Should you smile in your headshot?
It sounds like such a simple question. But the moment you stand in front of a camera, it suddenly becomes strangely complicated.
Do you give a big smile? A small smile? No smile at all? Teeth or no teeth? Serious but friendly? Confident but not smug? Approachable but not goofy?
This is why so many headshots go wrong.
People think the question is, “Should I smile?”
The better question is, “What expression helps people trust me?”
Because that’s what your headshot is really doing.
It’s not there to prove you have nice teeth. It’s not there to make you look like the happiest person in Britain. And it’s definitely not there to make you perform a facial expression that feels nothing like you.
Your headshot has a job.
It needs to help the right people see you clearly, understand something about you, and feel confident enough to take the next step.
That might mean connecting with you on LinkedIn, booking a call, inviting you to speak, reading your article, trusting your advice, hiring your business, or simply remembering your face.
So yes, expression matters.
A lot.
A smile can help, but only if it feels real
A good smile can make you look warm, open and easy to approach.
For many people, that’s exactly what they need.
If you work in a people-facing business, your headshot should usually give people a sense that you’re safe to speak to. That doesn’t mean soft or lightweight. It means human.
A genuine smile can reduce the distance between you and the person viewing the photo.
It can say, “I’m confident, but I’m not cold.”
It can say, “I know what I’m doing, but you can also have a normal conversation with me.”
That’s useful.
But the important word is genuine.
A forced smile is worse than no smile at all.
We’ve all seen those headshots where the mouth is smiling but the eyes aren’t involved. It looks like someone shouted “cheese” three seconds after delivering bad news.
The result isn’t warmth. It’s tension.
And tension shows.
The eyes matter more than the mouth
This is the part people often miss.
A smile doesn’t live only in the mouth.
If your eyes are blank, tired, worried, distracted or slightly panicked, the biggest grin in the world won’t save the image.
The eyes carry the expression.
They’re where trust shows up.
You can have a headshot with a very small smile that feels far more engaging than one with a huge grin, because the eyes are present. There’s connection. There’s life.
This is why I don’t spend a photoshoot barking instructions like “smile” over and over again.
That rarely works.
Instead, I’m looking for the expression behind the smile. The moment when someone starts to relax. The half laugh after a terrible joke. The second after they realise being photographed isn’t as painful as they expected. The small shift from “I hate this” to “actually, this is fine.”
That’s usually where the best headshots happen.
Serious doesn’t have to mean miserable
Some people worry that if they don’t smile, they’ll look unfriendly.
That can happen, of course. A blank expression can look cold, bored or slightly annoyed.
But a non-smiling headshot doesn’t have to feel miserable.
It can feel confident. Thoughtful. Composed. Direct. Editorial. Interesting.
For some people, that’s exactly right.
A barrister, consultant, author, artist, founder or senior leader might not always need a big smile in every image. They might need something with more weight. More presence. More authority.
But there’s a fine line.
A strong expression isn’t the same as glaring at the camera like it owes you money.
If we go more serious, the posture, eyes, lighting and face all have to work together. The image still needs life in it. It still needs connection.
Otherwise, serious becomes stiff.
And stiff rarely helps anyone.
It depends where the headshot will be used
There’s no single correct expression for every headshot.
The right answer depends on where the photo will appear and what you need it to communicate.
For LinkedIn, most people benefit from an expression that feels open and approachable. You want people to feel they could start a conversation with you.
For a company website, the expression should fit the tone of the business. A financial planner, therapist, designer and personal trainer shouldn’t all look the same.
For a speaker bio or media profile, you might want something with more confidence and presence.
For a creative portfolio, you might have more room for personality, edge or mood.
For dating profiles, a real smile often matters more than people think. Nobody wants to date a passport photo.
The point isn’t to choose one expression and use it everywhere forever.
The point is to create a small range of strong images so you’ve got options.
One more open. One more composed. One more relaxed. One more direct.
That way, your headshot can do more than one job.
Your profession matters, but not as much as you think
People sometimes assume certain jobs require certain expressions.
Lawyer equals serious. Coach equals smiling. Creative equals quirky. Accountant equals sensible. Founder equals arms folded and intense.
I’d be careful with that.
Yes, your profession matters. But your personality, audience and positioning matter more.
If you’re a solicitor who works closely with families at stressful times, a warm expression may be more useful than a stern one.
If you’re a coach helping senior leaders make difficult decisions, you may want a headshot that feels steady and credible rather than overly cheerful.
If you’re a creative professional, you might want energy and personality, but not so much that the image feels chaotic.
A good headshot shouldn’t trap you inside a cliché of your job.
It should show the version of you your clients need to trust.
The biggest mistake is performing
The worst headshot expressions usually happen when people perform for the camera.
They put on their “photo face”.
You know the one.
Raised eyebrows. Tight smile. Chin slightly pulled back. Eyes open a bit too wide. Every muscle trying very hard to look relaxed.
It’s not your real face. It’s your camera defence mechanism.
Most people have one.
The answer isn’t to practise a better fake smile in the mirror for three days before your shoot.
The answer is to stop treating the headshot like a performance.
Good direction helps with that.
During a shoot, I’ll guide your posture, expression, chin position, shoulders and eye contact. I’ll talk to you. I’ll show you what’s working. I’ll make small adjustments rather than expecting you to magically know what your face is doing.
That’s the difference between “smile for the camera” and being properly photographed.
So, should you smile?
Probably.
But not always in every frame, and not in a forced way.
For most professional headshots, I want at least some images with warmth and approachability. That might be a full smile, a small smile, or simply an engaged expression where the eyes are doing the work.
I also like to create some options with a more composed expression, because those can be incredibly useful too.
The best choice often comes later, when we look at the images and ask: which one feels most like you, and which one does the job best?
Sometimes that’s the bigger smile.
Sometimes it’s the smaller one.
Sometimes it’s the photo where you’re barely smiling at all, but your eyes are locked in and the whole image feels alive.
That’s the one.
You don’t need to decide before the shoot
You don’t need to arrive knowing exactly how much to smile.
You don’t need to practise in the mirror.
You don’t need to worry that your natural smile is wrong.
That’s all part of the process.
A good headshot session gives you space to try a few different expressions and see what works. We can move from serious to warm, from direct to relaxed, from safe to more characterful.
The aim isn’t to force you into a single look.
The aim is to create a headshot that helps people trust you before you’ve said a word.
So should you smile in your headshot?
Yes, if it helps.
No, if it feels fake.
And ideally, let’s make sure you’ve got a few strong options so you’re not relying on one expression to carry your whole professional identity.
If you need a new headshot but you’re not sure how you should look in it, book a free 15-minute Zoom call and let’s talk about what you need.
