Corporate headshots are the bread and butter of portrait retouching. They’re not as glamorous as beauty or fashion work, but they pay the bills — and there’s a real art to doing them well.
The goal with a corporate headshot is simple: make the person look like the best version of themselves on their best day. Not younger, not thinner, not different — just polished.
What to Fix
- Temporary blemishes (always remove)
- Stray hairs (clean up the silhouette)
- Uneven skin tone (especially redness on nose, cheeks)
- Wrinkled clothing (quick fix with Liquify)
- Distracting background elements
- Under-eye circles (reduce, don’t eliminate)
- Shine on forehead and nose (reduce, keep some for dimension)
What to Leave Alone
- Wrinkles (reduce by 20-30%, never remove)
- Moles and beauty marks (these are features, not flaws)
- Facial structure (no Liquify reshaping on headshots)
- Smile lines (they make people look friendly and genuine)
The reason is practical: this person’s colleagues will see this photo. If the subject doesn’t look like themselves, you’ve failed.
My Headshot Retouching Checklist
- Crop: Standard headshot crop — top of head to mid-chest, slightly off-center
- Background: Clean, consistent, no distractions
- Skin: Even tone, minimal blemish removal, natural texture
- Eyes: Slight brightening of whites, remove any visible blood vessels
- Teeth: Slight whitening if they’re visible (5-10% max)
- Hair: Clean flyaways along the silhouette
- Clothing: Smooth major wrinkles, straighten collar/tie
- Color: Neutral, clean white balance — not too warm, not too cool
- Sharpening: Medium sharpening for the eyes, light overall
Turnaround and Pricing
Most headshot retouching should take 8-12 minutes per image at a professional level. If you’re spending 30+ minutes on a corporate headshot, you’re either doing too much or your workflow needs streamlining.
For pricing, the industry standard is $15-35 per image for basic retouching, $40-75 for more detailed work. Volume discounts for sets of 20+.
Comments (3)
Maya, great frequency separation breakdown! I always tell my readers to master this before anything else in Photoshop. The before/afters really sell it.
Solid advice. I'd add that working with natural light gives better results but otherwise spot on.
This answered a question I've been struggling with for weeks. Thank you!