What is the Perfect Industry Headshot?
One question I get a lot from my consultant clients is, “Just what is the perfect headshot for my industry?”
Every industry has its traditional versions of the headshot that range from staid and boring to bleeding edge. And, each has its share of fans and doubters.
Ultimately, it comes down to your own concepts of what will work for where you stand in your industry and who your target audience is.
The location portraits here are of Meg Fofonoff and Stacey Stephens, the co-artistic producers at Fiddlehead Theatre Company. Fiddlehead is a professional musical theatre troupe that puts on Broadway quality shows in Boston’s historic Strand Theatre. The images were created to add to their extensive image library for marketing, fundraising and press opportunities.
6 Articles About The Perfect Headshot
Here are six articles about choosing a good headshot for your industry:
1. Andrea Getman, at findlaw.com has a great article about the perfect lawyer headshot. She recommends getting a couple of different options, depending on who is requesting the image.
2. Patricia Fripp at Fripp and Associates, a sales development and training company quotes Rob Biesenbach, author of “Act like you mean business, Seek Professional Help.”, “Don’t settle for a homemade snapshot, and do NOT, under any circumstances, use a webcam photo you’ve taken of yourself. Not only are they terribly unflattering to all but the young and the beautiful, but they scream, ‘I don’t even have a friend I can ask to take my picture.’”
3. Claire Boyles, a start-up marketing and business consultant, professional speaker, and social media strategist with Success Matters picks the perfect method for choosing the right headshot.
“I placed more weight on the people who matched my ‘ideal client profile’ because their opinion matters more in my marketing. It’s those people that I want to connect with, more than anyone else. ”
4. Irene Koehler, over at AlmostSavvy, another social media expert, says, “It should be the real you, not a cartoon or Mad Men version of you. And, by real you, I also mean current you.”
5. In an article titled, 10 Tips for Supercharging Your LinkedIn Profile, Matt Youngquist stresses: “Don’t just settle on a good profile photo. Have a great one. Nothing pops off a LinkedIn search results page better than a friendly, crisp, high-quality mug shot.
6. Zillow has a great article for Real Estate Agents, by Jay Thompson. His advice? “Most people don’t like any photograph of themselves, so when they find one they like, they tend to hang on to it forever. Don’t do that.”
I hope this has given you a starting point for your research. You can see examples of my headshots both on location and in my spacious studio.
- Tags: Executive Portraits, headshots, How To...
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