When it comes to headshot, simplest is best. My advice since day one has been no jewelry, or at most, basic stud earrings. Our mutual goal is to help others form the best opinion of you, and part of that magic is to keep their eye on YOU, and not any distracting elements that send their gaze into some area of the photo that they’re not connecting with your eyes or smile.
If you’d prefer, bring your jewelry to the studio and we’ll do some with/without shots and review them on the large-screen monitors. Although my retoucher can usually remove jewelry from finished images, there’s an added cost to do this, while the fifteen seconds to take the jewelry off in-studio is usually “time well spent”.
Remember that it’s likely you’ll be using your new headshots with various online profiles, from LinkedIn to corporate bios and staff collages. Many of these use cases involve an extremely small file, perhaps no bigger than 400×400 pixels. At those tiny sizes, no one’s going to be able to judge the quality of your jewelry anyway, and if you end up with a black&white conversion unexpectedly, no one’s even going to see the color of it. My friend and fellow headshot photographer Gary Barragan is a master at convincing his clients to take their jewelry off, along with lots of other friends at the HeadshotCrew.
Help me keep the focus where it’ll make the most difference, and let’s plan your next headshot session to be little to no jewelry!
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