Like it or not our opinions of people we have never met are heavily influenced by visual cues.

Have you ever read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (and NO watching the movie(s) doesn’t count)? Well throughout the book Holmes demonstrates to Watson his ability to profile people down to the tiniest of detail, like for instance what part of town they grew up in, just by looking and observing them.

We are mini versions of Holmes always ‘profiling’ strangers we see. You may be looking at someone across the room at a networking meeting and you are subconsciously analysing them. What clothes are they wearing, have they shaved, what are they drinking…the list goes on. Unlike Holmes however who is usually always right, our first impressions of someone can be way off the mark. When we do finally meet them we think to ourselves, “well they were nothing like I thought they would be!”

The Science of the Headshot

I want to share some latest research on the science of facial appearance from psychologists at Princeton University. In the study people were asked to judge the faces of strangers from their headshot photos. The scientists looked at traits such as attractiveness, like-ability, competence, trustworthiness and aggressiveness. What they found was remarkable. It only took people one tenth of a second (1/10) to form an opinion about the individual they were looking at.

Here is the kicker and the key point that effects us as business owners when dealing with potential customers. From this research the trait that remained consistent amongst the test subjects, no matter how long they were allowed to examine a photo for, was trustworthiness.

Unlike a face to face meeting where opinions of someone can be changed, the majority of the time most of our potential customers only have our headshot images to go by. They see our face pop up on their LinkedIn feed or on an article bio we’ve written or more commonly they navigate straight to the about page on our website. We now have very little influence on their first impressions of us. But we can stack the odds in our favour.

Key Aspects of a Striking Headshot

The good news is that there are key factors of a photograph that can influence a person’s first impressions of someone. From a photographer’s perspective they include what the subject wears, how they are posed, how they smile at the camera and most importantly how they look into the camera. Notice I said look into and not look at the camera. There is a key difference and something I would like to explore another day.

The first thing someone looks at when viewing a portrait is the individuals eyes. So it is imperative that you nail this in your own headshot image. A good photographer knows how to get this out of you but also you must be able to trust them and have a good rapport with them.

So for your next headshot book a photographer who knows how to stack the odds in your favour and get the best out of you.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for my next article that explores these concepts a little further. In the meantime check out our Headshot images and if you like what you see contact us at the studio for a chat about your headshots.

Take care
Warren