I take all my own photos for websites, bios, and profile pictures. I think it’s actually easier to get what you want and to get past feeling self conscious and dorky when someone else is holding the camera. I’ve taught other entrepreneurs how to do this in person, but I can lay it all out here online as well.

When you do your own photos, you can practice and take as many as you want. Looking at yourself in the camera gives you instant feedback about facial expressions, head tilt, angles, poses, so you can quickly figure out what’s working and make adjustments. You can take advantage of good hair or makeup days without trying to make those happen on your shoot appointment. You can try things without worrying about what someone else thinks because you can delete and no one will ever know.

You will need your phone with a front facing camera. We’re gonna take a bunch of selfies that aren’t obvious that they are selfies. This is pretty much your only necessity, but there are some other things that are really helpful and cost less than a professional photo shoot. Consider them investments.

The first is a tripod that you can connect your phone to. This will help you get some good full length or “in your native environment” shots and definitely won’t scream selfie. If you don’t have one, you can prop your phone up, but you’ll need to rig up something that gets it slightly above your eyes causing you to look up at the camera so you don’t have so many chins.

Another accessory that might be nice is a ring light. You can get a cheapie that clips onto your phone for close up, or one that goes on a tripod. I rarely use mine, but if you’re indoorsy and that represents your business well, it will probably make things easier. I use studio lights for my Zoom calls so the light falls on my face correctly since I sit opposite a window.

Then there are lots of free photo editing apps. Most have features you have to pay to use. I don’t use the upgrades, but if you need them, that’s still a deal compared to a pro.

Let’s start with your basic selfie. We’ll take one for a basic headshot. Find a good background first that doesn’t have a lot going on. Walls are good. I use my shop door a lot. Ideally it’s a color that you would even wear. Wrong colors in a background just like in clothing can accentuate wrinkles and dark circles, or uneven skin tone. I wish I had kept a before and after of me shooting against a white background vs a funky colored brick one wearing the same clothes, and the difference in my face. I only kept the brick.

While we’re on that, Dressing Your Truth can help you pick those clothing colors, textures and designs that work for you. I use the same keywords to pick my backgrounds, though I call nature a neutral, meaning you can make natural settings work for you.

Ok, so you got your wall? Here’s where you’ll potentially run into a problem. The wall you like might not have the right lighting. What is the right lighting? Hold your camera up and point it at you while you gradually spin around. It’s right when the light falls evenly across your face, and wrinkles and dark circles are deemphasized. This is usually you facing a window if indoors. Overhead lights are not your friend. You need the right light and the right background. Here’s where a ring light might help.

Ah the ol fingers in the hair pose. No time to volumize? Use your hand to puff it up. My lighting works, but the background is messy and random. It's just a cute social media pic, not anything I can use for business. The lighting was edited A LOT!

If your wall is outdoors, the light is going to change throughout the day, or days as you go from sunny to overcast. If your wall faces into the sun, you might end up squinting at the camera, so it’s better to wait for a bright overcast day, or right before sunup/after sundown.

Ok, hold your camera slightly above eye level, figure out how much cheese is enough and start shooting. It’s easiest to camouflage that it’s a selfie if you do this one handed. It’s also easier to get some distance with one hand. You can get a really big nose if you’re too close to the camera. If I’m finding the one-handed thing awkward, I use the timer on my phone. I do 3 seconds so I have enough time to get the phone back into position and my face doing what it’s supposed to but not so much that I have that frozen look while waiting for it to go off.

If you have some shots you think you can work with, it’s time to edit. First you can crop so that your arm is out of the shot, and it’s truly just a headshot. From there, the little auto edit does a pretty good job at correcting additional lighting problems. You can play with color balancing and various things, but for the most part, I use the auto function.

From there, I’ll run it through the BeautyPlus app. Again, I usually just do the auto, and I don’t have that slider bar cranked. This is just to even out skin tone and conceal imperfections, not to obliterate any and all facial lines. People shouldn’t go “oh that’s a filter.”

I do sometimes play with makeup on these things. Occasionally I’ll do a makeup-free shoot and put it on in the app. It’s not my preference by far. I taught somebody this who said she wanted to wear makeup but was allergic to most stuff. I said that’s ok, we’ll do it in the editing. I kept it really light because she still needed to look like herself, and no one is used to seeing her in makeup. Airbrush is a makeup one that I like. YouCamMakeup is another. You can have fun with hair color in these too. Teeth whitening is another plus.

From no makeup or editing to finished product.

For full length or more naturalistic poses, you need your tripod. Stick the phone on it, raise it up to slightly above eye level, set your timer 10 seconds or some of these come with a remote, and Vogue! A friend doesn’t use the timer, but shoots a video where she does different poses and then takes screenshots of the video to get her photos, which are always model quality.

DIY Bio Photos, Headshots, and Photos for Social or Blog Posts

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