Contemporary Business Headshots in 2025 — Trends for Success
Business headshots have evolved more in 2025 than in any year prior. To be most relevant, you want an image that appeals to your audience and the traits about you that they are looking for when it comes considering you as a prospect do business with.
To get right to the point, as a leading professional photographer in Dallas, TX for headshots and portraits, I’m seeing two clear trends:
FIRST TREND: Getting at least 2 different headshots
Yes, the more traditional studio type of business headshot is very alive and well, and for good reason. That style of headshot, with studio lighting and photo backdrop emphasizes your stability, your credibility and your reliability — all of which are very important traits in today’s workplace. Even more so in high-trust industries like medical, legal, and financial business headshots. The studio headshot is king of establishing your legitimacy as a businessperson.
Now, the getting more than one photo at your photoshoot is a smart move on your part as a businessperson because our studio will then be able to give your “bundled pricing” that is less expensive than separate portrait sessions. More on this in a bit.
Typicality this additional headshot(s) is a more casual one (think no tie or sports jacket instead of suit jacket). You still do need the formal studio one, but you also want a less formal one for your social media, but even on social media you still need to be viewed with respect and taken seriously.
Example: a real estate agent might want darker clothing for their image during the Fall/Winter seasons, and more colorful wardrobe for the Spring/Summer seasons. This is all about your clients and prospects seeing you as current and relevant. That psychologically makes them feel you are responsive to their needs, and in turn, increases your opportunities in business.
Example: a doctor can show BOTH their competent and serious side with a lab-coat photo, as well as a more approachable suit jacket photo.
And that same, more approachable sense to a semi-casual-but-still-professional image, applies in its own way to many industries. This more casual headshot, is increasingly an outdoor headshot, and that leads to my second major trend…
SECOND TREND: getting an outdoor headshot.
Getting an outdoor, “natural light” business headshot is increasingly an acceptable and attractive option for business professionals. Now my “natural light” headshots are actually a hybrid kind of lighting and sneaks in a bit of studio flash fill for best results. But the unfair advantage my hybrid lighting systems for ourdoor headshots give you is for another discussion…
However, the outdoor headshot, with blurred background, might show nature, houses, wall textures, or office buildings depending on the targeted audience of your business prospects. The blurring is just to give a non-specific IMPRESSION that matches the general industry that applies to you as the professional businessperson.
Obviously houses blurred are for residential real estate agents. But Greenery would work there as well. No matter what kind of house is in the headshot background, it might not represent the full spectrum of the types of real estate any given agent represents. The most general, and I feel most useful, photo background are office buildings. This kind of outdoor background works for most business, corporate jobs from high tech to finance to commercial real estate and more.
Pro Tip: keep the background the background. The background lends ambience, but you, specifically your face, is the focus and purpose of your business headshot. This is why my studio headshot examples have a very neutral, and even intentionally boring backdrop. You simply do not want details distracting the eye of the viewer from your face.
SMART OPTION: get both. Get both a studio headshot that is more formal and appears next to your bio/credentials, and an outdoor headshots that is more casual/welcoming. This outdoor headshot (emphasizing you are approachable as we’ve said), is ideal for the Contact page of websites, and most Social Media profile photos. This gives you the best of both worlds and you have photos for any purposes, ready to go.
At our Dallas headshot photo studio, www.DallasBusinessHeadshots.com we are offering a bundled headshot session just like this at a discount. Inquire for pricing and availability by calling the studio at 877-858–0071.
