When it comes to personal branding and headshots you need to be sure you are putting your best self out there to the world. In order to capture your best self on camera, it is important to be relaxed and at ease when getting your portrait created.

Blake Rudis, of F64 Academy, contacted me a little over a month ago to schedule a session to update his personal branding and headshots. He had some changes in his career, with that came a new look, and it was time to update the image he was using on his promotional materials and YouTube Channel. We got everything scheduled and when the day arrived Blake came to my home studio for his session.

I am extremely easy going and tend to invest personally into my clients when they enter the studio for the first time. I don’t want anyone to feel rushed during their session because that will only make them more anxious and that will be evident in the final images.

Blake and I got set up in front of my FJ Westcott X Drop backdrop, I adjusted my Interfit S1 and Honey Badger to the settings and locations I wanted to ensure a quality portrait was created. I dialed in my Canon EOS R with and 85mm lens and EOS adapter and we started to shoot while we chatted.

The more time you spend investing in your client, in learning about what they do and who they are, the more comfortable they are going to be when you put your camera up to take their picture. I know this is not anything profound, but I think it is easy as a portrait photographer who is running a business, to get caught up in all the technical aspects, session time slots, numbers and finances, that we lose sight of the person in front of us that we need to connect with.

It is not just our job to take a picture. Our job is to create the most awesome image of the person in front of our camera that they feel empowered to take on the world. It is our job to create an image that will bring our client more business just because of how amazing they look. We can only do that if they are comfortable with us and allow us to see who they are with their guard down.

When you are tasked with creating new personal branding and headshots for a client, take some time to invest in them. They will appreciate you more for it and the images you capture will be so much better.

If you would like to book your own personal branding and headshots session, go to www.jeremyellsworth.com. If you are a photographer who would like one on one coaching for lighting, email me at, jeremy@jeremyellsworth.com and make the subject line Coaching.