. Bold patterns will immediately divert the viewers eye away from the face in the portrait. And that’s exactly the opposite of what Kristina is trying to achieve. One smart way to incorporate a bold pattern into your photo is by wearing it under a solid colored blazer or cardigan. This gives a touch of excitement while avoiding too much distraction. Small prints too can sometimes cause a problem in photos, because once you scale down the size of the portrait, the detailed patterns can sometimes cause a visual effect called “moiré.” An experienced photographer like Kristina will know exactly how to avoid this, but not all portrait photographers are created equal. You can still bring small prints with you, and Kristina will work her Photoshop magic to make sure there isn’t any moiré effect visible in your final DC headshots. 

  • People often ask “what colors should I wear during my session?” Kristina usually recommends earth tones darker than your skin tone. One well known rule about how viewers interpret images is that the eye goes to the brightest, most saturated, sharpest, and most contrasty part of the photograph. So one of our objectives is to make sure your face in the portrait meets as many of those qualifications as possible. This facilitates an immediate connection between the person in the photo and the person viewing it. 

  • “Should I avoid wearing black in my headshots?” That depends on if you’re hiring an experienced photographer or not. Inexperienced photographers without proper training on how to light professional headshots will forget to separate the subject from a dark background. Resulting in the dark clothing and the dark background blending together so you can’t see the edge between the two. This is usually done with a rim light. Kristina will always add a rim light when her clients are wearing black on a dark backgrounds.

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