The Importance of Headshots

Whether it's for your Social Media profile, CV or Spotlight profile, first impressions are important. A great headshot is your first selling point and a key opportunity to get you the audition or interview, etc.

Your headshot is an investment in your career and should be the very best that it can be. It should be updated regularly to portray the current you, as it will be something that is going to stand out and show your personality, to portray who you are.

Whether it be a studio shoot under artificial lighting conditions or a natural lighting outdoor shoot, an experienced photographer will avoid distracting backgrounds. They will also use a shallow but controlled depth of field to ensure that your face, and particularly your eyes are in sharp focus, whilst at the same time creating a soft out of focus background. This ensures that the viewers attention is drawn to you and not to somewhere else in the image, making you ‘pop’ out from the background.

Many more photos will be taken than are actually needed, allowing the best to be selected for editing and retouching to create the final product. It is important to agree with your photographer how much or how little ‘retouching’ of the images you would like.

Tips for Your Headshot Shoot

Keep your appearance as natural as possible. Remember, a casting professional or potential employer wants to see the 'real' you.

Wear something simple and avoid props, hats, bright colours, bold patterns and logos that would distract the viewers focus away from your face.

It can be a good idea to bring a small selection of different outfits along to your photo shoot, but remember to stick to neutral colours that compliment you.

As the target audience for your headshots will have varying preferences, it is a good idea to have a combination of colour and black & white images. In addition, if your headshots are to be used internationally then it would be advisable having some closer cropped head and shoulder portraits (as favoured in the UK) as well as some looser cropped ones showing more of your body (as preferred in the USA).

The best approach to make-up and styling is to aim for ‘you on a good day’ and not ‘you on a night out’ or first thing in the morning!

If you are unsure about anything just ask your photographer, after all they have the same goal as you...to create the perfect headshot!