I’ve been shooting headshots in Ottawa for over a decade. In that time, the single most common thing I hear from new clients is this: “I just want to look professional.”
I get it. But here’s the catch, “professional” is the floor, not the ceiling. And most headshots stop at the floor.
Look at any company’s About page. The photos are usually crisp. Well-lit. Properly cropped. Everyone is smiling. And yet, somehow, you remember none of them five minutes later.
That’s the failure mode of a forgettable headshot. It isn’t ugly. It’s just inert.
The job of a headshot is to make someone, a recruiter, a casting director, a potential client — pause for half a second longer on your profile than they would on someone else’s. That half-second is everything. It’s the difference between a callback and a scroll-past.
So what actually creates that pause?
Three things, in this order:
First, the eyes. Not the technical sharpness, the expression behind them. A headshot where the subject’s eyes are present, engaged, slightly amused, looks alive. A headshot where the subject is just patiently waiting for the shot to be over looks like every other headshot.
Most of my job during a session has nothing to do with the camera. It’s getting clients to actually be there with me, in the room, not anticipating the next pose.
Second, asymmetry. Symmetrical poses look like passport photos. A slight tilt of the head, one shoulder forward, weight shifted to one foot, these are small things that read as natural rather than posed. Stiffness is the enemy.
Third, intention. Every wardrobe choice, every background colour, every crop should be deliberate. A grey background isn’t just a default, it should be chosen because it complements the subject’s skin tone and matches the formality of their industry. The blazer isn’t just a blazer, it’s the version that fits in the shoulders, in the right colour for the photo.
When you skip any of these, you get a photo that’s technically correct and emotionally flat. The kind of photo nobody hates and nobody remembers.
The good news: this isn’t about being photogenic. It’s about being directed well. Most of my clients aren’t models, and most of them are mildly nervous when they walk in. By the end of the session, they’re laughing at themselves in the test shots and forgetting the camera is there. That shift from posed to present is what makes the difference.
If you’ve ever looked at your current headshot and thought “it’s fine, but it doesn’t really look like me,” you already know what I’m talking about.
A great headshot doesn’t try to look professional. It looks like you on your best day.