Light Committee provides:
There’s a cognitive bias against beauty in photos, and a new study proves it to be true once again. The study, published online at Royal Society Open Science, now goes one step further. We found that adding digital beauty filters to a digital image of a person’s face makes the face appear more beautiful to the viewer. This has other benefits as well, such as making a person seem more intelligent and trustworthy.
So is it wise to add digital beauty filters when taking headshots? No, there’s one clear reason why headshots don’t work. But there are ways to enhance the beauty of your real headshot and achieve the same effect without resorting to digital filters.
Changing your face adds beauty to your photos, but makes them look less authentic.
The research findings include details on how digital beauty filters can apply complex transformations to a person’s face to dramatically change their appearance. This is beyond what regular makeup can accomplish. These digital tools transform a person’s entire face, only part of it, or some parts of it more than others. For example, increase the distance between the eyes, widen the cheekbones, or enlarge the lips.
When these filters were applied to people and shown separately to study participants, the study found that participants typically rated the altered faces as more beautiful, intelligent, and trustworthy. But this is exactly why it is not possible to make such changes in headshots. Applying these filters is one thing, but showing them to an audience who would never see them without them is another. However, this doesn’t happen with professional headshots created with a photographer.
Professional headshots are typically used as an entry point to introduce a person before the actual meeting. Often it’s part of your profile. If you are an actor, it may be listed on your IMDB profile. If you’re a business professional, it might be on LinkedIn. And for other people, it might be in their work chat profile.
In all these cases, in the end, the real person will see the real you. It could be a casting director for an actor, a recruiter for a job seeker, or a client for a personal work chat profile. If your photo looks very different from who you are in real life, it can be confusing or unnerving to the people you meet, whether in person or over a video call. This will not make a good first impression.
So how can a person improve their beauty and come across a more intelligent and believable face photo without using digital filters or AI applications? The good news is that humans have already That’s what they’ve been doing for decades.
Use hair and makeup styling to look your best in headshots
The same study points out that the use of makeup has been proven to reliably increase a person’s perception of attractiveness. So use real makeup. Most of the time, people do that anyway. It is better to hire a professional stylist. After all, getting a professional headshot is an investment you typically only make every few years. It’s better to do the best you can.
Also, people generally underestimate how much headshots affect your chances, so this is a good idea. Although extremely rare, just one headshot can make or break an opportunity. The difference could be why the recruiter called you, not who used the selfie on LinkedIn.
Therefore, consider working with a hair and makeup stylist. When it comes to how much styling to apply, it’s a good idea to refer to how you’ll be meeting important business people (clients, casting directors, etc.) that day.
What you’re wearing can also affect the recognition of professional headshots
Don’t forget what to wear. Most headshots are from the chest up, but at least give some thought to what you wear as a top. There are many approaches you can take here. Perhaps the most common is to wear what you would wear on a normal business day. But you can also go beyond this and make your headshots perceived even more positively.
Another consideration is to dress the same way you would if you were meeting the most important business people in your business life. This is probably not something you would wear on a normal business day. Yet another idea is to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. This means different things to different people depending on where they are on their career track.
Tips for showing off your beauty and confidence with headshots
Making sure you look as attractive as possible in your headshot starts with your styling, from your hair and makeup to the clothes you’re wearing. However, you will also need some posing tips. Science shows that people generally prefer symmetry in photos. Therefore, try to be as symmetrical as possible.
When posing for a headshot, be careful to keep the eyes, nose, and mouth out of proportion. What does this mean? For eyes, this means making sure that the whites of the eyes are visible in equal amounts on each side. If you turn your head too much to one side and only look back at the camera with your eyes, you can create an imbalance here. The same thing can happen with your nose. Being too biased to one side can make you look pompous or vice versa. It’s not important to center it perfectly, but try to center it. Also, smile evenly around your mouth. Make sure that one side of your mouth is smiling the same amount as the other side.
You will appear taller if you exhibit other traits such as confidence. Studies have shown that taller people are more attractive than shorter people. The benefit of a headshot is that the right posture will make you look taller, whether you’re 5’4″ or 6’4″ tall.
Push your chest out slightly so your shoulders are parallel to the ground. Again, symmetry is important, but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. Smile and maintain good eye contact. It’s all about balance. Therefore, be careful not to miss the deadline. There can be a fine line between projecting confidence and coming across as selfish. So please be careful. This is another reason why it’s important to work with an experienced headshot photographer.
Remember, headshots are a marketing tool like no other. People can stare at it for long periods of time, and other studies have shown that people do so. They can study your appearance and derive perceptions about you from there. Therefore, you will be literally judged by your headshot, so try to look as attractive and authentic as possible.
