The first step is defining the principle use of the picture. This is the reason why we are making it. It could be for a bio page, for social media or for casting calls. Yes, of course, if we create an effective headshot, then the person will probably use it every where that they can. In fact, most of my clients do. But, to help us really make an effective image, we need to know the first intended use.

For example, John Tarvin came to me because he was reaching out to new educational and non-profit consulting clients, through his web page. Once we knew that, we were able to generate a set of key words that his particular client base would be looking for. The set included words like “responsible, trustworthy, approachable and confident”. The entire list was about 9 words long.

The second step is to consider the wardrobe. Specifically, what would be the best cloths to wear, based on who we decided would be looking at it and what they would like to see. In John’s case, we decided to be conservative and go with the darker jacket. But, not so buttoned down that we needed to include a tie. Of course, it should go without saying that the shirt and jacket were freshly laundered and pressed before he came to the photo shoot.

The third step is a bit controversial: The Groomer/Makeup Artist. There are lots of men and more than a few women who insist on foregoing having a professional MUA (makeup artist) on set. However, there is a reason we bring in specialists in other aspects of our life and the photo shoot is no different. Hair and makeup on photography sets are different, in both subtle and drastic ways from day to day interactions. The MUA’s job includes watching what is happening on set to avoid shine, to keep stray hairs under control and dark circles under eyes and, thus, avoid what could be costly retouching. Why compromise your investment at this point in the process?

Since we are talking about money, let’s make that step four. Did you notice that it wasn’t the first step? That is because money often clouds things up and make it hard to think about what you really want the picture to do for you.

Now that we are talking about it, let’s see if we can put it in the proper mind set. Most of my headshot clients are coming to me to make an investment in their marketing. By making it an investment, the picture is intended to make a return for you. That return may be in reputation as a reliable expert. It may be in the form of a job or new client. Or, it could be straight up financial rewards.  For example, John’s image is designed to help get the clients we identified in step one to feel comfortable enough to pick up the phone or email him. And, it would only take a couple of good conversations for John to have an excellent return on his head shot investment.

Step number five is all about scheduling for the best results. Do: set out your wardrobe choices the day before. Do: leave enough time to get wardrobe cleaned prior to the shoot. Do: get a good night’s sleep before the shoot. Do: give your self enough time to get to the studio. Do not: starve yourself before the shoot. Do not: schedule a conference call right before or right after the shoot. Do not: “wing it”.
Give yourself the opportunity to have a great shoot and get a great return on your marketing investment.

By the way, John’s second image on this page went through the same process, except the goals were different. In this case, his target audience is editorial in nature. His marketing plan includes writing articles designed to show him as a critical thinker and influencer in his field. To meet those needs, we decided to create a grittier, tougher image.

MUA credit goes to Ruah for an awesome job.

Out of curiousity, I did a little research into what other law practices are using for portraits on their bio pages. I was surprised at the number of pictures that were placed on what were often very nice web sites. Some of these images looked like they were scanned from old headshot prints. Others were done with what looks like a cell phone camera. There were also a few bio pages that linked to LinkedIn, where the only portrait was the default grey person icon.

According to a 2010 blog post on The Great Jakes Blog, more and more lawyers are being hired long distance, with their bio picture being the only representation that a potential client has before they hire the practice.

I understand that, according various state laws, marketing for lawyers can be a tricky negotiation, one that they often prefer to avoid.

However, with today’s technology, any one looking to hire a professional is going to hit Google first. And, LinkedIn, and all the other social medias are included in that research.

The individual or company with the professional looking portraits is going to have the advantage. A good headshot is worth the investment.

“Personal branding is a description of the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. Further defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual…, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable. ” wikipedia

Social media, the twitter feeds, facebooks, foursquares, yelps, etc, are all being used by people and companies to attempt to be “uniquely distinguishable” from everyone else with a service or product to sell. And, each one has a different “feel” or look, just like different channels on the cable box. The Science channel looks different than ABC. It has different programming. And, the commercials are often different – even if they are from the same company, selling the same product!

So, does this mean that you need to have a different head shot for each social media outlet? As a photographer who enjoys working with people on these types of projects, I would love to say “Yes.” But, I am biased. And, I am not sure I would be right.

See what you think of the answers from these marketing experts.

Peter Oriolo, a social media expert, feels you should be consistent and have the same avatar across all social medias. Alan Brooks has a pet peeve about personal photos being used on LinkedIn. “I am still amazed at the very experienced professionals who use a picture of themselves at a party, wedding or with their pet.”

There were quite a few comments that repeated my Mom’s favorite phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” People do business with people, not brands. And, with more and more people competing and doing business online only, that little avatar may be the only impression!

There was one person who was “dead-set against pics on my LI profile, FB profile, etc.” John Zadikian goes onto say, “I’m a voiceover talent, which means people are hiring me to write compelling copy for them and voice it well. They don’t care what I look like.”

I also asked about how people chose their photographers for their headshots. The overwhelming first criteria was a referral or recommendation from a friend or co worker. The second most important thing was to look at the photographer’s portfolio or body of work for images that were quality and appropriate to the shoot.

Wallace Jackson, multimedia producer, had an interesting, and slightly frightening, thought, “The less that is on your profile the more important the profile photo will be.”

Olga Slavkina, passionate European funky brand strategist, said  “Profile pictures are very important, and so is the role of photographers in shaping personal brands.”

But, I thought that Alan Brooks summed it up best when he said, “You should put as much thought into your head shot as you would when creating an advertisement. It’s a creative process.”

“Don’t try to do everything yourself. Find a horse to ride”. From the book Positioning: The Battle for your Mind, by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Greg called me after visiting with me at my Studio Grand Opening and Art Shmooze and wanted to talk about a headshot for his LinkedIn profile.

We talked about just how many people are undermining their reputations by using vacation pictures or “It’s good enough” snap shots on their profiles. He observed that people are always judged by their appearance, and social media hasn’t changed that one bit. In fact, it has gotten worse. It is much easier to dismiss someone when you are not face to face. Emails can be deleted. Profiles can be blocked.

How you look online, more than ever, is impacting how you do business in person.

This was not a mistake that he was going to make. He showed up with his jacket and shirt pressed, tie just right, bright eyed and ready to go. The session lasted about a half hour, shooting with natural morning light and netted us some wonderful editorial style portraits for his profiles and other marketing materials.

If you are in the market for headshots, executive portraits or business portraits, in the studio or on location, give me a call. We can talk about creating a unique portrait for you or your company, designed to meet your marketing goals.

It got thrown up on facebook, linkedin, myspace, twitter etc, without a thought of who might be looking at it or what it says about you. And, it became a sloppy, amateur marketing tool that was right up there, in terms of usefulness, as a drivers license photo.

Along came the Business Portrait. A direct reaction to the vacation snap shots that are permeating the online profiles, business portraits are in demand by CEOs, Actors, and other people who are concerned about how their image is perceived by their target audience.

The biggest difference between the “modern headshot” and a business portrait is philosophical. Every part of the business portrait, from the light, composition, clothing, makeup, jewelry, background, expression, etc, is a concious decision, on the part of the photographer and the subject, to create an image designed to stand out. The image that we create is designed that way specifically because it will help your audience accept you as their choice.

Business portraits are about marketing, branding and the business of your industry. They are a visual representation of your competence and reputation.

The session here was created for Locust Walk Partners, a business development advisory firm that offers transaction, strategic, and commercial support to life sciences companies.

After a discussion with their marketing consultants, we decided that a studio shoot, complete with makeup artist/groomer Heidi, would give them the best results for their web site update and marketing materials collateral.

So, if you call me and ask about “headshots” for you or your company, don’t be surprised if I call it a Business Portrait!

We did this using the natural light coming through the studio. Well, with a couple of little tricks to add that sparkly touch. But, no photoshop!

Anyway, a great gentleman and a wonderful subject in front of the camera.

“I see you do people and products… and locations. So, what do you really like to do?”

This question supposes that I am approaching photography strictly from a subject stand point. That is, I am specializing in studio work or location work or whatever.

Actually, I approach it from a story telling stand point.

For example, the product photography that you may have seen on this blog and on my site is quite a bit different than what you might see in a catalog or Sunday newspaper. Those images, which require as much skill and finesse, are about commodities. The objects are there to be sold based on the description or at face value.

The images that I like to create go one step further. They include a story about what the object is or does. More specifically, what problem does it solve for the potential buyer.

This goes around the buyer’s question of which product is cheaper and goes to “I have this problem that is driving me crazy and this will fix it!”

So, what does this have to do with the gentleman in the image above?

His job is to install cabling for commercial network applications. He needed to look appealing to his target market, which were C level people. He needed to look like he knew what he was doing, was tough enough to get the job done and was a highly trained, highly paid professional who would make these C level people feel and look good.

I was told that the image was submitted with a press release to a major magazine for a business profile. It got picked up. The magazine’s normal profile has a headshot that is reproduced about the size of a postage stamp, with a short paragraph to go with it. This image got them a half page space with two columns of editorial copy.

An effective marketing tool? You bet!

Tons more product photography samples in my Product Photography Portfolio…

Frustrating? Actually, exhilarating!

How do you create a group portrait for marketing purposes, anyway?

For me and my team, unless there is an extremely compelling reason, we try to stay off the plain, vanilla hung background and find something interesting in the environment. Something that will talk about the team we are photographing.

In this case, the end client ran a restaurant style dining hall. It was a well designed and lit space, with interesting colors and graphic elements. It also allowed us to build layers into the composition.

We balance the daylight, ambient and added a couple of strobes to punch up the dark areas and then started adding the people in one by one. All in all, it was about a two hour set up to complete.

Was it worth the time it took? The best answer I can think of to that is to think like a magazine editor. If you were laying out an article about these folks and wanted to get the readers’ attention, what would you put on the cover: a couple of plain headshots or an image with rich colors that tells the story? What would you want to see if you were reading the story?

Call them what you like, they are simply the very first thing that most potential customers are going to see when they come across your information.

And, Mamma always said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Great. Now I have half of you hyperventilating and the other half about to bail on the whole idea and go surf youtube.

But this really isn’t that hard. Even if you “always take a bad picture”, there are some simple things you can do to help optimize your photoshoot and get results that will help you market yourself and company.

Disclaimer: If you are one of a very few people that I have come across, who really and truly hate yourself, I probably can’t help you with your portrait. I am sorry to say it but I can’t. Especially not with a few brief words on a blog you happened across online. If you refuse to participate in the process and totally believe that the session will fail, then it will. And, there is nothing I can do about it. But, there is always something YOU can do about it.

The Headshot Philosphy

The headshot, like everything you do in business, and in life, is all about attitude. A positive attitude will almost always be more successful than expecting to fail. Your attitude in the photo is actually more important than what you wear. It is more important than whether or not your tie is straight or your hair is combed. It is more important than the color of the background or, well, almost anything else.

Don’t get me wrong. All of the other elements in the photo (cloths, hair, jewelry, background, light, etc) are vital elements and will effect how people perceive the person in the image. That is to say, it will effect how they perceive you.

So, tip number one: interview your photographer carefully. You want to get great value from the photographer. But value is determined by how successful the photoshoot will be. And that is directly related to how comfortable you feel with the photographer.

Tip number two: If you are going to get a hair cut, get it a week before the shoot. This way, the cut will grow in a little and you will have some time to get used to how your hair looks and feels.

Tip number three: Plan your outfit in advance. If anything needs dry cleaning or ironing, take care of it. It is the little things that can throw off a great photo. Wrinkles can be distracting, expensive to retouch and can be taken care of in five minutes with a hot iron.

Tip number four: Wear what you feel comfortable in. A brand new outfit, if it doesn’t fit right or makes you feel awkward, can make you tense. An outfit that is an old friend can help you relax and let the real you out. Bring a few different outfits. But don’t bring something that you don’t like. Remember that being more conservative for your headshot wardrobe is often better.

Tip number four: Man or woman, if you are offered the services of a professional makeup artist, seriously consider it. The makeup artists who work on photoshoots understand how people will look on camera and are there to make sure that you look fantastic. If you are already investing in the process, don’t you want to protect and optimize your investment?

Tip five: Get a good night rest and plan your shoot for the morning. Nothing worse than being bleary eyed, puffy and tired during a shoot. For that matter, shooting in the morning helps avoid some of the distractions that can kill a late afternoon shoot.

Tip six: Don’t be so critical of yourself! We shoot a lot of frames during a session and, often, use the frames we just shot as a reference point for the next series of pictures. Let the photographer give you directions and, if you see something that you hate, relax. Remember to breath. That is only one frame out of …well… a bunch! We’ll shoot more and, if you are open to experimenting, you may find a new look that you hadn’t considered before.

Tip seven: You have heard it before: Relax! No one has died at one of my photoshoots. My lens has never broken from someone’s image. And no one has ever turned to stone. Breath and enjoy an experience that doesn’t need to happen every day. It’s an adventure!

Editorial can be a bit unpredictable, in terms of meeting deadlines, editors’ needs, layout requirements and, of course, beating the breaking news. And, after all of that, there is still the challenge of a 55 foot long truck, four busy executives, a location, and the weather!

We got lucky All of our skills and careful production paid off: the driver could put that huge truck anywhere I wanted it, the executives were all able to make it and give me 20 minutes, one section of the parking lot was mysteriously empty and a slight cloud cover let me control the contrast with a rental battery powered strobe.

This picture shows the original framing I did in camera, with the cover laid over top.