Headshots With
Glasses.

About two-thirds of adults wear some form of corrective lenses, so this comes up in most sessions. The short answer: keep them on if they're part of how you look, and let the photographer deal with the reflections. The longer answer is worth knowing, because glare is one of the few headshot problems that genuinely cannot be fixed afterwards.

Why glasses complicate a headshot

A lens is a mirror as well as a window. Every light in the room has an angle at which it bounces off that curved surface straight into the camera, and studio lighting is bright and directional by design — which is exactly what makes it bounce well. The problem isn't your glasses. It's the geometry between the light, the lens and the lens.

There's a second, subtler issue. Strong prescriptions bend what's behind them: a myopic prescription shrinks your eyes slightly and can offset the edge of your face where the frame crosses it. That's not a flaw to correct — it's what you look like — but it does mean frames should sit where they normally sit.

Where the glare actually comes from

• The key light — the main source, and the usual culprit. Highest intensity, so its reflection is the hardest
• Fill and reflectors — softer, but they produce broad milky reflections across the whole lens rather than a single hotspot
• The frame itself — metal frames throw their own specular line along the top rim
• Head position — a chin tilt of two or three degrees is often the difference between a clean lens and a white disc where your eye should be

What we do about it

Mostly, we move things. Raising the key light and bringing it further off-axis moves the reflection off the lens entirely — the angle of incidence stops pointing at the camera. Tilting the frames a few millimetres down at the ear does the same thing and is invisible in the final image. Neither costs session time; it's a normal part of setting up, the same as any other preparation detail we handle on the day.

Where a shot genuinely can't be lit clean — some wraparound frames and strong curvatures make it impossible — we shoot a matched frame without glasses and composite the eyes. That's a deliberate, disclosed technique, not a routine one, and it's the last resort rather than the plan.

Frames, coatings, and the empty-frames myth

Anti-reflective coatings help but don't solve it. They reduce the intensity of a reflection; they don't change where it lands. A light positioned to bounce into the camera still bounces, just more faintly.

Don't bring frames with the lenses popped out. It's advice that circulates widely and it produces a subtly wrong photograph — you lose the magnification or reduction your actual lenses create, so your eyes don't match how people see you. Fixing the lighting is the better trade.

Transition lenses are worth leaving at home. Studio strobes won't trigger them, but daylight through a window on the way in will, and they can take several minutes to clear. If they're your only pair, arrive a little early.

Before your session

• Clean the lenses properly — with a cloth, not a shirt. Smudges are far more visible under studio light than in a bathroom mirror
• Check the nose pads. Frames that have drifted down the nose read as slightly dishevelled at a tight crop
• Bring a second pair if you have one, particularly if one is lighter or thinner-rimmed
• Say so when you book — it takes a minute of setup, not a different session

The rest of the preparation is the same as any session: see what to wear, and if the photo is headed for a profile, LinkedIn headshots covers how the circular crop treats frames. Ready to book? Sessions start at $250 with retouched images back within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions

Should I take my glasses off for my headshot?

Only if you genuinely don't wear them most of the time. If glasses are part of how people recognise you at work, keep them on — a headshot that doesn't look like the person who walks into the meeting defeats the point. We usually shoot a few frames both ways so you can decide when you see them.

Can you remove glare in retouching?

Mild reflections, yes. A hard specular highlight sitting across the iris is a different matter — rebuilding an eye that was never photographed is where retouching starts to look artificial. That's why glare is solved with lighting angles during the session rather than afterwards.

Should I bring empty frames with the lenses popped out?

It's a common suggestion and we don't recommend it. Empty frames remove the reflection but they also remove the slight magnification or reduction your lenses create, so the eyes behind them don't match how you actually look. Adjusting the light is a better fix than removing the lenses.

Do anti-reflective coatings help?

They help, and they don't solve it. AR coatings cut the intensity of a reflection but the geometry is unchanged — a light source positioned to bounce off the lens still bounces, just more faintly. Worth having, not worth relying on.

What should I do before the session?

Clean the lenses properly, and check the nose pads so the frames sit where they normally do. Smudges and fingerprints show up far more under studio light than they do in a mirror, and frames that have drifted down the nose read as slightly dishevelled in a tight crop.