It is easy to procastinate and put off getting a new professional headshot, but in image-conscious northern VA and the DC metropolitan area, a professional headshot is especially important. Your headshot is often the first impression for potential clients or employers, and therefore it should enhance your professionalism and credibility and attract your idea clients.
Not convinced? Without further ado, here are eight reasons to update your professional headshot.
8 Signs You Need a New Professional Headshot
1. You cropped yourself out of a wonderful family picture. While it may be a lovely picture of you, it does not say “I am a professional”, especially if someone else’s shoulder is in the picture. Yes your potential clients will notice. Plus, it is unlikely to be as flattering of you as it could be, given that it is unlikely to have been retouched.
A professional headshot will be carefully retouched to perfection!
2. Your headshot is over 5 years old. I get it, this is not a culture that values aging even though age implies more wisdom and calm and confidence. So it’s tempting to hold on to older headshots! However if you look nothing like your headshot, it may give your clients a vague feeling that you are not completely straightforward and candid.
A new professional headshot will make you great and will be a flattering portrait of how you look in the present.
3. You have a glazed, deer in the headlights look. Some people do not enjoy having their pictures taken — my own daughter gave me 15 minutes in the front yard for her senior pictures! If you hate having your portrait taken, you may tell yourself the headshot you have is “good enough” even though you look like a deer caught in headlights. You deserve better!
A good headshot photographer will be able to help you relax and avoid that stunned, “let’s get this over with” expression.
4. Your headshot doesn’t match your job or your brand. All headshots are not alike! Headshots give your potential clients signals about what to expect if they do business with you. If you were a high powered corporate lawyer, but now you have opened up a fitness studio, your headshot is unlikely to send the message and vibe that potential members of your club would find warm and inspiring.
A professional headshot should complement your brand and industry.
5. Your current headshot is a nice picture of you but it’s a little blurry or not exposed properly. Sometimes we love images of ourselves that are a little too dark or a little too light, or even a little blurry. We don’t want to get a new headshot because we think there’s no way it will look as good as the blurry one we have, and we’ll tell ourselves it doesn’t matter and our potential clients won’t notice. You and your business deserve a great headshot.
A professional headshot photographer will give you many beautiful, in focus, properly exposed images to choose from.
6. You only have a web-sized version of your headshot and lost the high resolution file. This may work if your clients are only looking at your headshot and website on their phone, but on a high resolution computer monitor? The image will look pixelated and terrible.
It’s worth hiring a professional photographer to get a high resolution headshot for your website that will look great regardless of what monitor or computer your potential client uses.
7. You don’t love your headshot. Maybe a headshot is low on your priority list and you’ve made your peace with a headshot that you don’t love. Why?
You absolutely deserve a new professional headshot that makes you feel happy and proud and that serves you and your business.
8. You don’t have one! In this day and age, everyone needs a professional headshot, even college students! A great professional headshot can help you land jobs, promote your brand, make connections. You can use it on your website, for business cards, and on all of your social media sites like LinkedIn.
So now that you are convinced you need a new headshot, where can you get one? If you are in the Northern Virginia (Loudoun County, Fairfax County, etc..) or Washington DC area check out my headshot portfolio here!
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or want to get on the calendar!
