Ever since we were little kids trained to say "CHEESE!" every time a camera is pointed at us, people feel the need to keep their smile on the entire time they're having their portrait taken, even when it comes to business portraits. But what many don't realize is that a smile can get stale pretty fast. When you hold your smile too long it starts looking forced and disingenuous.

Don't feel the need to keep a smile up the entire time! Relax you face between pictures to give your smile a break. To keep your smile fresh, wait until your photographer is ready for it. They'll let you know when to smile and help coax out a genuine grin. 

A lot of people don't understand how their clothing choices affect their portrait. Wearing things like a bright white, patterns, or sleeveless tops are mistakes people often make when having their portrait taken. Your outfit might look amazing in person!--but how does it photograph? Some people aren't aware of how it will look on camera and end up committing a major style crime!

At Elite Images, we photograph over a thousand business portraits a year... so we know a thing or two about how to dress! The main thing to keep in mind is that a viewer's eyes will go wherever skin shows. So this means wearing long sleeves so people aren't distracted by your bare arms. Other photography fashion tips include: never wear tops with patterns or prints and wear medium to dark solid colors. How you dress is so important that we made an entire style guide dedicated to how to dress for your headshots! Click here to check it out!

When you go to get your portrait taken it might be one of the first times you've ever met the photographer. So when a person you don't know is telling you how to pose for your picture and it feels really weird, it probably looks really weird and you shouldn't listen to what they're telling you, right? Wrong!

It's your photographer's job to make you look good! So no matter what it might feel like, your photographer isn't trying to embarrass you or make you sit in uncomfortable ways just for kicks. Your photographer is directing you on how to sit to bring out your best side. It might feel a little awkward, but no matter how strange you think it looks, trust that your photographer knows what they're doing and that you look amazing on camera!

This mistakes goes along with the previous one. A lot of people come in with the totally wrong attitude. They think it's going to be awkward, stressful, or just an overall terrible experience, so they come in hoping to just sit down and get it over with.

Yes, your headshot can seem a little stressful, but it shouldn't be! In fact, the phrase we hear the most often after a business portrait session is, "Well that was painless!" People arrive with an expectation that having their portrait taken will somehow be the worst part of their day, when it's actually one of the easiest. When you arrive to have your headshot taken, let yourself just relax and be confident in front of the camera. The photographer has your best interest in mind and will make sure your portrait session goes smoothly... and that you'll love your image!

We all want to avoid the dreaded double chin. So it can seem like a no brainer that if you stick your chin out then your face will look slimmer. The problem is that a lot of people do this incorrectly and end up just tilting their head up. And a portrait looking up your nose is just as bad as a double chin!

Some photographers call this "turtling." Again, it might feel a little awkward, but it looks fabulous on camera! What you do is stick your chin out and then down just a little bit. This brings your whole head forward which helps smooth everything around your jaw and neck. You can even try this in the mirror to see how it looks! So when the photographer tells you to bring your chin forward, you know that this doesn't just mean lift it up, it means bring it towards the camera, still keeping it slightly down.