Should you smile in a headshot? An honest answer from our Sydney studio

Should you smile in a headshot? Almost always yes, but the size of the smile is the real decision. In Sydney, your photo is often the first thing a client or a hiring manager sees. We have photographed more than 10,000 individuals and over 1,000 companies from our Petersham studio, and expression is the thing people get wrong most.

The quick verdict

Choose a warm smile, teeth showing, when:

• You sell, pitch, recruit or negotiate face to face
• You work in real estate, recruitment, financial planning or allied health
• Your headshot sits on a LinkedIn profile you actively use for outreach
• Your brand voice is friendly, direct and human
• You want the photo to feel like meeting you at reception

Choose a closed-mouth smile or a neutral expression when:

• You work in litigation, tax, audit, insolvency or forensic accounting
• Your firm’s website uses a restrained, editorial house style
• You want the photo to read as considered rather than welcoming
• You’re shooting an author photo, a speaker profile or a media portrait
• Your face genuinely feels stiff with teeth showing, and it shows

Is it okay to not smile in a headshot?

Yes. A calm, closed mouth with engaged eyes is a legitimate professional look. We shoot it often for barristers and finance leaders around Martin Place and Barangaroo.

The failure mode isn’t the missing smile. It’s a face that has switched off. Blank eyes read as bored, and retouching cannot fix that.

Are you supposed to smile with teeth in a headshot?

Teeth are optional, not compulsory. A soft teeth smile reads as open. A closed-mouth smile reads as composed. Both are professional.

The practical answer is to shoot both, then pick per platform. That is what most of our single-person clients do.

What your smile actually signals

Warmth versus authority is a dial, not a switch

Every expression sits somewhere between warm and authoritative. Too warm and a partner-level lawyer looks junior. Too authoritative and a buyer’s agent looks unapproachable.

Most people need the middle: a small, real smile with steady eye contact. That middle frame is the one clients circle back to most in the gallery, across finance, legal and consulting.

What people notice first

• Your eyes, before anything else
• Whether the smile reaches them
• Jaw and neck tension
• Whether you look like you want to be there
• Shoulder line and posture
• Skin texture and shine

The best smile for a headshot

The Duchenne smile, in plain English

A genuine smile lifts the cheeks and crinkles the outer corners of the eyes. Researchers have long called this a Duchenne smile. It is a well-known term, not something we coined.

A mouth-only grin does neither. That is why forced smiles look off even when you can’t say why.

Very few people can produce the real one on command. So we don’t ask. In our Petersham studio the cue is a question, usually about the drive in or the meeting you’ve just left, because the eyes engage while you answer.

The closed-mouth smile

This is the safest single choice if you only want one photo. Lips together, corners slightly lifted, eyes engaged. It survives a shrink to a thumbnail and still reads warm.

The soft teeth smile

Best for client-facing roles. It needs to be caught, not held. We shoot in short bursts and talk through it, because a held teeth smile goes stiff within a few frames.

The neutral or serious look, done properly

A neutral headshot works when the eyes carry the frame. Slight lift in the cheeks, mouth relaxed but not pressed, chin level. Pressed lips and a tucked chin turn neutral into grim.

How to smile for a headshot without looking forced

What we do in the studio

At Hero Shot, we never ask you to hold a smile. We shoot in bursts of three or four frames, reset your face, then go again. The real expression usually lands a frame or two after a reset.

We also show you the back of the camera early. Seeing one good frame removes most of the anxiety that causes stiff faces, and it is the thing our reviewers mention most.

Things that genuinely help

• Loosen your jaw and let your teeth part slightly before each burst
• Breathe out as the shutter fires, not in
• Think of a specific person you like, not “be happy”
• Talk to the photographer between frames instead of freezing
• Let your eyes lead, then let the mouth follow
• Roll your shoulders back and drop them once per set

If you don’t like your teeth

Say so at the start. We’ll work with a closed-mouth range and light you so the mouth isn’t the focal point. Nobody should spend a session dreading the next frame.

Smiling by industry: what we see across Sydney

Finance, legal and professional services

The briefs we get from firms in the Martin Place and Chifley Tower blocks are the most prescriptive we see. One insolvency practice sent a written spec for its tender documents: plain background, straight-on crop, closed mouth, no jacket variation between partners.

Partners still take a warmer frame for LinkedIn. When we light legal and finance groups, we keep contrast controlled and skin tone accurate, so one file works on the firm site and inside a printed capability statement.

Real estate, consulting and recruitment

Agents from the inner west and the lower north shore ask for the opposite. More teeth, more energy, and a wider crop that can be cut for a signboard or a listing banner.

Consultants sit in between. The recurring request is one frame that survives being dropped into a client’s slide deck.

IT, technology and construction

A software team in Barangaroo booked us for a Friday afternoon after standup. Half the engineers had never been photographed for work and told us so at the door. We ran them through in short blocks between meetings, and the frames they chose were the smaller smiles, not the broad ones.

Construction is different again. A builder in Alexandria wanted site leads photographed in high-vis outside the demountable, then the same faces in a clean studio crop for the tender pack. We shot the studio set first so nobody arrived with helmet hair.

Should you smile in your LinkedIn photo?

The short answer

Yes, in most cases. LinkedIn is a networking platform, and a friendly face invites a connection request. If you use it for business development at all, lean warm.

The argument we hear in the studio every week

The debate that plays out in online threads happens in front of us too. Usually a senior lawyer thinks warmth reads as junior, and the marketing manager who booked the session disagrees.

Both are half right. Seriousness does not read as seniority. Calm does. A guarded face just reads as guarded, and clients say so when they see the two frames side by side.

One session, several expressions

• Warm teeth smile for LinkedIn and email signatures
• Closed-mouth smile for the firm bio and tender documents
• Neutral or editorial for speaking profiles and media
• A wider crop for conference programmes and panel graphics

Most of our single-person sessions produce all four. If you’re booking headshots as an individual, that flexibility is the point.

Common headshot mistakes with expression

• Gripping one smile through an entire session until it hardens
• Squinting into a light that was never softened or moved back
• Leading with the jaw to look confident, which flattens the face
• Standing dead square to the lens like a passport photo
• Raising the eyebrows to look friendly, which reads as surprise
• Laughing at the moment of capture so the eyes close
• Expecting one frame to cover every possible use
• Letting a busy background compete with the face, which is why a clean grey background headshot often wins
• Approving a heavily retouched frame where the smile has been smoothed out
• Waiting until the mirror at 8am on shoot day to decide

Pre-shoot checklist

• Decide your primary audience: clients, employers or media
• Look at your firm’s existing team page and match the tone
• Practise both smiles in a mirror for two minutes, then stop
• Book the session for a time of day when you’re not rushed
• Skip the walk from the station in summer if you can, because arriving warm means shine we then have to light around
• Bring two tops, one darker and one mid-tone
• Keep jewellery simple so the face stays the focus
• Tell us any features you’d rather not emphasise
• Ask for a mix of warm, neutral and closed-mouth frames
• Don’t self-edit during the shoot, choose from the gallery afterwards

Do you even need a new headshot?

Sometimes not. If your current photo is recent, well lit and looks like you today, changing the smile isn’t worth the money. And if you’re a sole trader with no client-facing bio, a good phone portrait in soft outdoor shade will genuinely do for now.

We’ve written honestly about the cases where you don’t need a headshot at all, and we stand by it. Book when your role changes, your photo is a few years old, or your expression no longer matches your work.

What it costs, and what happens next

What drives the price

Cost depends on session length, how many people we photograph, how many final edited images you need, and whether we shoot in Petersham or at your office in the CBD or Parramatta. One person choosing three finished frames sits at one end. A rostered day for a forty-person team sits at the other.

Send us the details and we’ll quote your exact situation rather than guess at it here.

What you receive and how fast

You’ll leave having seen your images on screen and chosen your favourites during the session, so there’s no waiting to find out whether it worked. Retouched files come back as high-resolution and web-ready versions, sized for LinkedIn, your website and print.

If you’d rather talk it through first, our Sydney CBD headshot photographer page covers locations and logistics, and you can see the full studio overview here.

Frequently asked questions

Is it okay to not smile in a headshot?

Yes. A closed mouth reads as fine, provided the eyes stay switched on. We shoot that look for barristers, insolvency partners and author portraits every month. What fails is not the missing smile but a face that has gone flat and stopped looking at the lens.

Are you supposed to smile with teeth in a headshot?

No rule requires it. Teeth suggest openness, which helps agents, recruiters and allied health. Lips together suggests composure, which suits audit and litigation. Neither is more professional than the other, so pick by who is looking, not by convention.

What is the best smile for a headshot?

One that reaches the eyes. The well-known term for it is a Duchenne smile: cheeks lift, outer eye corners crinkle. A grin made only with the mouth looks arranged. Almost nobody can summon the real version on cue, so we talk instead of counting down.

What are the most common headshot mistakes?

Gripping one smile until it hardens, leading with the jaw, standing dead square to the lens, and expecting a single frame to cover every use. Add harsh light that nobody bothered to soften, plus shine on the forehead and a cluttered background.

How much does a professional headshot cost in Sydney?

Cost depends on session length, how many people are being photographed, how many final edited images you need, and whether we shoot in our studio or at your office. Team bookings are priced differently to individuals. Contact us for a quote for your situation.