Headshot Photography

• Headshot photography (this page): several uses (website, press, conference programmes, a book jacket, actors' casting sites), several looks, a choice of backgrounds, a handful of retouched finals.
• LinkedIn headshots: one use, one look, shot and cropped for LinkedIn's circular profile frame, plus a matching banner. Faster, simpler.
• Portrait photography: expressive and varied, not made to sit neatly in a template.
• Personal branding: a whole library of images, including headshots, for marketing your own business.

Booking for a team? Company headshots are priced per session with several people and consistent lighting across everyone.

Both are common in the Netherlands:

• Outdoor, blurred background: a tree-lined canal, a brick wall, a park. Looks warm and approachable. Works best in open shade or on bright overcast days; the photographer will avoid direct midday sun.
• Studio-style, plain background: grey, white or a colour, often with portable lights set up in your office or at the photographer's space. Consistent and corporate. The right choice if your colleagues' photos already look like this.

Tell the photographer where the photo will appear and send an example of the existing style if there is one. Matching an existing company style matters more than which one is "better".

In Amsterdam there is a page for headshot photographers in Amsterdam, and in Brainport, a separate page for headshots in Eindhoven.

Casting headshots have their own conventions: natural colour, minimal retouching, eyes sharp, no heavy grading, and the photo must look like you on the day you walk into the room. If you need them for an agency or casting platform, say so in the request and include the agency's photo guidelines if they have them. Not every headshot photographer shoots casting work, and we match on that.

1. Clothes: solid, mid-tone colours; necklines that frame the face; nothing brand-new and stiff. Bring two tops.
2. Hair: a cut a week before, not the day before.
3. Glasses: wear them if you usually do. Anti-reflective lenses help; the photographer will adjust the angle to avoid glare.
4. Skin: matte is easier than shiny. A little powder helps everyone, including people who never wear make-up.
5. Sleep and water. It shows.

On the day, it usually takes 10–15 minutes before your face relaxes. Good headshot photographers keep talking through that stage.

Tell the photographer every place the headshot will appear. It changes how they shoot:

• Company website team pages usually need consistent crops and backgrounds. Send a link to the page so the photographer can match framing and tone.
• Conference programmes and press often ask for both a colour and a portrait-orientation file with room around the head, because designers crop differently.
• Speaker profiles benefit from one more energetic frame, mid-gesture or mid-laugh, alongside the formal one.
• Book jackets and academic profiles may need a higher-resolution file and a plain background that works in black and white.
• Casting sites have their own specifications for size and framing.

A headshot that looks right on a website at 300 pixels wide can look soft when a conference prints it on a 2-metre banner. Knowing the largest use in advance lets the photographer plan for it.

You get a proof gallery and choose your favourites; the photographer retouches those (skin clean-up, stray hairs, colour matching). Most people choose within a day or two. Finals arrive in high resolution and a web-sized version. If you need a specific crop or file size for an intranet or print programme, add that to your notes.