No. Book the session.
I get this one constantly, and it's the objection that quietly costs people the most. Nobody argues with me about it — they just say "let me get to a better place first" and then I never hear from them again. The headshot you keep postponing is costing you more than the ten pounds ever will.
Let me break it down.
Why "After I Lose Weight" Usually Means Never
Here's the reality: the goalpost moves. I've had people tell me they'd book in three months, and then three months later it's after the holidays, and then it's after summer. Meanwhile their LinkedIn still has a cropped wedding photo from 2019.
The weight isn't really the thing. The thing is not wanting to be looked at closely — and that feeling doesn't go away at a lower number on the scale. I've photographed people at every size who felt exactly the same walking in the door.
So the practical question isn't "am I at my goal." It's "do I need people to take me seriously between now and whenever that goal arrives?" If you're job hunting, raising money, taking listings, or getting referrals, the answer is yes, and waiting is the expensive option.
What Actually Makes You Look Good in a Photo
This is the part most people have backwards. When you look at a photo of yourself and think I look heavy there, what you're usually reacting to isn't your body. It's a set of technical choices nobody made on purpose.
- Lens and distance. A phone held at arm's length distorts whatever is closest to it. A proper portrait lens at the proper distance doesn't.
- Camera height. Shooting from below widens and shortens. Almost every bad photo of you was taken from below.
- Angle. Square to the camera is the widest you will ever look. Turning your body and bringing one shoulder forward changes everything.
- Lighting. Flat light fills in every plane of your face equally. Shaped light builds structure — jaw, cheekbone, neck.
- Posture and chin. Where your weight sits, where your shoulders sit, and what your chin does are worth more than any amount of dieting.
Every single item on that list is my job, not yours. You don't need to know any of it. You need to show up and let me direct you.
What I Control During Your Session
You're not going to be left standing there guessing. I coach you through every pose and expression — that's what I specialize in, and it's most of what you're paying for.
We shoot tethered, which means your images come up on a big screen in real time. You see what I'm getting while we're getting it. If something isn't working, we change it in the moment instead of discovering it a week later in a gallery.
That matters enormously for this specific worry. You're not hoping it turns out. You're watching it turn out, and we don't stop until you see something you actually like. Here's exactly how a session runs if you want to know what you're walking into.
What Retouching Does and Doesn't Do
Let's be straight about this, because people ask me sideways versions of it all the time.
I retouch blemishes, stray hairs, shine, flyaways, wrinkles in your shirt, distracting background stuff, and the temporary things that happen to be going on with your skin that day. That's standard and it's included.
I don't reshape your body. Not because of some principle I'm going to lecture you about, but because it doesn't work. Slimming someone in post produces a photo that doesn't look like them, and the whole point of a headshot is that the person who meets you recognizes you. A photo that overpromises is worse than no photo.
What I will do is get the lighting, angle, and lens right so the photo is honest and you still look good in it. That's a real thing, and it's not the same as editing you thinner. If you want the full breakdown, I wrote one: what headshot retouching actually includes.
If You're Genuinely Mid-Transformation
Occasionally someone really is eight weeks from the end of something specific and visible. That's a different conversation, and I'll have it honestly with you.
But I'd still shoot now, for one reason: you need a usable photo today, and a headshot isn't a monument. Most people should be updating every two to three years anyway. Shoot now, use it now, and shoot again when something meaningful changes. The $249 session fee includes your first retouched image, so getting a current photo in hand isn't a big commitment — here's how the pricing works.
The version of you that exists right now is the one applying for the job, pitching the client, and showing up at the networking event. That's the one that needs a good photo.
The Short Version
- Waiting until you lose weight usually means waiting indefinitely
- What reads as "I look heavy" is almost always lens, angle, height, and light — all my responsibility
- You see every frame live on screen during the session, so nothing is a surprise
- I retouch skin and distractions, not your body shape
- A headshot is a tool with a shelf life, not a permanent record
Stop postponing it. Book a session and see what a photo of you looks like when someone who does this for a living is running the camera. Sessions are $249 and include your first retouched image. Book a session or tell me what you need and I'll point you the right direction.