In my previous article I wrote about current research that shows that people who only have your headshot image to go by take only one tenth of a second to form an opinion about you. Pretty scary right? The good news is that there are things you (or more particularly your photographer) can do to influence how people may perceive you.

So I can hear you thinking, “OK Warren that’s fair enough if they only have an image to go by but most times they are on my website and they can read all about me and how super cool I am!”

Hey, I hear you. I would have said the same thing myself, after all we were all taught never to judge a book by its cover?

However, here is another interesting study carried out believe it or not by the online dating site OkCupid. They found that a description of a person attached to their headshot or profile image influenced only 10% of the users’ impression about that person compared to the headshot alone.

So the morale of the story is [tongue firmly in cheek] no matter what BS you write in your bio your customers will see right through it if your headshot image doesn’t match.

Headshots that Create Great First Impressions

Although this investigation may not have the same scientific merit as the previous one I wrote about, How Your Headshot Can Lose You Potential Customers in 1/10th of a Second, where psychologists at Princeton University showed that it only took 1/10th of a second to form an opinion about someone from their headshot image. When you combine both sets of data, it is hard to argue against the general premise that your headshot image is crucial when it comes to leaving a good first impression and having potential customers feel comfortable enough, both professionally and emotionally, to take the next step and reach out to work with you.

The good news is that there are some key factors of a portrait that can influence a viewers 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.

So for your next headshot book a photographer who knows how to get the best out of you. It all starts with being comfortable with your photographer. If there is no rapport and you are in and out in under 10 minutes then it’s hard to truly capture your true self.

If you want, check out our gallery of headshot images and if you like what you see contact us at the studio for a chat about your next headshots.

Take care

Warren