It is not a secret that communication is key to every relationship, and the relationship between headshot photographer and actor is not an exception. Nowadays, you can look through professional LA headshot photographer s’ websites, social media pages like Facebook or Instagram, google and yelp reviews to get the idea of who you are going to deal with. Usually, people choose someone whose work they love and whoever they can afford. We have collected a few tips on how to communicate with your headshot photographer to ensure you are on the same page.
Send your headshot photographer samples of photos that inspire you!
Photographers are mostly visual. If you wish to create a specific character, style, or mood, show them the images that are close to what you are looking to get. Sometimes people can understand your words differently. This is why we recommend you to show rather than tell. One of my clients once told me she wanted a headshot that was “commercial, sexy, powerful and at the same time vulnerable”. I told her to show me. And after a couple of hours, she sent me a couple of headshots from my portfolio and it became clear what she wanted.
My clients send me photos from my website or Instagram or other LA headshot photographer s’ works just to clearly explain what they want. Mostly, they are looking for some specific character or feeling, sometimes it’s just a lighting style.
What character are you going to create?
When my clients call me to schedule a headshot session this is one of the first questions that I ask them: “What character are you going to portray? What are their features? Is it a leading woman? A housewife? A girl next door?”. And when we have the answers we start working on creating the characters, defining the style, clothes, backdrop colors, etc. I usually send them samples of every character to make it easier for them to choose. They also send me a list of movie character names to make it more understandable.
Choose the best way to communicate with your headshot photographer!
Based on my experience, most of my clients prefer to communicate over the phone, however, some prefer to text or email. If you feel it takes too much time and effort to describe your thoughts it is better to call or even to schedule a meeting or a facetime call before the shoot. It will help us both to get a clearer picture of what we are going to create.
During the free consultation, I’m happy to brainstorm with you, discuss all the details, answer all the questions you might have. I even recommend you a makeup and hairstyle and makeup artists and hairstylists. And at one point we start talking by texting or emailing photos to each other to better explain what we mean.
What if you don’t like your headshots?
This is a topic for a whole blog post that I’ll write in future. However, I’d like to give you an idea of how this process goes on. During the headshot session, I show you your images so that you know how to look on the camera. It helps you to make changes if you don’t like anything in your posture, clothes, hair or makeup; or if there’s something that bothers you concerning studio lighting of the backdrop color. We fix everything and continue to shoot. After the session, I offer my clients to stay and take a look at their headshots on a big screen so that we can shoot again while you are at the studio. My clients always leave the studio already knowing which images they’re going to choose for the retouch.
In which cases you can get a free reshoot?
After receiving all the images you think you don’t like any of them, you can call me and tell me about it. If there’s something wrong with lighting, angle, or background that you didn’t like I will always offer you a free reshoot to fix it. And no matter, you told me everything was fine while you were checking out the images at the studio. However, I don’t take “I just don’t like my headshots” as an answer. If you don’t like them because of your hair, makeup or anything else that was your responsibility it will not be fair to blame the photographer for it. It happened to me once, though.
In conclusion!
Make sure you share all your thoughts with your photographer with the help of images. Take time to call your LA headshot photographer before the session, or even schedule a video call or meet her in person. Be sure you like everything in your photos before leaving the my Los Angeles photo studio. Don’t hesitate to ask for a reshoot if you don’t like anything that has to do with the photographer’s skills.
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