The short version: plain, solid colours in a fit you are comfortable in, two tops or jackets for the two looks, and no fine stripes or small checks. Everything below is the reasoning, so you can make a sensible call when your wardrobe and the rules disagree.
The picture is mostly collar, so keep it plain
A headshot is cropped somewhere around the chest. What survives the crop is a collar, a neckline, the top of a jacket and a strip of whatever is underneath. Anything in that strip with a pattern, a slogan or a shine pulls the eye away from your face, and once the picture is shrunk to a profile thumbnail the eye has very little to work with already.
Mid-tones are the safe choice: navy, charcoal, bottle green, burgundy, soft blue, camel, rust. They sit well against most skin and hold detail in the folds. Bright white can end up brighter than your face. Pure black can lose the line of your shoulders and turn into a flat shape. Neither is banned, but both need choosing with the background in mind, which is further down.
Fine stripes and small checks shimmer
Pinstripes, gingham, tight houndstooth and fine herringbone all cause the same trouble. The pattern is close to the spacing of the pixels on the camera sensor, and later on the screen showing the picture, and the two grids interfere. The result is moiré: a wavy ripple that makes the fabric look as if it is moving. It changes every time the image is resized, so a shirt that looks fine on the photographer's monitor can crawl on a phone.
Wide, bold stripes are fine. So is texture you can feel more than see, like a fine-gauge knit or a matt wool. If you are unsure, photograph the shirt on your phone and look at it zoomed out. If it ripples there, it will ripple in the headshot.
Fit beats price
A jacket that fits across the shoulders looks expensive in a headshot whatever it cost. One a size too big bunches behind the collar and shortens the neck. One a size too small pulls at the button. Try it on sitting down as well as standing, and undo the bottom button if it drags.
Necklines frame the face, so give it a frame. Open collars, crew necks, V-necks and a shirt under a jacket all work. Very low necklines and thin straps are a problem at a head-and-shoulders crop, because the clothing falls below the edge of the frame and the picture reads as bare shoulders.
Iron everything and bring it on a hanger, not folded in a bag. A creased collar is small in real life and large in a headshot. The dressing room at the barn has a garment rail, a long counter and a Hollywood-style mirror with bulbs round it, so you can change and check before you walk onto the set.
Two looks means two tops
Our business session is £149 +VAT for 45 minutes, two looks and three retouched images. In practice a look is a change of top: a jacket for the formal version, then something more relaxed. The easiest pair is a jacket over a plain shirt or top, then the jacket off. That gives two looks from one outfit and one change.
Make the two looks different in tone as well as formality. Navy jacket, then a burgundy knit. Charcoal suit, then a soft blue shirt. Bring a third option as a spare, because now and again a colour that looks lovely in the mirror fights the background, and it takes a minute to find out.
How your clothes sit on white, grey or dark
We shoot on three backgrounds, and you can mix them across your two looks.
- White reads bright and modern. It is hard on pale clothing: a white shirt on its own loses its edges against it, though under a jacket it is fine because the jacket draws the shoulder line. Mid and dark tones stand out cleanly.
- Grey is the safe professional choice and the most forgiving. Almost everything works, apart from a grey top in the same shade, which makes you look as if you are wearing the background.
- Dark suits senior roles and speaker bios, and it is lit low-key, with more shadow. Black or navy on dark can merge, so wear a mid-tone, or put something lighter at the collar to separate your head and shoulders from the background.
One sensible split is grey for LinkedIn and dark for a speaker bio. For a team, everyone goes on the same background, and running that day is its own subject in how to organise a team headshot day.
Glasses, hair and the day before
- Glasses. If you wear them every day, wear them in the picture. Clean them and mention them at the start: the lamps can be placed so reflections fall away from the lenses, and tipping the frames down a fraction helps too.
- Hair. A cut a week before looks more like you than a cut the day before. Bring a comb or brush, because studio lamps show flyaway hair that the bathroom mirror doesn't.
- Shaving. Shave that morning if you are clean-shaven. Trim a beard a day or two before so the edges have softened.
- Skin. Stick to what you normally use. A new face cream the night before is a gamble. A little translucent powder takes the shine off a forehead under the lamps. Hair and make-up are available on request; ask when you book.
- Sleep. Nothing in the bag does more.
What retouching fixes, and what it doesn't
Retouching is good at the things that would be gone by tomorrow anyway: a blemish, a stray hair, a shadow under the eyes. It is poor at the things you would need to change clothes to fix. A creased collar, a jacket that doesn't fit, a visible logo and a shimmering shirt can all be worked on, but they take time and rarely look right afterwards. Wear the right thing and the retouching can stay light.
If you want more than three pictures from the session, ask on the day and we will price the extra retouched images. How our prices compare with the rest of the market is in how much professional headshots cost in the UK, and what survives the shrink to a profile circle is in LinkedIn profile photos at a small size.
What goes in the bag
- Two tops or jackets in different plain colours, ironed, on hangers
- A third option as a spare
- Glasses if you wear them, cleaned
- A comb or brush, lip balm, and powder if you use it
- Everyday jewellery only, because a statement necklace pulls the eye down
If you are torn about a jacket, bring it. We light the set before you arrive, so trying it against the background takes a minute, and you can ask for a date on the headshots page.
More from the Journal
- How much do professional headshots cost in the UK in 2026?
- Actor headshots in 2026: what UK casting directors want to see
- New at the barn: business, team and actor headshots
- All Journal articles
The picture at the top of this article is an illustration generated to show the set-up. It is not a photograph of a client or of a real job.
Ready when you are
Availability and a firm quote, usually same day. No pressure, no hard sell.
Questions we get asked
What colours should I wear for a headshot?
Plain, solid mid-tones in a fit you are comfortable in: navy, charcoal, bottle green, burgundy, soft blue. Avoid fine stripes and small checks, which shimmer, and anything with a visible logo.
How many outfits should I bring to a headshot session?
Two tops or jackets for the two looks, plus a spare. Our business session is £149 +VAT for 45 minutes, two looks and three retouched images.
Should I wear my glasses in my headshot?
If you wear them every day, yes, because the picture should look like the person people meet. Mention them at the start so the lamps can be placed to keep reflections off the lenses.
granary.digital · 01243 884993 · studio@granary.digital · The Old Grainstore, Adsdean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9DN · Prices exclude VAT unless marked inc VAT