What Actually Makes a Corporate Headshot Work? An Exeter Photographer Explains – Simon Plant
Quick Summary
A good corporate headshot isn’t just about a decent camera and a plain background. It’s about directing people who aren’t used to being photographed, understanding what different industries need visually, and having the technical skill to make it all come together in fifteen minutes. With 34 years of commercial photography experience, I work with Exeter businesses to produce headshots that actually do their job.
Most people approach a corporate headshot session with some version of the same thought: stand in front of a camera, smile, done. And most people come away from a poorly run session with an image that looks exactly like that — stiff, slightly uncomfortable, not quite right.
The difference between a headshot that works and one that doesn’t rarely comes down to the camera or the lighting setup. It comes down to what happens between the photographer and the person being photographed in the ten or fifteen minutes they’re together.
Why Most People Are Uncomfortable in Front of a Camera
It’s worth being direct about this: the majority of people being photographed for a corporate headshot don’t want to be there. Not because they’re difficult — because being photographed feels exposing in a way that most other professional activities don’t.
You can’t fake your way through it. You can’t hide behind a document or a presentation. It’s just you, a camera, and whatever expression you happen to be wearing at the moment the shutter fires. For most people, that awareness produces exactly the expression you don’t want — tense, slightly glazed, performing a version of themselves rather than actually being themselves.
A photographer who doesn’t acknowledge this, who just points the camera and fires, will get a technically competent image of someone who looks like they’re enduring something. That’s not a headshot that builds trust or communicates capability. It’s a headshot that gets replaced as soon as possible.
What Good Direction Actually Looks Like
Getting natural results from people who aren’t natural in front of a camera is a skill, and it’s one that develops over years rather than months.
It starts before the camera comes out — in how the session is set up, how the brief is explained, how much time is given to settle before anything is expected. People who feel rushed produce rushed-looking images.
It continues in the way the shoot is directed. Telling someone to “relax” is useless. Giving them something specific to do — a slight adjustment to their posture, a particular thing to think about, a natural reason to produce the expression you’re looking for — is how you actually get there. The best headshots look uncontrived because the photographer worked hard to make them look that way.
It also means reading people quickly. Some people need more time. Some need to be kept moving so they don’t overthink. Some respond to conversation, some to silence. Part of 34 years of commercial experience is recognising which approach is needed and adapting accordingly — often within the first two minutes of meeting someone.
What Different Industries Need
A headshot for a Exeter-based solicitor should feel different from a headshot for a technology startup founder, which should feel different from a headshot for a creative director. Not dramatically different — the fundamentals of a good portrait don’t change — but different in tone, in how approachable versus authoritative the image feels, in how much personality is showing.
Professional services — law, finance, accountancy: The image needs to communicate trustworthiness and competence first. Warmth is important but it sits behind credibility. The expression, the posture, the background — everything should feel considered and stable.
Technology and digital: More latitude for personality. These sectors are less formal and their audiences expect imagery that reflects that. A headshot that’s too stiff will feel out of place on a tech company’s about page.
Creative industries: The headshot itself can communicate something about creative sensibility. More flexibility on background, on crop, on expression — but it still needs to work professionally, not just look interesting.
Healthcare and education: Approachability is primary. These are sectors where the person in the photograph needs to feel accessible and trustworthy to a potentially anxious audience.
Getting this right requires understanding the sector before the session starts — knowing what the image needs to achieve and directing accordingly.
The Technical Side That People Don’t See
Behind the direction and the people-management, there’s a technical job that also needs to be right.
Lighting that flatters without flattening — that creates enough dimension to make the image feel three-dimensional without producing shadows that distract or harsh highlights that age. A lens choice and shooting distance that produce natural-looking proportions rather than the slight distortion that cheaper setups often introduce. A background that works for the brand context without competing with the subject.
And then retouching that enhances without obviously altering — the kind of retouching where the finished image looks like the best version of the person, not a different person entirely. This is a more common problem than it should be, and it’s one that clients don’t always notice until they see the image sitting next to colleagues who’ve been handled more naturally.
All of this needs to be consistent across every person photographed — whether that’s two people or two hundred, whether they’re photographed in the same session or across visits months apart.
“For corporate headshots in Exeter, visit my corporate headshots Exeter page.”
Phone: 07850534084 Email: [email protected] Website: simonplant.co.uk