By Viki Reed
Vikireedphotography.com
While I’d love to assume you’ll hire me, there are a few things to think about when you go shopping for a headshot.
Your headshot is a marketing tool; a calling card that gets you in the door for consideration. This is true whether you’re just at the stage of seeking management or agency representation or if you’ve been studying acting for ten years and started a non-profit theater company. Maybe you’ve got a tweenie who wants to model? Everyone has to start with a headshot.
1. That photo has to represent the person who will walk in the door. Nothing could be worse than putting a photo out that is 30 pounds lighter than the person who walks into the casting director’s office, or has a totally different hair color, or is 20 years younger than the person you really are today. That means don’t get a new haircut before you get your photos done. Get comfortable with a look you plan on maintaining. If you don’t have flawless skin and even if you’re a man, use a little coverage. Consider using a photographer who can hook you up with a make up person. Spending the extra money might ouch but if you buy a photo session that is useless because you look unpolished, sun damaged, unattractive, unlike yourself, acne riddled-you have wasted your photo session money.
2. Don’t buy into a photographer because they say, ‘This is the kind of headshot everyone is looking for now.’ If you look at headshots from the 1980’s-they sure look like the 1980’s in a bad way. But back then, that was the style. TV lighting, bad lighting, hair spray, too much make up, crazy bogus expressions, composite shots (that’s another story!). Sometimes I hear, ‘Do you know how they want headshots now?’ “They” is a nebulous term for people in the industry who make decisions who can be fired or quit any day now. You just have to strike a chord with anyone who might be in that seat, no matter what decade it is or you are. The photo has to look clean, positive, representative of you, professionally retouched and the most attractive version of you possible. It can be landscape layout or portrait. It can be inside with natural light or outdoors or in front of a backdrop with tungsten power on you and reflectors bouncing stars off your pupils. Is it you? Does it look like you are a professional person?
3. Printing of your headshots: Is it printed on good paper of the correct dimension with a clean even border or a full-bleed look-is your name and union affiliation printed on the photo somewhere? If you’re a novice, ask for a photographer who can refer you to a printer specializing in headshots or maybe the photographer likes doing the printing arrangements himself (it will cost you more money to have the photographer do it most likely). Look at the photographer’s website to see who they’ve done, if they’ve continued to shoot the same people (indicating a return clientele happiness success factor). Don’t order too many prints if you are very young because you will need new headshots more frequently than someone over 30 years of age.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and do not run away screaming or get defensive over feedback. If you’ve got a good photographer they can tell you if your idea is a little silly, a little amateurish, fun and smart, or doable and different. You want a bit of back and forth and you must accept honesty if you pick a photographer who’s got a strong body of work. Someone who is successful and has great work is usually working regularly because he or she is doing something right. If you show up to a photoshoot wearing clothing that makes you look much older than you are, or if you’re wearing make-up that’s gaudy and unflattering, or if you insist on pursing your lips like a hormonal blowfish-I would expect a professional photographer to speak up and save you from yourself a little. Not that everyone has the same level of tact, but if you’re going forward in a showbiz career, suck it up and consider advice seriously
5. Cover the basics: Get your teeth cleaned, have a manicure/pedicure, make sure your contact lenses are settled in and not bugging you, bring hand lotion, chapstick, deodorant. When you’re nervous you have to combat the physical side effects. Wear make up or hire the make up artist. Bring extra clothing and shoes. Bring a wild few items to wear to mix it up. Better to have too many choices than none or few. Bring extra jewelry, an interesting watch or number of bracelets, a crazy coffee cup or pair of shades or something one of a kind to hold during a few of the shots. Maybe those casting people will look at 10 headshots-all people as great as you, similar type; anything you can throw into the portrait without it being obvious and clownish. “There’s the guy with the math symbol scarf….there’s that girl with the cat necklace…that’s the ring man….the chick with the girlscout patch…ahhhhh” Not saying to think like that above all else but make yourself unique because you can’t play a role or character in your photo other than you.
6. About the ‘role’ thing. Don’t do composite shots. They used to be quite popular, I still see traces of them. People who pay to photographed as ‘characters’ then the 4 or 5 best ‘character’ shots getting composited into your 8X10 paper instead of a standard headshot. In one frame you’re a mad scientist…next one a cop…there you are as a supermodel actress…and now you’re a homeless person! Don’t. Ever. Do. It. Ever.
7. Don’t rush it, be prepared. Like any business decision, plan it out and be ready so improvisation is possible. Success in entertainment is being ready as you can for the opportunities that present themselves and remaining as endlessly persistent as humanly possible. So if you get the opportunity, have the headshot ready. Don’t run and have a headshot done then stick something not right in front of someone’s face and blow that opportunity. Be prepared.
8. Measure and compare costs. Every photographer breaks down their costs differently. If it helps start by talking to a shooter referred by a friend who was happy with their work, doing a google search and looking at websites of local photographers in great detail.
If you like their end product then you ask the other questions about how they got their results.
- How long does a session last, does it include a location or is it all at your studio?
- Is retouching included or there a cost per photo or cost per retouch affect?
- Do you get a DVD or CD of your finished shots or just a few or only the ones that you buy prints of?
- Does the photographer arrange and coordinate and deliver the prints and labeling of your headshot or does he refer you to someone else?
- Does the photographer know or work with a make-up person?
- What’s the turnaround time between sitting in front of the camera and having the prints of your headshot in your hand?
- What’s the minimum and general expected total cost? Is there a written agreement to protect this estimate of time and money?
- How long does the photographer keep the digital negatives on file?
- What rights and uses are allowable or associated with the photo?
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