When it all comes together, a nice headshot helps represent your organization well, and is useful in so many ways for your employees.

There are three keys to a great DIY headshot:

• nice light

• good ‘safe’ background

• smiles

Maybe you’ve been chosen as the marketing pro (or intern!) to snap a set of headshot portraits to put on your company website, or at a conference, etc.

Steal these tips from Ken, to help you create an easy and repeatable system to make the photos look nice, but on a budget of $0.

Well… your budget might be 60¢ if you follow our pro tip and use a garbage bag (keep reading to see why!)

Location & Background First

Even though I’ll argue that lights and smiles are the most important, well start with the location & background, because everything else will depend on where you can take the image.

Grab a coworker, and (after buying them a nice cup of coffee), do a series of test photos to test your background options.

Background: Check for these things

• simple backgrounds/uncluttered with nothing sticking out of subject’s head (really, you know it happens all the time)
• background not too dark or light — a glaring white sky takes the eye off of your subject, too dark and murky and the subject looks trapped in the murky room
• for bonus points, make it interesting or saying something about your place of work

Bonus Tip:

Keep your subject AWAY from the background to make the background look a bit softer/less distracting, as well as avoid them casting a shadow if you are doing the photos indoors.

Example of checking backgrounds:

professionals arrive early and test the options… you can too!

Nice Light

Pro photographers don’t just accept or ignore ugly light. We do these things to fix it:

• move your subject to good light

• flip your subject

• add some light

Ken Says: Teach yourself to SEE what the light looks like.

Practice by looking at photos you love and think about the LIGHT.

Moving & Flipping the Subject

You’ve found a great background.

Now, STOP… right as you are thinking you’re all set — and LOOK at the light.

Does it hit the subject evenly? Any glare from a bit of the sun? If you’re inside, are the lights making ‘raccoon’ dark circles under the eyes? Is the color of the light on the person’s face kinda weird??

Even slightly moving a subject can have a big effect on the light… give it a try and, pro tip: mark the spot where they should stand. 

If the move just isn’t working, try to flip the person in a different direction. This will effect your background, but if the light is ugly, no amount of lovely background will save the photo.

Final Option: Adding Light

Sure, this is how pros add light… but we didn’t start doing it this way. Read on…

Outdoors:

Adding light can be as simple as having someone move closer to a white wall that is reflecting nice sunlight, or having a co-worker hold up a 20″ piece of white poster board to reflect nice light into the eyes.

If light is the key to your staff headshot, then a little sparkle in the eyes is the most important feature.

Weird Tip from Ken:

You have a 60¢ equivalent to our $60 photo reflectors sitting in your supply closet.

Grab a WHITE plastic garbage bag (or as above a piece of white poster board) and use it to reflect a little light onto people’s faces. 

You can even have someone hold it OVER a person’s head to create a nice soft shadow for them to sit under in softer light.

Indoors:

Turn your favorite LED desk lamp to point UP toward the ceiling. Turn the other lights down (or off if, possible) to make the nice light bouncing off the ceiling the main thing hitting the person.

Fun Fact: Ken started his ‘photo studio’ in high school, with a lamp from the hardware store.

You bet, we get DIY!

Example of LED Light Into Ceiling

Make them smile

Our final pro tip for DIY headshots isn’t technical, it’s personal .

Consider the ways you can make the experience nice for the subject. Many people say they ‘hate having my picture taken,’ so be prepared.

By having everything tested and prepared ahead of time, people will sense that you cared enough to be ready for them.

Show them an early test photo, to get some buy-in that the photos are going to look good.

Ken Says: When people see that an early test photo looks good… they’ll relax more and be more willing to smile for you.

Limit the number of photos you take, so the session doesn’t go on forever. If they aren’t smiling, ASK if they like to smile or not; sometimes the stress of the situation makes people forget to smile, and a simple check on their preferences can go a long way to helping them feel seen.

And if they say they don’t like to smile in photos, consider NOT giving them a hassle or forcing them. One thing we’ll do is simply chat with people for a minute and let them know we’ll get a few different options for them, smiling and not smiling and let them know THEY can pick.

So be prepared, be quick, and let them know you care…

a smaller, more confident smile is an option too when people suggest they don’t like big smiles

So that’s it… you’re ready to snap some nice headshot portraits DIY of your staff.

Remember to slow down and really LOOK at the images for bad light, bad backgrounds, etc… and with all our pro tips and some practice, maybe you’ll even find taking headshot photos are as much fun as we think they are!