What should your team wear for headshots?

01

Company shirts are a good answer, not a compromise

For a lot of teams, branded polos or company shirts are the strongest option. The logo ties the set together, it puts your brand on every single profile, and it takes the wardrobe decision away from twelve people who did not want to make it.

It works especially well for trades, hospitality, healthcare, real estate offices and anywhere staff wear the shirt to work anyway. If that is you, just say so in the note and the whole problem goes away.

02

If you are not doing branded shirts

Aim for consistency without a uniform. Same general level of formality across the team, and a colour family rather than one exact colour. Navy, charcoal, slate and deep green sit together nicely. Navy next to lime does not.

I would not ask everyone to wear the same thing. A page where all twelve people are in the same blue shirt reads as a uniform, and it strips out the bit that makes a team look approachable rather than processed.

03

The rules that apply to everybody

Solid mid tones photograph best. Tight patterns like narrow stripes and small checks can shimmer on camera and cannot be fixed afterwards. Nothing shiny, nothing with a slogan, and no logos other than yours.

Everything out of pockets, and smart watches off. On a team set those small things matter more than usual, because inconsistency between twelve photographs is far more visible than any one photograph's flaws.

• Best: solid mid tones, structured collars, simple necklines
• Fine: company shirts and branded polos, layers, jackets
• Careful with: pure white on white backdrop, pure black on black
• Avoid: tight stripes and checks, slogans, outside logos, shiny fabric
• Off: smart watches, lanyards, name badges, pocket contents

04

One line about the backdrop saves a reshoot

This is the part most wardrobe notes miss. If the team is being shot on white, somebody in a white shirt will merge into it. On black, a black jacket does the same.

One line fixes it. We are shooting on white, so please avoid an all white outfit. That is the whole message.

05

How the session actually runs

There is no schedule to build. People come over when they are free and I take whoever is next. Most teams are finished in one to two hours.

Each person takes three to five minutes. You look at the camera and I talk you through the small adjustments that change a photograph. Chin forward a little, shoulders turned, weight back. Nobody needs to work any of that out in advance.

06

Give people a way to opt into a second option

Some people care a great deal about this and some have not thought about it at all. Saying bring a second option if you want a choice covers both without turning it into homework.

It also helps whoever turns up in something that is not working. A spare in a bag means we fix it in thirty seconds instead of booking them in again.