What to Wear for Your Photoshoot

This is the question we get asked most, usually the night before, usually by someone standing in front of an open wardrobe feeling slightly panicked.

Here is the short version: wear something you already own, already like, and already feel like yourself in. Nearly everything else on this page is detail.

The longer version is below. It covers headshots, team sessions and full brand or content days. Read the bits that apply to you and ignore the rest.

The one rule that matters

You should look like the person who turns up to work, on a good day.

Not a stiffer version. Not a more formal version. Not the version wearing something bought specially that morning and worn for the first time in front of a camera.

If you never wear a tie, do not start now. If you live in a branded polo shirt, wear the branded polo shirt. A photograph where you look slightly uncomfortable is obvious to everyone who sees it, including the clients you are trying to win.

 

Colours

Solid colours photograph better than anything else. Navy, charcoal, deep green, burgundy, black, white, grey. They keep the attention on your face rather than on your clothing.

Mid to dark tones are the safest choice for most people. They are flattering, they sit well against most backgrounds and they rarely date.

Think about your brand colours. If your website and your logo run on a particular palette, wearing something that sits alongside it makes the whole set look deliberate. It also means the photographs will still work when your designer drops them onto a branded page.

Bring a second option in a different colour. Even two shirts gives us variety across the session, and variety is what stops all your social posts looking like they were taken on the same afternoon.

Avoid neon or very bright saturated colours. They reflect onto your skin and give you a colour cast that takes work to remove and never looks quite right afterwards.

Patterns

Small, tight, repeating patterns are the one genuine technical problem. Fine checks, narrow stripes, herringbone and small dogtooth can create a shimmering effect on camera called moiré. It is a limitation of how digital sensors work, it is difficult to fix afterwards, and it will ruin an otherwise good photograph.

Larger patterns are usually fine. If you are unsure about a particular shirt, bring it along with an alternative and we will test it in the first few frames.

Beyond the technical issue, busy patterns compete with your face for attention. In a headshot, your face should win.

Fit, and why it matters more than price

A well-fitting high street shirt photographs better than an expensive one that is slightly too big. The camera is unforgiving about excess fabric: it bunches at the shoulders, gathers at the waist, and reads as untidy even when it looks fine in a mirror.

Check the shoulder seams sit where your shoulders actually end. Check sleeves reach the wrist bone. If a jacket is going to stay buttoned, check it sits flat when you are seated as well as standing.

Everything should be pressed. Creases are far more visible in a photograph than in a room, and ironing a shirt is quicker than retouching one.

Necklines and layers

Simple necklines work best in a headshot: a crew neck, a V-neck, an open collar. Anything high or fussy shortens the neck and crowds the face.

Layers give us options. A shirt with a jacket over it is effectively two looks, because we can shoot with the jacket on and again with it off. That is the cheapest way to get variety out of a short session.

Jewellery, glasses and watches

Keep jewellery simple. One or two pieces you wear regularly. Anything large or shiny draws the eye away from your face and can catch the lighting awkwardly.

Wear your glasses if you always wear them. People should recognise you. We manage reflections with lighting, and it is rarely a problem. If you can borrow an empty frame from your optician, bring it, but do not worry if not.

Anti-glare coatings help. Heavily tinted or reactive lenses do not, because studio lighting can darken them mid-session. If yours are reactive, keep them out of daylight for twenty minutes before we start.

For individual headshots

Bring two or three options on hangers rather than folded in a bag. We have space to hang them and somewhere to change.

A workable set:

• One outfit in your usual work register, whatever that is
• One slightly more formal, for anything that needs to look senior
• One more relaxed, for social media and your About page

You will not need all three. Having them means we can react to what is working.

For team sessions

Consistency across the team matters more than what any one person wears. Portraits that sit side by side on a website look wrong if one person is in a suit and the next is in a t-shirt.

Send your team a simple brief beforehand. Something like: business casual, solid colours, no logos other than our own, no small checks or narrow stripes. That single sentence prevents most of the problems.

If you have branded uniform or polo shirts, have everyone wear them for part of the session and their own clothes for the rest. You end up with two usable sets rather than one.

Ask people to bring a spare top. Someone always spills a coffee.

For brand and content days

A content day is different from a headshot session, because we are building a library of images that needs to last you months. That means you want variety, and variety comes from planning.

Bring three or four changes if you can. Different colours, different levels of formality. Photographs of you in the same shirt across forty social posts make it obvious they were all shot on one day.

Think about what you actually do. If we are photographing you at work, wear the clothes you work in. An accountant at a desk, a joiner in a workshop and a therapist in a treatment room should all look like themselves, not like stock photography.

If there is a seasonal element to your business, mention it when we plan the day. We can shoot a couple of looks that will still work in six months.

Grooming

Nothing dramatic. Photographs are a poor time to try something new.

Haircuts are best a week to ten days before, not the day before. They settle.

Shaving on the morning, if you shave. Stubble grows faster than people expect.

Make-up as you would normally wear it, perhaps very slightly more defined. Matte finishes photograph better than anything with shimmer, because studio lighting picks up shine.

Nails are worth a glance if there is any chance of hands appearing, which there usually is on a content day.

We do standard retouching on every delivered image: blemishes, stray hairs, shine, colour correction. You do not need to worry about a spot appearing the day before.

The things people get wrong

• Buying something new for the shoot. Unworn clothes look unworn. If you must, wear it a few times first.
• Dressing more formally than usual. It reads as borrowed rather than professional.
• Forgetting about shoes. Three quarter and full length shots happen more often than people expect, especially on content days.
• Logos from other brands. Your own logo is fine. Someone else's is a free advert on your website.
• Arriving straight from a long drive in the clothes you intend to be photographed in. Change when you get here.

What we do about all this

Before any content day or team session we send you a written plan covering locations, timings, who needs to be where and what to wear. Nobody has to guess.

On the day, if something is not working we will tell you, kindly and early, while there is still time to change it. That is part of the job.

And if you are still standing in front of the wardrobe at nine o'clock the night before, ring us. We would much rather answer the question than have you worry about it.

Still not sure?

Send us a photograph of the options on your phone. It takes us thirty seconds to tell you which one will work.

Call 01925 747780 or send us a message.

Not booked yet? Have a look at our brand and content photography and professional headshots, or see what everything costs on our pricing page.

F11 Photography, The Photo Studio, Norman Street, Warrington, Cheshire WA2 7HW. Free parking right outside.