Model Headshots: What Agencies Actually Ask For

Most modeling agencies don't want model headshots in the sense most people mean. The first thing they ask for is digitals — plain, unretouched, natural-light photos showing your face and body as they actually are. Polished headshots, comp cards and portfolios all come later, and each one does a completely different job.

Three photos, three industries: what "model headshots" actually means

Three separate industries use the word headshot to mean three incompatible images. A corporate headshot sells competence to a hiring manager. An acting headshot sells a castable type to a casting director. A modeling submission photo sells nothing at all — it functions closer to a measurement than a portrait, and treating it like the other two is the most common reason submissions get skipped.

• Corporate headshot. Tight crop, business wardrobe, flattering light, mild retouching expected. Lives on LinkedIn, a team page, a conference program. The goal is to look competent and current.
• Acting headshot. Usually a 4:5 crop, shallow depth of field, natural expression, minimal retouching. It communicates the roles you can plausibly be cast in. Casting directors are reading type, not beauty.
• Modeling digitals. No styling, no retouching, no mood. Flat daylight, blank wall, fitted clothing, hair down or pulled back, face clean. Agencies are reading bone structure, skin, proportion and how you photograph with no help at all.

The acting and corporate distinction is worth understanding on its own, because people routinely submit the wrong one to both. Our guide to acting headshots versus corporate headshots covers why the two can't be the same file. This article is the third case — the one that guide doesn't cover, because modeling submissions deliberately strip out everything a headshot photographer is hired to add.

Digitals: the photos agencies actually ask for first

Digitals — still called polaroids, from the era when agencies shot instant film in the office to record how someone looked that day — are the entry ticket. They are snapshots, and agencies say so plainly. Ford Models' scouting page tells applicants to have "a clean face with absolutely no makeup," to "pull your hair back," and to wear "a form fitting outfit like skinny jeans and a tank top." Not one of those is a photographic instruction.

The standard shot list

Almost every agency wants some version of the same set: the face close up, a waist-up frame and a full length, from the front and usually from the side. Some portals keep it deliberately short — Ford's application has asked for four images, a head-and-shoulders, a waist-up, a three-quarter profile and a full length. Shoot the wider set below, then submit whatever the specific agency asks for.

1. 1Head and shoulders, straight on, neutral expression, eyes to camera
2. 2Head and shoulders, straight on, natural smile
3. 3Full profile, left and right, eyes forward
4. 4Three-quarter turn of the face
5. 5Waist-up, front, arms relaxed at your sides
6. 6Full length, front, feet roughly hip-width apart, arms at your sides so your waist is visible
7. 7Full length, profile
8. 8Full length, back
9. 9Hands, if the agency asks — some commercial and parts divisions do

Keep the same wardrobe, hair and location across the whole set. The point is a consistent reference sheet, not a mini shoot. If you change your top halfway through, you've made two half-sets that are harder to compare, and comparison is the entire purpose. The same logic applies to the order: shoot the full lengths and the close-ups in one continuous run so the light doesn't shift between them.

Wardrobe, hair and makeup

Clothing exists in digitals to reveal your shape, not to express taste. Anything loose, patterned, layered or trend-heavy hides the information the agency needs and reads as an attempt to conceal something. The industry default is boring on purpose, and boring is the correct answer here.

• Women: a fitted tank or plain tee with skinny jeans, or bike shorts and a sports bra, or a simple one-piece swimsuit if the agency requests it.
• Men: a fitted plain tee with jeans; some agencies ask for a shirtless full length.
• Colors: solid, neutral, no logos, no prints, no slogans.
• Hair: clean and down in one set, pulled back in another so the hairline and face shape are visible. No elaborate styling.
• Makeup: none, or the absolute minimum. Agencies want to see skin texture, not a base layer.
• Remove: hats, sunglasses, statement jewelry, heavy watches, and anything that obscures the jaw or collarbone. Heels only if the agency asks; otherwise barefoot or flat shoes.

This is the exact inverse of the advice in our guide to what to wear for a headshot, which is written for corporate and personal-brand photos where wardrobe is a deliberate signal about seniority and industry. For digitals, wardrobe is a window. The two pieces are not contradicting each other — they're solving opposite problems, and applying one set of rules to the other job is how people end up with a submission nobody can read.

Light, background and camera

Digitals are shot in flat, even daylight against a blank wall. No flash, no ring light, no window backlight, no golden hour. Dramatic lighting sculpts a face, and sculpting is precisely what the agency is trying to see through. A phone camera is fine and often expected — resolution matters more than gear.

• Stand a few feet from a plain, light wall so you're not casting a hard shadow onto it
• Face a window or shoot outdoors in open shade — even, diffuse light with no direct sun on your face
• Camera at chest height for full lengths and eye height for the close-ups, held level, not tilted
• Rear camera, highest resolution, no beauty mode, no portrait mode, no filters — check that any automatic skin-smoothing setting is off
• Have someone else shoot them. A self-timer works; a mirror selfie does not
• Date them. Most agencies want images from the last three months that reflect how you look right now

If you want to understand why flat light is the request rather than a compromise, our plain-English headshot lighting guide explains what each lighting setup does to a face — useful context for knowing exactly what you're deliberately not doing here. And if you're shooting the whole set yourself, the camera and framing mechanics in professional headshots at home transfer directly, minus the styling.

Why agencies want them unretouched

The instruction to skip editing is not modesty or a stylistic preference. Digitals are an assessment document, and every edit removes assessable information. Retouched submissions get set aside quickly — not because the agency dislikes the result, but because a smoothed, reshaped or filtered image tells them nothing they can act on.

• Skin. Texture, tone, breakouts, scarring and how skin behaves in flat light all affect what a model can be booked for and how much prep a client should budget.
• Proportion. Shoulder-to-hip ratio, leg length relative to torso, neck length, head-to-body scale. Liquify tools destroy all of it in one drag.
• Symmetry and features. Agencies are looking for a specific, memorable face, not an averaged one. Beauty filters actively erase the distinctiveness that gets someone signed.
• Accuracy of the record. A client books based on the images. If you arrive not matching them, the agency has burned a relationship on your behalf.

There's a practical version of this too: scouts and bookers look at an enormous volume of submissions, and a heavily processed image is recognizable at thumbnail size. Filtering reads as either inexperience or concealment. Both get the same outcome, which is no reply. It is also worth checking your phone rather than trusting it — several manufacturers apply skin smoothing in the default camera app without labelling it as a filter.

Retouching is not universally wrong — it's context-dependent. Our piece on how much headshot retouching is too much sets out where the line sits for corporate and acting work, where removing a temporary blemish is normal and reshaping a jaw is not. For agency digitals the line moves all the way to zero: crop and rotate, nothing else.

Your stats block: the numbers that travel with the photos

Photos alone don't constitute a submission. Every agency portal asks for a standard set of measurements alongside them, and those numbers follow you onto your comp card and into every casting breakdown. They are conventional and gendered in the industry's own terms, which is worth knowing before you fill in a form.

• Women: height, bust, waist, hips, dress size, shoe size, hair color, eye color
• Men: height, suit or chest size, waist, inseam, shoe size, hair color, eye color
• Everyone: age or date of birth, city, nationality, contact details, and a parent or guardian's contact if you're a minor — IMG's scouting portal, for example, accepts applicants from age 14 and asks anyone under 18 for a parent or legal guardian's contact

Report them honestly and in the units the form asks for — inches and US sizes for US agencies. You will be measured again in person if things progress, and an inch of invented height is a memorable way to end a first meeting. Height expectations vary sharply by division and market: straight-size fashion boards typically want roughly 5'9"–6'0" for women and 6'0"–6'3" for men, while commercial, curve, petite, parts and lifestyle divisions run far looser or set no height floor at all. Commercial boards routinely sign women in the 5'2"–5'8" range. If you don't fit the fashion numbers, you're applying to a different division, not to nothing.

The comp card: format, contents and when you actually need one

A comp card — also called a composite card, sed card or zed card — is a printed leave-behind that a model brings to castings. It's a business card with pictures. The format is genuinely standardized, which is unusual in this industry and makes it easy to get right or obviously wrong.

• Size: 8.5 × 5.5 inches in the US, A5 in metric markets, printed double-sided on heavy card stock — commonly 14–16pt.
• Front: one strong portrait, usually a headshot, plus your name in clear type. That's it.
• Back: three to five images showing range — four is the working standard — arranged in a grid. A mix of close-up, full length, and at least one commercial and one editorial-leaning look.
• Stats block: the same measurements listed above, set small and clean, usually in a column or a single line along the bottom.
• Contact: your agency's logo and booking details if you're signed. If you're freelance, a professional email and a modeling-only social handle.

Two practical notes. First, don't print comp cards before you're signed. Agencies produce their own, in their own layout, with their own branding, using shots they've approved — printing a batch beforehand mostly produces a box of paper you throw away. Second, digital comp cards are now common: many agencies circulate a PDF or a portal link, and castings increasingly work from those. The print card hasn't disappeared, but it's no longer the only artifact.

The portfolio, and how to choose professional photographers for modeling portfolios

The portfolio — the "book" — comes after the digitals, not before. Digitals get you evaluated; the book shows a client what you look like when a team is working on you. This is the stage where hiring professional photographers for modeling portfolios becomes a real decision rather than an expense you've been talked into.

What to look for when you're choosing one:

• Agency tests in their existing work. Ask to see shoots they've done for signed models, not just personal projects. The style should look like the market you're aiming at.
• Range across looks in a single session. A useful test produces several distinct setups — clean beauty, editorial, commercial, movement — not twenty variations on one pose.
• Direction. New models cannot self-direct. A photographer who won't or can't coach posing will produce a session of stiff frames regardless of their lighting.
• Clear deliverables in writing. Number of looks, number of edited images, turnaround, usage rights, whether hair and makeup are included.
• No agency affiliation pressure. A photographer who insists you must shoot with them to be considered by a specific agency is describing a kickback, not a service.

On price: published 2026 breakdowns of US model test rates describe roughly three tiers — about $150–$400 for an entry-level session of one to two hours with digital proofs only, $500–$900 for mid-level work with light retouching and agency-ready files, and $1,000–$1,500 and up for established or agency-approved photographers offering multiple looks and posing direction, often with makeup included. Where hair and makeup aren't bundled, budget roughly $150–$300 more. Those are indicative ranges rather than quotes; New York and Los Angeles run at the top of each band.

TFP — trade for print, or time for prints — is the unpaid alternative, where photographer and model exchange time for images. It's a legitimate way to build early material, particularly outside the biggest markets, but vet the photographer the same way you'd vet a paid one: real portfolio, real references, a public studio or a shoot with someone else present, and written agreement on how the images can be used. The hard rule underneath all of this comes from the FTC's own consumer guidance on casting and modeling scams: a real agency is paid after the client pays, so you should never pay to get paid. Mandatory in-house shoots, "registration" fees, or classes as a condition of signing are the oldest pattern in the business.

Vetting a test photographer is close to identical to vetting any portrait photographer, so the criteria in how to actually choose a headshot photographer — reading a full gallery rather than a highlight reel, checking consistency across different faces, getting deliverables in writing — transfer almost unchanged. The difference is what you're buying: a headshot session buys one usable frame, a test buys a set that has to hold together as a book.

Upload specs: what to check before you hit submit

Agency portals and casting platforms each enforce their own file rules, and those rules change without announcement. Rather than trusting a number you read somewhere, open the upload page and read its stated limits the day you submit. There are, however, export habits that satisfy nearly every platform at once.

• Shoot at your camera's full resolution and downscale for upload, never the reverse
• Export JPEG in sRGB — some platforms silently mangle other color profiles
• Casting platforms generally expect a 4:5 vertical crop for headshots; agency digitals portals usually accept full-frame verticals as shot
• Watch the file-size ceiling, which can be surprisingly low. Ford's application form has asked for JPEGs totalling no more than about 600 KB, which means compressing deliberately rather than uploading straight off the camera
• Name files plainly: lastname-firstname-fulllength.jpg beats IMG_4471.jpg
• Keep the originals. You'll be asked for larger versions if things progress

One habit prevents most upload failures: keep a single export folder per submission, containing the resized files and nothing else. Portals that accept multiple images at once will happily take the wrong version of a frame if it's sitting in the same directory, and a set with one stray 8-megabyte original is the most common reason an upload silently fails partway through.

Where AI-generated portraits fit — and where they don't

We make an AI headshot product, so let's be direct about this. AI-generated portraits are not appropriate for modeling agency submissions, digitals, comp cards or casting profiles. Not as a gray area, not with disclosure, not "just for the headshot slot." Submitting one is worse than submitting nothing, because it destroys your credibility with that agency at the same time.

The reasoning is identical to the reasoning against retouching, only stronger. Digitals exist to document what you actually look like — skin, proportion, features, the specific asymmetry that makes a face bookable. A generated image, however convincing, is a plausible face rather than your face. Three consequences follow:

• It fails the assessment. There is nothing real in the frame for a scout to evaluate, so the submission carries zero usable information.
• It breaks the booking chain. Clients hire from images. A model who doesn't match theirs costs the agency the client, which is why this is treated as a trust problem rather than a technical error.
• It reads as misrepresentation, not as a shortcut. Adjacent parts of the image industry have already formalized this: Getty rejects AI-generated submissions outright, and a 2026 database of photography contest rules found 67 of 81 competitions ban or restrict AI imagery, with none of the major ones accepting fully synthetic entries.

This is a separate question from the industry-level debate about synthetic models in finished campaigns. A Guess advertisement featuring AI-generated models ran in the August 2025 US edition of Vogue and drew sustained backlash from readers and industry professionals; Vogue clarified that it was paid advertising rather than editorial, and the argument is still running. But whatever the industry decides about generated imagery in advertising, it has no bearing on your submission. A brand commissioning a synthetic image and an applicant misrepresenting their own appearance are not the same act.

Where AI headshots genuinely do belong is the first category in this article: business profiles, LinkedIn, team pages, speaker bios, internal directories — contexts where the image represents a professional rather than a physical specification, and where being clear about how it was made is straightforward. We set out where we think that line falls on our AI disclosure page, and our comparison of AI headshots versus a photographer is honest about the cases where a real photographer is simply the right answer — anything an agency or a casting director will assess being the clearest of them.

A pre-submission checklist

Run this before you upload anything. Most rejected submissions fail on one of these points rather than on the person in the frame, which means most of them are recoverable with an afternoon and a blank wall.

1. 1Read the specific agency's submission page today, not a summary of it from somewhere else
2. 2Photos shot within the last three months and reflecting your current hair color and length
3. 3Full set: close-up, profile, three-quarter, waist-up, full length front, full length profile, full length back
4. 4Same wardrobe, hair and location across the whole set
5. 5Fitted, solid, logo-free clothing; no hats, sunglasses or statement jewelry
6. 6Clean face, minimal to no makeup
7. 7Flat daylight, plain wall, no flash, no filters, no portrait mode, no smoothing
8. 8Zero retouching beyond crop and rotate
9. 9Measurements accurate, in the units the form asks for
10. 10Files named clearly, exported as sRGB JPEG, under the portal's size limit
11. 11Guardian contact included if you're under 18
12. 12Nothing in the set generated, composited or substantially altered

The short version of everything above: for modeling, the less a photograph does, the more useful it is. That's an uncomfortable inversion of every other kind of professional photo, and it's why so much general headshot advice actively hurts an agency submission. Save the lighting, the styling and the direction for your book — the digitals just need to be true.