The request is simple: send an updated photograph for the leadership page. Then the necklace you wear most days starts to feel like a decision about your entire professional identity.
In a public discussion about a headshot after promotion to director, the writer asks whether to wear earrings, a necklace, or a watch, while trying to balance their usual bold colors with an unfamiliar idea of looking authoritative.
Begin with where the picture will appear. A close team-page portrait and a wider photograph on your company's About page may leave very different amounts of room for the same jewelry.
Which version of the photograph are you choosing for?
If the company supplies a portrait brief, bring it to the photographer. A consistent leadership-page layout may determine the background or crop. For a founder's own website, there may be more room to choose several compositions. Neither situation requires guessing from a product close-up.
Ask for a preview of the likely crop. Is the pendant still in the picture, or only the upper strand? Does a long earring remain complete when the image is placed inside a circle? A watch may have no visual role in a tight portrait but become prominent when your hands appear.
The photographs below are real à la luck product photographs, not client headshots. The paired displays use the same necklace photograph to show what removing the lower part of a frame can do. The second display leaves the lower part outside the frame; your photographer’s intended crop may be different.
Full source photograph
Same photograph, lower portion outside the frame
Does jewelry have to be small to look professional?
Published advice differs in emphasis. The 92NY Women in Power Summit's headshot guidelines favor small, simple jewelry. Photographer Annie Watson also makes room for a signature piece. These are useful starting points, not evidence that one accessory makes a woman look competent.
Describe what you want to preserve in ordinary terms: the green stone you wear frequently, the asymmetry you like, or the earrings people already associate with you. That gives the photographer a concrete detail to work with. “Make me look powerful but approachable” leaves much more open to interpretation.
Check how the piece actually sits. The original earring photograph below shows burgundy wrapping and a dark stone beside hair. Those details are visible here. Check them again under your photographer’s lighting and with your own hair and clothing.
For a pair that deliberately differs from side to side, the mismatched earring guide helps with the wearing decision. The portrait preview then answers the separate question of how much of each side the frame includes.
Can a meaningful piece stay private in a public photograph?
A piece associated with starting your business need not carry the whole company's story. It may be a color or form you like seeing, with an association you keep to yourself. The amulet and talisman guide discusses how personal meaning differs from claims about an object's powers.
Bring the outfit, your preferred jewelry and one alternative. At the session, compare the intended crop with the piece on and off, if time allows. Check whether the necklace has turned, whether the fastening is visible, and whether the earring is caught in hair. Then choose a photograph you want to use.
About the author
Yifeng Tao is the founder and maker behind à la luck. She works with stone, beads and hand-worked cord, making edition-of-one jewelry and naming its materials plainly.