Headshot vs. portrait

A headshot is utility. It's a professional record of what you look like, optimized for the contexts where it'll be used: LinkedIn, a press kit, a speaker bio, a company directory. The job of a headshot is to make you legible. Lighting is clean, framing is tight (head and shoulders), background is neutral, and the conventions are well-established because the use case is well-defined.

A portrait is something else. A portrait is closer to a small editorial about you — it's about how you're sitting in this part of your life, what you're working on, what kind of presence you have, what room you'd want to be remembered in. The framing is wider, the lighting is more shaped, the background is meaningful rather than neutral, and the conventions are looser because the use case is whatever you decide.

Practically speaking, here's how to decide which you need. If you're updating LinkedIn, get a headshot. If you're launching a personal brand, doing press for a book or a company, putting a face on a creative practice, or just want one good image of yourself that isn't tied to a specific work context — get a portrait.

Many people end up wanting both, and that's a reasonable approach. A single sitting can produce both deliverables if you plan for it: forty-five minutes on the headshot setup (one wardrobe, neutral backdrop, tight framing) and forty-five minutes on the portrait setup (second wardrobe, environmental or shaped-light setting, wider framing). The cost difference between a headshot-only session and a combined session is usually modest because the studio and prep time are shared.

Cost reflects the work. Headshots are quicker to shoot, lighter to retouch (no hand-shaping shadows, no environmental cleanup), and more standardized in delivery — usually fewer total images because the use case is narrower. Portraits take longer to shoot, retouch more carefully, and produce a larger gallery. The standard portrait sitting in Atlanta runs about $475 and up; the standard headshot session is similar in price but yields a different deliverable.

If you're not sure which one you need, that's a fine reason to send a note. The discovery call sorts it out in five minutes, and the wrong session for the wrong purpose is more expensive than the right one — both in money and in living with images that don't quite work.