CHICAGOINFLUENCERHEADSHOTS
Personal branding for content creators — built around your aesthetic and the content you actually post, not a stiff corporate frame that doesn't sound like you.
Chicago influencer headshots are personal-branding portraits and content for creators — used across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, brand partnerships, and press kits. Sessions start at $750, in studio or on-location, and are built around your existing aesthetic with multiple looks and post-ready crops. 312 Elements is led by photographer Michael Schacht, who has photographed 10,000+ people over 16 years across nearly every profession in the city. Booking for a whole team or brand? Group sessions start at $1,200.
See pricing and book a session at headshot pricing and booking.
This isn't a headshot. It's a personal-branding session.
What an influencer session actually delivers
A creator doesn't need one perfect photo — you need range that holds together. Here's what we build, and why each piece earns its place in the set.
Profile & Avatar Frames
The image that has to read at the size of a thumbnail, on a phone, in a fraction of a second — across every platform you're on. Clean, recognizable, unmistakably you. This is the anchor the rest of the set orbits.
Personality & Lifestyle Looks
The looser frames that carry your actual energy — the ones that look like you, not like you sitting for a portrait. This is where the session stops being a headshot and starts being a brand. A touch of lifestyle goes a long way toward making the whole feed feel like one person.
Vertical & Story Crops
Stories, reels, and TikTok don't live in a square. We shoot with the vertical, phone-ratio destination in mind, so you're not awkwardly cropping a landscape frame and losing your own head. The crop is there when you need it because we planned for it.
Feed-Matched Aesthetic
Your feed already has a look. My job is to feed it, not fight it — matching your palette, your mood, the visual language your audience already recognizes. Bring your feed and a reference board and we build to it.
Brand-Partnership Ready
Sponsored content has its own demands, and you own an unlimited promotional-use license for your own channels. We can build frames with negotiated brand placements in mind, so the set works as hard for paid partnerships as it does for your organic posts.
How an influencer session works
- 1
The conversation first
Before anything else, we talk about your audience, your aesthetic, and where these images are going to live. Send me your feed, a Pinterest board, screenshots of the vibe — the more reference the better. Some of my favorite sessions started as a text thread of "this, but make it me."
- 2
Studio or on-location
The studio gives us total control; on-location gives us your actual world, which is sometimes the brand itself. Directed the entire time — no being left to guess what your face is doing — with on-screen review as we go. Stepping out of the studio runs a $500 on-location fee and a bit more planning, so flag that direction early.
- 3
Delivery
You choose your selects at the end of the session; retouched files arrive a week later, sized and cropped for the platforms you actually use — square for the grid, vertical for stories and reels — with an unlimited promotional-use license. Use them everywhere, no per-use fees.
What Chicago clients say
After twelve years in a technical role I was moving into a client-facing leadership position and needed images that reflected who I was becoming professionally, not who I'd been. Michael asked questions I hadn't thought to ask myself about how I wanted to be perceived, and the session felt less like a photo appointment and more like a deliberate reintroduction. The images communicated the shift I was trying to make before I'd fully articulated it myself.
Teresa R.
VP of Client Services
We had an investor meeting six weeks out and our deck still had LinkedIn photos for the founding team, which was an embarrassment we couldn't afford at Series A. Michael turned around edited images in under a week, handled both formal headshots and environmental office shots in the same session, and the results looked exactly like what you'd expect from operators who know what they're doing. Two investors mentioned the materials specifically in their follow-up.
Derek W.
Co-Founder & CTO
Read more in our full collection of client reviews.
What's included in an influencer session
- A pre-session conversation about your audience, aesthetic, and where the images will live
- A range of looks — profile frames, personality shots, and a touch of lifestyle
- Crops sized for the grid, stories, reels, and your site
- Honest retouching that keeps you looking like you on your best day
- Unlimited promotional-use license — use the images across your channels and sponsored content, no per-use fees
Built for creators
- 16+ years
- photographing Chicago's creators, entrepreneurs, and personalities
- 10,000+ people
- photographed across nearly every profession in the city
- $750+
- session starting price — multiple looks in one session
- 1 week
- delivery for retouched selects, from the day you make your picks
Frequently asked questions about influencer headshots
- How is an influencer headshot session different from your typical session?
- It's really more of a branding session than a headshot session. A traditional headshot has one job — read your face, read your type. An influencer session is about personality: who you are, the energy your audience already follows you for, a little lifestyle woven in. We're not making one buttoned-up frame, we're building a set of images that sound like you across everything you post.
- Can you shoot content I can actually post, not just a single headshot?
- Yes — that's usually the whole point. Most influencer sessions leave with a range: clean profile-worthy frames, looser personality shots, a few that read as lifestyle rather than portrait. The goal is a library you can pull from for weeks, not one image you change your photo to and then never touch again.
- Do you shoot vertical, phone-ratio crops for stories and reels?
- Of course. We shoot with the final destination in mind — square for the grid, vertical for stories and reels, horizontal where you need it. Tell me where these are going and we'll make sure the crops are there when you need them.
- Can we get multiple looks and backgrounds in one session?
- Absolutely, and most people do. There's no limit on looks — we'll get through as many as your energy holds up for, which is usually around four before it starts showing on camera. Bring options and we'll build variety from the combinations.
- I have a specific aesthetic and color palette — can you match my feed?
- That's my favorite way to start. Send me your feed, a Pinterest board, screenshots of the vibe — the more reference the better. Some of my best sessions started as a text thread of "this, but make it me." Your feed has a look already; my job is to feed it, not fight it.
- Do you do on-location or lifestyle setups, or is it all studio?
- Both, though they work differently. The studio gives us total control; on-location gives us your actual world, which sometimes is the brand. Stepping out of the studio runs a $500 on-location fee and a bit more planning, so if that's the direction, let's talk early.
- Who owns the images — can I use them in brand deals and sponsored posts?
- You get an unlimited promotional-use license, so using them across your own channels and sponsored content is covered. The one thing to loop me in on: if a brand wants to take an image and run their own paid ad campaign with it, that's a separate conversation — easy to sort, just don't want you caught off guard.
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Sessions start at $750 and include multiple looks. See full pricing and grab a session date.
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