How to take a professional photo at home

Whether you are seeking a job or looking to break into show business, you need a headshot taken. You need to be able to show off who you are to your prospective employer, particularly if you are about to audition for a show of sorts. If you don’t have the money to make those headshots professional, you need to learn how to do it yourself at home, and that’s where good research and advice comes in. 

Making headshots professional at home isn’t as hard as it needs to be, and it’s a good option if you don’t have the cash or the confidence to hire a photographer. So, with this in mind, here are some of the steps that you need to make your headshots professional without calling in an actual professional to do it for you.

Image Source: Pexels

1. Clear a wall. A plain wall across from a window is an excellent place to start, particularly if the wall is a light colour. This gives the best lighting and the best look of a photography studio without the cost. You want your headshots professional, so make sure that you can’t see any identifiable features of your house in the shot. While you want the plain wall opposite the window, you don’t want to have the sun shining directly through the window during the shot. We’re going for softness, not blindness.
   
2. Get a tripod. It doesn’t have to be a massive cost to get a tripod, and you can buy them to fit a smartphone. You don’t even need to have a professional camera. A cheap tripod keeps the camera line steady while you are taking the photo, so you don’t have to worry about blurred edges. Extended-arm selfies don’t make headshots professional, so a tripod is the best option.
   
3. Always use a timer. You don’t want to lean forward and click a button while trying to take headshots. A timer allows you to get yourself settled and into position in enough time to take the picture. You can use the timer to help you to take a bunch of different photos with different outfits!
   
4. Edit. You need to make sure that you have a clear view of your head and shoulders when you are sending headshots, and that means that you need to edit it. You can decrease shadows and lighten the background of the picture to help you to stand out, and you can crop it down to a square image to enable it to fit. If you want to go the extra mile, whiten your teeth in the image, too!
   
5. Ask for feedback. Before sending a home-based headshot to anyone who really matters, make sure that you get some feedback from someone you trust. They will be able to tell you whether your headshot is good enough or not, and this will help you to stand out for all of the right reasons.

Now you know how to take a professional photo at home, you can make your headshots professional!