A business headshot is a tightly framed portrait, usually head and shoulders, made for work: a company bio, a LinkedIn profile, a speaker page, a press kit. The business headshots Minneapolis employers and prospects see first are the ones doing quiet work on your behalf, which is why they have to be current.
Ours are shot at 308 E Hennepin Ave, on the third floor of a private 4,500 square foot space in Northeast Minneapolis, a few minutes from downtown. You review the take on a large calibrated screen the same day and leave knowing which frame you’re using.
People look you up before they meet you. Hiring managers, referral partners, conference organizers, and buyers all form an opinion from a thumbnail roughly 200 pixels wide. A cropped wedding picture from nine years ago reads as neglect, fair or not.
A current portrait does the opposite. Office fluorescents throw shadows under the eyes and turn skin green, and a controlled room fixes that before anyone touches a retouching slider. Lighting gets adjusted for glasses, bald heads, deep skin tones, and strong jawlines, because all four behave differently in front of a strobe.
The interviews and sample galleries below show how that plays out.
Planning happens before the camera comes out. We ask what the image is for, because a resume thumbnail, a Linkedin profile, and a printed conference program each want a different crop and a different level of formality.
If you’re up for a promotion or pitching into a new market, say so on the call. That changes wardrobe, background, and how much you smile.
You get a handful of seconds before someone decides how to file you. That is the whole argument for doing this properly.
A work portrait is not a likeness. It is the visual half of your reputation, and there is no second run at a first impression. That applies to founders, partners, and anyone whose name goes on a proposal, not just people on magazine covers.
At Inna Portraits, every booking includes a personal consultation, hair and makeup by a working stylist, and retouching kept deliberately light.
The consultation is complimentary, and it matters more than most people expect. Inna develops the concept with you: wardrobe, props, posing, and where in the room you will stand. Anyone can trip a shutter. Getting a person to look like themselves on a good day is the hard part, and most of it is decided before the first frame.
Done well, it separates you from everyone else in your market still using a cropped group shot.
Inna brings years of experience and knowledge to corporate portrait work.
She was named PPA International Photographer of the Year from 2015 through 2020, has won numerous awards, and is recognized nationally and internationally.
Her work has run in national and international photographic magazines, and close to two thousand US photographers follow her on Facebook.
So your portrait is handled by someone who has mastered the craft, and who will push past the first acceptable frame so your potential clients and business associates see you at your best.
Ask Inna about a personal brand sitting. Talk to her today. You would not hire an amateur to do your taxes.
Corporate work happens at the Northeast studio or on location at your own office.
Vertical images meant for the web usually get Inna’s Magazine Cover look, which is what most people picture when they imagine a polished work image.
Others get the Ethereal look, a soft high key finish borrowed from perfume advertising. It flatters skin and holds up when the file is displayed small.
Some get the Rembrandt look, painterly and directional, with that small triangle of light on the cheek below the shadowed eye. Inna trained as an oil painter, and it shows here.
Horizontal frames in any of the three can be printed and hung in a waiting room or a living room. Examples of both orientations are shown above.
Every field has its own tone. A real estate agent needs warmth and an open smile, because the image is selling approachability. A litigator usually wants the opposite: steady eyes, a closed mouth, a darker background. Same room, same lighting kit, different decisions.
Medical and dental groups usually want everyone matched, so we log the backdrop, the lens, and the light positions and reuse them when a new hire joins six months later. That is what keeps a team page from turning into a patchwork of mismatched images.
Inna Sumra has photographed thousands of people across the Twin Cities metro. She holds four master’s degrees in photography and art, and her work has appeared on the cover of Professional Photographers of America Magazine.
Her shoots are efficient without feeling rushed. She gives simple posing cues, adjusts your angle and expression as she goes, and catches the small things most people miss: a collar riding up, a shoulder squared too hard, a smile that stopped reaching the eyes.
Plenty of people arrive uncomfortable in front of a lens. Calm, specific direction sorts out most of that inside the first ten minutes.
Here is the order of events.
One thing we tell everyone before they come in: bring one more shirt than you think you need. The outfit people are certain about at home is rarely the one they choose on the screen.
Schedule a weekday slot, block out ninety minutes, and plan on leaving with your selection already made.
Most people need more than one crop. A square avatar, a wide banner, and a vertical frame for print can all come out of the same hour if we plan for it.
Each is built around your tone and purpose. No plastic skin, no fake background blur, no filters that will look dated in two years.
Good. The people who say that are my favorite to work with. I direct and pose you the whole way through, so you finally end up with pictures you would actually send someone.
People want to see a real face in your marketing. My makeup artist and hair stylist talk with you first about exactly how you want to be styled, and we build from there. The goal is you on your best day, not somebody else.
Think about how far one good set goes: your website, social posts, an email signature, a Linkedin profile, a conference bio. Spread across two years of use, it usually works out cheaper than people expect.
It is your shoot, and looking like yourself is the entire point. The stylist follows your lead on hair and makeup. Editing follows your lead too, natural or heavier, whichever you ask for.
By the time we are finished you will have enough to post all year. That alone takes a surprising amount of stress out of running an account.
Then it is overdue. Most people who come through here end up back every year or two, once they see how much use they get out of the files.
Photogenic is not a real trait. It is my job to know which angle, pose, and light suit your face. I have yet to meet someone whose mind I could not change about that.
Bring options. Some people bring half their closet and we sort it out together. You can shoot multiple outfits, so there is no need to commit to one look in advance.
Posing alone is worth twenty pounds or more. I photograph every body type and know how to light and angle each one. Do not wait.
So have I. Flattering light and posing are learnable skills, and plenty of people behind a camera never bother to learn them. You will leave with images you can put on a website or a proposal without wincing.
Almost everyone says that. Nearly all of them leave saying they had a good time. I will take care of you.
A phone picture cropped out of a group shot loses its impact the moment it is used at any real size. Your face ends up on business cards, a website, a conference program, a name badge, and printed one sheets, and phone files start visibly breaking down around a 5 by 7 print.
A studio frame gives you:
Wide angle phone lenses also push the nose forward and pull the ears back. Longer focal lengths exist for exactly that reason, and that is what we shoot on.
If your current picture is a role or two out of date, that is the signal to replace it. Inna shoots individuals and whole teams, and each package is built to deliver clean, confident results without wasting an afternoon.
Call (612) 200-8612 or request an appointment. Everything happens at the private Northeast studio and gets scheduled ahead, so pick your date first and we will sort wardrobe on the consultation call. Business headshots Minneapolis professionals can use for years start with that one phone call.
Yes. We work with clients across the Twin Cities, including St. Paul, Edina, Minnetonka, Forest Lake, and White Bear Lake. On location work for teams depends on group size and travel.
Yes. If you are building a personal brand or want a lifestyle feel instead of a plain backdrop, raise it on the consultation call. Every shoot is planned around your industry, goals, and comfort level.
Update them when your appearance or your role changes. Most people refresh their profile picture every one to two years, which keeps you recognizable across platforms and closes the awkward gap between the image online and the person who walks into the meeting.
No. We photograph creatives, entrepreneurs, educators, and freelancers just as often. Professional headshots help anyone who needs a decent picture of their own face online, which by now is close to everyone.
Studio portraiture is the specialty here. Event coverage is occasional and limited. The core of the business is headshots and personal branding for people across the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.
Solid colors almost always win. Bold stripes and tight polka dots can moire on camera, which pulls attention straight off your face. Deep jewel tones and mid grays read well against most backdrops. Our guide on what to wear for a professional headshot goes deeper.
Yes, and most people should. A closed mouth smile with active eyes photographs well for law and finance. A full smile suits sales, real estate, and coaching. The right expression depends on the message you want to send, not on a rule.
Posing does most of the work. Chin forward and slightly down, weight on the back foot, shoulders angled away from the lens rather than square to it. Form fitting clothes beat baggy ones every time. Those adjustments alone can take twenty pounds off the frame.
Yes, and we call it responsible editing. We have all seen portraits retouched so heavily the person looks like wax. We take out flyaways, temporary blemishes, and clothing bumps, and we leave in the things that make you look like you. Our hair and makeup artist handles the rest before you ever sit down.
For full sittings, ordering appointments happen within seven days, and we recommend that everyone with a say in the decision attends. One ordering appointment is included. Headshot Minis are reviewed the same day.
Three packages, priced by how much time and styling you want. If you are comparing the wider market first, we broke down what corporate headshots cost in a separate post.
This package is a straightforward head and shoulders digital portrait for a busy person who needs one strong image for work, a website, and social profiles. Thirty minutes, two outfits, one finished file.
Signature Headshot: $250
Personality frames run half to three quarter length rather than head and shoulders. More body language, more character, more of whatever you are actually like. The poses range from stylish to cool to occasionally funny, and they stay appropriate for work. Pick this one if you are growing an audience or feeding a content calendar that never stops asking for images.
Plenty of people combine head and shoulders frames with personality frames to round out a portfolio.
Personality Headshot: $350
(Optional Hair & Makeup additional $250)
Beauty portraits carry a fashion flare. The first hour belongs to hair and makeup with our stylist. After that it is lighting, posing, and a stretch of time most people describe afterward as fun. Choose it if you want a confidence boost or a model for a day experience.
It suits women who want to see themselves that way, particularly on the days they do not. It is not really a corporate sitting. It is closer to a fashion shoot: multiple outfits, multiple looks, no clock running.
Beauty Headshot Session: $750
Not sure which one fits? Say what the images are for on the consultation call and we will point you at the right package. People over 50 rebuilding a personal brand often start with our 50 Over 50 portrait work instead.