The shoot is only half of it. What happens afterward shapes the final image just as much as what was captured on the day: the decisions made during the edit, the retouching, the way a file is prepared for delivery. Here's how I work through a headshot session from the raw files to the finished gallery.
The cull
A typical headshot session produces somewhere between 200 and 400 frames. The first thing I do is go through all of them and cut that down to a shortlist worth editing. I'm looking at a few things: sharpness in the eyes, the quality of the expression, the way the light is landing. A technically clean frame with a flat expression gets cut. A slightly imperfect frame where something genuine is happening gets kept.
Most clients end up with 20 to 40 selects going into the edit, which then narrows further to a final delivery of the agreed number of finished images. The cull is where a lot of the invisible work happens. The goal is to only spend time on frames that are actually worth finishing.
Global corrections in Lightroom
I do all my global corrections in Lightroom before anything goes to Photoshop. This means exposure, white balance, and overall tone. The approach here is straightforward: I'm trying to reflect the light that was actually present during the shoot, not impose something on top of it. I'm not chasing a trend or applying a preset look. The edit should be clean enough that it won't date the photo five years from now.
Skin tone accuracy is a priority at this stage. I check the white balance carefully because incorrect colour temperature is one of the most common things that makes a headshot look off without people being able to pinpoint why. Once the globals are set, I export to Photoshop for the retouching pass.
Retouching in Photoshop
The retouching is where the image gets finished. I work in Photoshop for this stage because it gives more precise control than Lightroom's healing tools, especially for anything that needs to blend naturally into the surrounding skin.
The first thing I address is light. I use dodge and burn to refine the highlights and shadows on the face, softening anything that's reading as too harsh or too flat without losing the natural three-dimensionality that makes a portrait look real. This isn't about adding light that wasn't there; it's about making the existing light land cleanly.
For blemishes, my rule is simple: I remove what's temporary and leave what's permanent. A pimple or a patch of redness from the day gets cleaned up. A freckle, a mole, a scar: those stay. The person in the photo should look like themselves, not a smoothed-out version of themselves. Clients are booking headshots because they want accurate representation, not a retouched version that won't match them in person.
Stray hairs are next. A single hair across the face or catching the light in an awkward way is one of those things that's hard to notice during a shoot but immediately draws the eye in the finished image. I go through each frame carefully and remove anything that's visually distracting without touching the actual hairstyle.
Throughout the entire retouching pass, I'm paying attention to colour. Skin tones are easy to push in the wrong direction: too warm, too pink, too grey. I keep checking against the source image and the reference monitor to make sure nothing has drifted. The goal is always the most accurate, natural version of the person in front of the camera.
Export and delivery
Finished files are exported at full resolution as high-quality JPEGs, suitable for both print and digital use. I deliver through an online gallery where clients can view, download, and share their images. Downloads are available in full resolution.
Turnaround time for a standard headshot session is five to seven business days. Rush delivery is available on request. Get in touch when booking if you have a specific deadline.