The Power of Posture: How Standing Up Can Enhance Your Headshot

In a professional headshot, your body position can have a significant impact on the final image. While sitting down may seem like a comfortable and easy option, standing up is often the better choice for several reasons.

While sitting down may have been the thing to do 30 or 40 years ago, here are some advantages of standing for your professional headshot session:

• 1.  Better posture: When standing, you tend to have better posture. This means that your back is straight, your shoulders are back, and your neck is aligned with your spine. Good posture not only looks better in a headshot, but it also makes you look and feel more confident.

  On the other hand, when sitting down, it's easy to slouch or hunch over, which can create unflattering wrinkles in clothing, unnecessary shadows, make you look less polished and less confident. Poor posture can also create discomfort and strange contortions of your body, which can be distracting and make it harder to look natural and relaxed. Additionally, slouching communicates that you are disinterested, disengaged and that you don’t care.

• 2.  More flattering angles: When you stand, and as per your photographer’s instructions, you have more freedom and flexibility to move and adjust your position. This allows us to find the most flattering angles for your face and body. You have the ability to turn your head, tilt your chin up or down, or lean your body slightly in different directions to create a more dynamic and interesting image.

  When sitting down, you are limited to a few basic positions, which can make your headshot look flat, uninspired, or even bland. While the aesthetics of your headshot are largely at the discretion of your headshot photographer, sitting down doesn’t always allow for the most flattering compositions.

• 3.  More energy: Standing up can help you feel more energized and engaged in your headshot session. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the energy of a great headshot session, especially when you and your photographer are working in tandem and feeding off of one another. While this isn’t always the case, a professional headshot specialist has the ability to engage, elicit expressions, coach and direct you with relative ease. When both are moving in the same direction, the results can truly be magical. However, this only happens when you and your photographer are constantly exchanging positive energy. Sitting down isn’t a great option if these are the results you are hoping for.

  When you are sitting down, it's easy to feel too relaxed or even bored, which can show up in your facial expression and body language. Standing will help you feel alert and present, which translates to a more vibrant, engaging and refined headshot.

• 4.  Better eye contact: When standing up, it's easier to maintain eye contact with the photographer, and thus your audience will feel like you are connecting directly with them. This can create a more intimate and engaging image that captures your personality and professionalism.

  When sitting, it can be harder to maintain eye contact, especially if the photographer is standing up. This can make your headshot look less compelling and make the viewer feel less connected to you.

• 5.  5. Improved body language: Standing up can help you convey better body language. When standing, you eliminate (or at least limit) opportunities to be seen as less than professional or inauthentic.

  A high-quality professional headshot doesn’t have your hands visible, nor can a viewer see much below your collar bone area. The crop is important because it presents you with a degree of authority, which is quite necessary.

  Images that show more of the subject’s body, or images that contain hands are portraits, but not headshots. A great headshot isn’t going to direct attention to anything other than the human being in the image. When the purpose is to communicate a desired message, or to resonate with a desired audience, visible appendages and other unnecessary elements become a distraction. Distractions get eliminated. Keeping things simple, yet powerful makes for a more intriguing, expressive, and dynamic headshot image.

There really is no substitution for standing in a headshot. While I know that other photographers have their tried and true methods, over my many years as a professional headshot photographer, I have found that standing up is generally the better choice for a headshot. It can help you look and feel more confident and engaged, and it can also create a more dynamic and interesting image. While sitting down may be tempting for its perceived comfort, it is important to prioritize the final result and choose the position that will give you the best possible headshot.

Admittedly, this may or may not be at your discretion. Rather, the photographer has control over this. Just the same, you should inquire as to the photographer’s process, and ensure that they will present and represent you appropriately.

Since your headshot or professional business photo is so vital to your branding and marketing efforts, getting this wrong could be quite costly.

The goal is to present you as a confident, approachable, competent, and trustworthy individual who cares about what they do as much as they care about their audience. When the chips are down, unleash your confidence by standing up for your headshot and capture the hearts and minds of your audience!