Dressing for a Professional Portrait

At work, they decided to retake our photos for the directory.  Most of the photos were horrible!  They were ususally taken on the first day of work, by HR, in front of the background of the year.  Most of us had a lovely blue background.  Here was my picture...
 

My picture was taken after running around the building an getting all sweaty.  Looking at the photo, I wasn't even sitting up straight!  I was so glad that we were getting the chance to re-take our pictures!

This new picture would be with me for a while.  I had to figure out what to wear (jewelry and clothing) and how to do my hair and make-up.  I started by searching "professional business portraits."  I took note of what I liked and didn't like.  Here's where I ended up.  I would recommend a similar outfit to anyone that is going to have a professional portrait taken.

Clothing
I wanted to wear a suit.  I have a black, navy, and grey suit.  I liked the black but I thought it was a little harsh.  I though dark grey would be better.

For the shirt underneath, I didn't want to go bright or white.  I thought the bright would look a little young and the white would wash me out.  I went with a darker teal shirt.

Jewelry
The necklace would probably be the only thing that would show.  Perhaps my earrings. 
I wanted something simple and classic.  This was easy and I settled on my small pearl necklace with pearl studs.

Hair
My hair is naturally curly so I could have gone curly or straight.  The deciding factor here was the time of day.  I had to wait until 1:30 to get my picture taken.  If I went curly and it rained, it's possible my hair could frizz more than I wanted.  If I went straight, I could run my flat iron through it right before the photo.  I chose to straighten my hair and then run to the bathroom before the picture and do a quick once over.

Make-up
This was easy, I was going to go with my normal everyday make-up.  I was going to go with a lip gloss rather than my normal chapstick.  When I ran to the bathroom, I brushed my teeth (it was after lunch!) and did a quick check and reapplication of mascara and lip gloss.

Voilà!

I'm happy with the new photo.  I can't wait until the replace the old one!

Thanks for stopping by!