There are a lot of articles out there on professional headshot photography useful for those looking to have their headshots taken.

I’ve compiled a few of my favorites to share with you and how they may help you if you are thinking about getting a headshot and like to be more ready personally.

How to Pose for Pictures at Stylecaster has a few good tips for posing in pictures.

The more you’ve practiced posing, the easier your photographer’s job will be, and often, the better results you will have.   However, unless you are an actor or model, while learning how to strike a better pose will serve you in good stead the rest of your life, in front of cameras and audiences of all sorts, it may not be the best use of your time.  If you are however a model or actor, you need to learn everything you can about posing.

Business executives and sales and marketing professional also will benefit, particularly for group shots and “grip and grins” during awards and such.  Some of the best smilers I know are executives and politicians.

This article is geared more towards full length portraits, though has a few good tips applicable to headshots as well.

Before and After Makeup on Buzzfeed is awesome!

There are 28 examples with before and after makeup application with a slider over the face.  These are mostly bust up headshot examples of mostly young women and a few men.

What is really cool about this is it has a slider which you can pull back and forth across the model’s faces and see how makeup has transformed them, often completely.

Makeup is a great tool for photographers, and professionals alike, for headshot portrait use and for daily use in our business lives, depending on our careers.

Some of the makeup is over done.  Some is theatrical.  It is really fun and does get the point across, makeup can change your look.  And how you look can effect your life in many ways, including economically.

If You Look Like This, Your Pay Check Will Be Higher Than Average at BusinessInsider has lots of interesting data about how our physical appearance impacts our paychecks.

Professional headshot photographers, the better ones, are well aware of the impact your headshot has on your personal life and career.  For example, one of the interesting keys is that being taller equates to more in the paycheck for both men and for women.  Okay.  We know this.

What is useful is to keep in mind these concepts when picking which headshot to use.

As a professional headshot photographer, I attempt to shoot up at most of my subjects.  What this visually does is make one appear to be looking up at the person, as opposed to shooting down and thus looking down.

Just as actors and actresses look 6 feet tall on the silver screen, shooting up or down, and looking up and down impact our unconscious assessment of the person whose headshot we view.

It is a useful skill to be able to see the message your headshot sends out about you.  Keep this in mind when you read this and other articles.

Why Photo Headshots Matter For Entrepreneur at Ucreative has a number of interesting if somewhat low brow headshot fails.

However, sometimes looking at a few good fails, and it’s a quick read, may give you more useful ideas than a really long list of what makes for a great headshot.

After all, if you hire a competent professional headshot photographer, they will guide you through most of the fails into a very effective headshot completion.

The other area where articles on fails will help you is when looking at portfolios of potetial photographers.  Does the photographer’s work display many fails?

If yes, move on to another photographer on your list.

10 Things Actors Need to Know About Headshots at SandiferPhotography, while geared to actors is an awesome list of some quick dos and don’ts.

If you like to know just 10 quick headshot tips, this is a great starting or ending point.