Toronto Business Headshot Retouching

Are you completely happy with your business headshot? Does the photo show you at your best?

Your business headshot is important for making a positive impression on potential customers because the photo is meant to communicate competence and trustworthiness.

A polished business headshot is crucial for making a strong first impression. Retouching not only enhances facial features but also addresses clothing issues like wrinkles, loose collars and crooked ties. A neat appearance can significantly boost perceptions of your competence and professionalism.

While you may see it as no more than a fancy driver's licence photo, it's important to recognize that your headshot should reflect the best version of yourself.

Facial retouching focuses on removing temporary issues like acne, shaving nicks, redness from cold weather (a "winter rash" or rosacea), stress lines and dark lines around the eyes. It also tries to reduce unwanted shadows or shine caused by the photographer's lighting.

Your business headshot is not for you. The portrait is for potential customers and it's critically important what they think about it and about you.

The purpose of a business headshot is not to show what you look like. A good business portrait shows, or at least suggests, personality traits such as friendliness, intelligence, competence and trustworthiness.

It's important to address clothing mishaps before your portrait session, as not all issues can be corrected with retouching.

The science and psychology behind successful portraits are well known.

We judge people based on how they look. It's a built-in, genetic, defence mechanism. We instantly decide if someone is friendly, honest, competent and trustworthy.

Retouching can usually fix a portrait made by an inexperienced photographer. It can also repair or minimize mistakes overlooked by a hurried photographer. Photo retouching repairs or minimizes technical flaws that may distract viewers.

Not everyone has their own hairstylist and clothing stylist at the ready. Photo retouching can often tidy up the messy bits in a business headshot.

Photo retouching also helps polish your appearance. Temporary issues like acne, facial redness, stress lines, uneven skin tones, oily skin, dark circles under the eyes, red eyes, messy hair, crooked tie, etc., can all be fixed. Retouching can also emphasize your eyes and smile, the two most important facial areas used for expression.

It's not about making you look perfect. It's about showing you at your best.

If you look healthy, you will appear more attractive. If you are neatly groomed, you will seem more competent. (How competent do you appear if it looks like you can't dress or groom yourself properly?)

Now combine the two. Attractive plus competent makes you appear more likeable.

The "Before" photo is already comparable to many online business headshots. But retouching elevates the photo and highlights the person's captivating eyes and warm smile without any distractions.

If your business headshot has good eye catchlights then that will suggest intelligence and friendliness. An attractive smile will suggest friendliness and confidence.

All of these implied traits combine to suggest that you are a likeable and trustworthy person. This is the Halo Effect and it is the exact purpose of a business headshot. By contrast, a driver's licence photo, or a poorly done business headshot, only shows your basic facial appearance.

The "Before" photo is a good headshot that many would be satisfied with. But photo retouching addressed minor flaws and the background was changed from her employer's original choice of bright red to a more harmonizing colour. The colours in a portrait convey a message to viewers.

Business portrait retouching is not used to make you look like a movie star. Retouching is used to improve your skin (i.e. look more healthy and also counteract any issues caused by the photographer's lighting), clean up any messy bits (i.e. look neatly groomed), and brighten or enhance your eyes and smile (i.e help make a stronger impression on the viewer).

Even my own business portrait was helped with retouching.

Headshot retouching does not change who you are. It changes what people think of you.

Retouching Business Portraits

Business portraits can go beyond traditional headshots, depending on the message you want to convey. Retouching helps your portrait look its best. The photo that comes out of a camera isn't final.

Not every business portrait has to be a literal headshot. Sometimes a non-traditional business portrait will convey a better business message.

The blue wall provided a stylish background. But this small space at the office entrance wasn't wide enough. Retouching corrected the wide-angle lens distortion and enhanced the flash lighting, resulting in a dramatic and eye-catching portrait.

These types of non-headshot portraits can also benefit from retouching. It's not just the usual facial retouching and cleaning up any messy bits. Retouching can also enhance a style and even add a bit of drama.

A simple portrait is transformed into a more impactful image with photo editing. Retouching adds drama that helps focus attention on the subject and downplays less important elements.

Ideally the photographer uses dramatic lighting when the photos are made. But that's not always the case. Often the idea to create a stronger image comes long after the portrait has been made. This is when you definitely need retouching to enhance the lighting and create some drama.

The "Before" photo is a proper portrait of an executive in an office boardroom. However retouching created more dramatic lighting that wasn't possible during a five-minute photo session.

With outdoor portraits, you're at the mercy of Mother Nature. A photographer can do a few things to mitigate less-than-ideal conditions but there's only so much that can be done. Retouching can make it look like you had perfect light.

Taken at a construction site during the lunch break in harsh noon sunlight, the original magazine photo had issues. The retouched photo not only looks better but it also reproduces better in print.

One more thing

A simple business headshot, done quickly in a hallway with beige walls, can look like an elegant studio portrait after some retouching.

Retouching is essentially used to draw attention to three specific areas of the face: eyebrows, eyes and mouth. Why? These three features convey all of your facial expressions.

If you think about it, this is exactly what makeup does. When someone puts on makeup, they are increasing the contrast between these three facial areas and the surrounding skin. More contrast means more noticeable which means more expressive which means a stronger impression.