By Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk

When our clients need professional photography, we happily recommend Saldivia Jones. We asked them to share their expert advice in a blog post. Enjoy!

by Stephen Jones, Saldivia Jones Photography

We’ve all seen it: A beautifully designed profile page on someone’s website, horribly disfigured by a poor headshot. Sure, you graduated from Cornell, got an MBA from Goizueta and you serve as chairman on twelve different boards, but that badly cropped and pixelated cell-phone snapshot from a recent Caribbean cruise serves only to contradict your resume.

A poor headshot says that you are lazy or that you are unconcerned with how the public views you.  A poor headshot says that you don’t think things through. A poor headshot can mar all that expensive website design work.  A great headshot, on the other hand, shows both you and your firm in the best, most professional light.

People want strong visuals, so if you want to be the first image to pop into a potential client’s mind, you might just want to give them an image worth remembering. But how do you get the most from your professional portrait session?

Be true to you. Digital photography and Photoshop in particular has taken the art of photography into amazing new dimensions. Most competent professional photographers can Photoshop away the years and the pounds; they can smooth away skin blemishes and bruises, correct uneven eyes, whiten teeth and pump the color back into your eyes. Want to look 25 again? No problem, but should you?

If your professional headshot is entirely different than the head it was made from, your clients might not recognize you at all. Worse, a client might feel that you are an insecure person, someone who is comfortable with deceit, or someone more concerned with image than substance. That’s likely to do a lot more damage to your image than is the fact that you’re middle-aged and carry a slight double chin.

It may be tempting to have your professional photographer turn back the clock on your face, but doing so impacts the representation of your character and personality. A balanced portrait will correct major blemishes without washing away the personality within or disconnecting the portrait from the real person.

Dress for success. A great portrait is a partnership between you and your professional photographer. He or she can provide the lights, camera, and posing expertise, but it’s up to you to look your best.

If you’re a man, get your best suit pressed and wear your best tie. Try to avoid neon colors and distracting patterns in your tie. Smaller patterns and even textures look great. If you’re making a more casual-style portrait or an environmental portrait in jeans and a button-down shirt, bring your best and get it ironed first.

If you’re a woman, make sure your top complements the color of your eyes and is not cut too low. Also, sleeveless tops and tank tops are much harder to photograph and have seams that can cut into your armpits and add weight to your figure. Like the guys, try and avoid strong patterns or colors that distract from the focus of a headshot: Your beautiful face!

If you care then do your hair. Photoshop is almost a magical tool, able to correct most flaws in the subject as well as flaws in the photographer’s technique. However, Photoshop cannot solve every problem, and hair issues fall into the unsolvable category.

Hair has properties like highly three-dimensional detail, direction and interaction with the subject’s skin that make it almost impossible to correct in Photoshop. Reconstructive Photoshop techniques that work beautifully on skin and clothes show up glaringly in hair, making the photo look cheap and ‘over-Photoshopped.’

The bottom line? The hair you bring will be the hair you see, no exceptions, so be sure to have your hair professionally styled the day before or even the day of your shoot. Asking a photographer to color your brown roots blonde or cover your bald spot will be met with a skeptical shake of the head. Should’ve gotten that fixed before you stepped in to the studio.  ­

Watch your back. Believe it or not, what’s in the background of your portrait says a lot about the person in the foreground. Remember that Caribbean cruise snapshot we touched on earlier? In addition to being a grainy, poorly-lit photo of the subject, it says a lot about where that person spends his or her time.

For many of our clients, a simple, clean grey background is enough to focus the viewer on the smiling face in front of the camera. When properly matched to the outfit and website color-scheme, a simple cloth background emphasizes the expression and personality of the subject.

For other professionals, the background plays a significant role in the portrait. We call these Environmental portraits, because for some people their environment is a major piece of their brand image.

For example, we photographed a forensic accountant who made his living assisting the government prosecute tax fraud cases and organized crime.  He carried a gun and periodically found himself in the rougher side of town, so we made his portrait in the gritty Castleberry Hill neighborhood. With its urban landscape of railroad tracks, brick buildings and dark alleyways, Castleberry Hill provided the perfect setting for his line of work.

Choosing a professional portrait is a decision to step up your game. If you’re serious about your career, you owe it to yourself to have a high quality, professional portrait made. Whether on location or in the studio, a good photographer can help put a face on your business and put your business on the top of your potential clients’ list.

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Saldivia-Jones Photography provides rising stars in the Atlanta business community with the imaging expertise they need to enhance their brand and take their business to the next level.  From custom portraits and headshots to marketing and website imaging, Saldivia-Jones Photography is your one-stop shop for all of your personnel photography needs.