People book an “actor headshot” for a corporate role, or a “corporate headshot” for a casting profile, and are disappointed. They’re different products with different rules.
Actor headshots
- Purpose: get seen for the right roles. A casting director should know in a glance what you’d be cast as.
- Framing: tight on the face, eyes in the upper third, usually vertical.
- Expression: alive and specific — a hint of a type or an inner thought, not a blank smile.
- Retouching: minimal by rule. You must look exactly like this when you walk into the room. Temporary blemishes only.
- Sets: often two or three ‘looks’ (warm/friendly, grounded/serious, commercial) with simple wardrobe changes.
Corporate headshots
- Purpose: represent you and the company — website, LinkedIn, proposals, press.
- Framing: looser, head-and-shoulders, room for the platform’s crop; horizontal and square versions.
- Expression: approachable competence — a genuine, contained smile is the workhorse.
- Retouching: clean and flattering but natural; consistent across the team.
- Sets: one strong look, on a background and in a style that matches the brand.
Why you can't just crop one into the other
A corporate shot cropped tight loses the eye position and intensity casting wants. An actor shot widened for a bio grid looks stark and under-retouched next to colleagues. And the expressions read differently — ‘castable’ can look intense or aloof on an About page; ‘approachable executive’ looks generic in a casting binder.
If you need both
Book a session that’s scoped for both from the start: we’ll shoot the tight, low-retouch casting looks and a separate head-and-shoulders brand look with its own wardrobe and background, and deliver them as two distinct sets.
Frequently asked questions
Can beginners use a corporate headshot to start auditioning?
How often should each be updated?
Tell us what the headshot is for — casting, business, or both — and we’ll scope the session correctly. Get in touch.