Headshots - the gateway to good business.

So here's the question, what does your headshot say about you? Is it clean, professional, welcoming... appropriate?

Let's explore those things a little and give you some hints on what will attract people for the right reasons to your profile.

Clean:

This basically states that it isn't fuzzy, not from miles away and from a contrast point of view, it's easy to identify you as the person you are! So what doesn't fit into this? Dark, fuzzy, very low contrast or tiny people full size in a massive backdrop so you could only identify them with a magnifying glass... assuming their head is more than three pixels wide!

Professional:

Of course I am going to say this but... a professional image simply jumps off the page compared to amateur photography. Why, well, we as pro's have the right lighting, shoot with the right lens and then use the right software to punch the image to something elegant, contrasty and bright. Agreed, if everyone used a professional, the professionally done headshots wouldn't stand out as much as they do now. In effect, those people that can't be bothered or like the way they looked 18 years ago are assisting those people who can be bothered with using a professional headshot photographer.

Welcoming:

This means in essence that you aren't scary, or showing your fishing or shooting prowess... in fact, you are just you, nothing else to get into in case for whatever reason, your potential client or referrer has an objection to some other object or passion that you have seen fit to include in your photograph. For instance, if I were a collector of death masks from Brazil, I may choose not to show those behind me in a headshot photograph just in case other people thought it a little too macabre! Incidentally, I don't have a collection of death masks just so you know.

Appropriate:

This is quite a biggy actually... some types of work, copywriters for instance like you to know that they write stuff, so a headshot with them writing but still identifiable can be good. Grinning like a cheshire cat for a funeral director might not give the right message! Similarly, looking like someone has just threatened you with a colonic irrigation could be the wrong thing for a motivational speaker! Making the image appropriate is a major task. Of course in the depth of things, this can be exactly the way to go on your own website (have a look at Alfa Recruitment for an example of that) but generally less is more.

Well, that's all from me for this one, hope it all makes sense, have another quick look at the shots at the top of the page, then give me a nudge to get your headshots updated.

Nite all :)