Undo the Blue | Why Headshot Background Color Matters More Than You Think

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As long as I can remember there has been one background color that just never sat right with me. It seemed cold and somehow in my mind, cheap ... yet I saw it EVERYWHERE (including the DMV).

You guessed it ... that church-directory, DMV ID photo color of blue-grey.

Recently, a friend of mine who works as a rep for Comcast Commercial called me for a headshot update. I saw Chad's photo in his signature and cringed at the prospect of him asking me to match the color. "No, that's just something the company did for us."

PHEW! ... I relaxed and shared this information with him. (See his before and after below ... used with his permission to help illustrate the difference.)

This background is anything but complimentary to you as a subject. If you're a photographer reading this, please accept my apologies in advance if this offends your current options ... but please consider this information for the love of your clients and our industry.

In the 90's I attended a full-day training session with the late, great "Grandfather of Classical Portraiture" ... Monte Zucker. I've trained with some pretty talented photographers, but none with half of Monte's conviction for raising the standards of professional photography.

"Get rid of that $%#@ blue-grey background, and here's why ..."

Keep in mind, this explanation predates digital photography entirely.

Portraits were mostly created on film, which meant color reversal ... negatives reversed onto color paper. On a film negative, blue's opposite is yellow.

As some of you may remember, there was a large national company that made a considerable amount of money traveling the country to create church directories ... all shot against that background I can no longer look at without cringing.

That color, as Monte explained it, was hard to screw up in the reversal process. So for the convenience of the lab, it became a convenient standard. Let me rephrase that: it was not selected for being appealing, complimentary, or in any way artistic. It was chosen to save time in the lab on color corrections.

No matter what color your skin is, you have a red-based pigmentation. Black, brown, white, yellow ... we all bleed the same color.

Colors that complement best are opposites. What is the opposite of our red-based skin? Green. Not green-screen primary green ... rather a warm, earthy tone that dropped behind those millions of families would certainly be easier on the eyes.

I specialize in headshots. It is my job to help people appeal to their next client, potential employer, and sometimes spouse. In most cases, these images are going onto business cards, websites, and ... most commonly mentioned by my clients ... LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, though their logo is that color, recently accented their site with a warm teal. Teal, being in the green family, makes me want to give a high-five to their marketing team. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

While grey is a very safe color and looks great against most professional attire, it doesn't feel quite as fresh as a clean white.

So ... before you hand out another business card with your DMV photo on it, consider this. Give us a call. We're here to help you show up the way you deserve to.

Thank you Chad, for allowing me to use your “before” photo to make my point.