How should Trump pose for a mug shot in Georgia? ‘Menacing is never good,’ one expert said.

Anticipation for the photo has been building since Trump’s first arraignment, in April. “Mugshot? Handcuffs? What to expect at Trump’s NYC arraignment Tuesday” blared the New York Post.

But why are we craving this one image? It’s not like it’s needed for identification purposes. Show me the picture again, officer? I may have seen a gentleman fitting that description going by on a golf cart.

The booking photo certainly doesn’t equal guilt. By very definition, it comes at the start of the legal process, when the accused is still at least supposed to be presumed innocent.

(And indeed, a movement is growing to curtail the public release of mug shots, barring an immediate public safety need, because they can reinforce racial biases.)

There’s something so significant about an official mug shot that even as Trump managed to avoid mug shots in his previous three arraignments, his campaign was fund-raising off a vanity mug shot.

That image shows a Trump who looks quasi air-brushed, measuring about 6′5″ on the fake police lineup wall (inches taller than his real height), with the words “NOT GUILTY” emblazoned beneath him.

The picture is printed on T-shirts that sell for $36 on Trump’s campaign merchandise store (and in April was offered for free with a $47 donation).

As powerful a fund-raising tool as the knockoff mug shots may be, the significance of an official shot will be greater. “The power comes from its history of being an indication of capture,” said Jonathan Finn, author of “Capturing the Criminal Image: From Mug Shot to Surveillance Society.”

“For those who want Trump to be proven to be a criminal,” he said, “the image serves as a nice simple representation of that. You’re not going to have a picture of someone behind bars, so the mug shot is the next closest step.”

For Trump supporters, he added, the mug shot will serve as a “portrait” of the miscarriage of justice. “Here is a picture of a man that was the subject of the greatest witch hunt in history.”

Even as he faces a total of 91 felony counts from four indictments — and before any mug shot either has or has not been taken and released — Trump is so concerned about images of him in the media that he lashed out at Fox News for running unflattering photos. “[T]hey purposely show the absolutely worst pictures of me, especially the big ‘orange’ one with my chin pulled way back,” he wrote on Truth Social on Aug. 17.

There’s no word yet how Trump feels about the stunning — but perhaps inevitable news — that oddsmakers are taking bets on how much Trump will weigh at the Georgia booking. “One bookmaker has set the over/under on Trump’s weight at 273.5 pounds,” the Daily Mail reported. Bets are also being taken on whether he’ll smile for the picture.

Last week there was talk in media circles about how Trump could turn himself in on Wednesday — the day of the first Republican presidential primary debate — as a way to even more completely dominate the day’s news cycle. News has now broken that Trump plans to skip that debate (and others, too), and on debate day he is expected to release a pre-taped interview he did with Tucker Carlson.

But even if Trump’s booking goes wall-to-wall on cable, having your mug shot taken is not a feel-good moment, said Justin Paperny, director of White Collar Advice, a firm that advises white collar criminals on reducing their sentences, getting placed in a better facility, and making the most of their time behind bars.

Paperny — a former stockbroker who received a felony conviction for violating securities laws — recalled how he felt during his own mug shot. “It was a stark reminder of the totality of my bad choices,” he said. “It goes quickly,” he added, “but it leaves a lasting impression.”

“It’s terrifying,” another formerly incarcerated man, who is also a white-collar prison consultant, told the Globe. “The entire [arrest] process is designed to catalog you, and it tends to be a pretty traumatic experience. You’re being strip searched, looked at by strangers, herded around like cattle.”

Even with the special treatment afforded Trump, presumably, the law enforcement photographer assigned to his photoshoot won’t be scrolling through options with the former president wedding photog-style, helping him pick shots that show only his good side, or where his expression is just right.

But what is the desired expression, even? The professional advice is not to smile and not to glower.

“Menacing is never good,” said Brian T. Kelly, a former federal prosecutor, who prosecuted James “Whitey” Bulger among others, and is now a partner with Nixon Peabody: “It could taint the jury pool.”

“I’d say the best a person can do is simply look calm and serious,” he added.

In general, there’s no time for antics, said Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective who has observed thousands of booking shots.

“The photographer just takes a picture and that’s that,” said Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Not that Trump is currently believed to wear one, but hairpieces, by the way, are allowed, at least in New York City, Alcazar said. “If they were arrested with a toupee they can wear their toupee.”

Constrained though the photoshoot may be, a true pro can of course turn it to his or her advantage. When Jane Fonda was booked in Cleveland, in 1970, on trumped up drug-smuggling charges, she defiantly raised a fist in her mug shot (and more than half a century later is selling T-shirts with the image on her website).

So who knows, if a police photographer does finally capture Trump’s image, maybe he’ll work it, baby, work it, and flash a trademark thumb’s up.

Beth Teitell can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @bethteitell.