How The Headshot Moved Into The New Decade!

As we settle into the new year of 2020, we are of course also settling into a new decade.

With the speed of change seemingly increasing all the time, instead of just looking back over the previous year, we can cast our minds back over a full 10 year period, and something that's most certainly changed is the headshot..!

Back in 2010, the world of the head shot had already started to move, from what it had been for many many decades up to that point – almost no more than a passport photo!

There were basically 4 categories that the headshot would fall into -

-       The passport photo as mentioned.

-       The overly slick professional photo studio shot.

-       The blank space.

-       The home photo album shot.

Room for improvement with all of those, because while some of them did some sort of job of showing who you were, they all had flaws! Some of them had major flaws (the blank space being the most obvious), but even the professional studio shot could look peculiar.

The style was to create an image that almost looked like old photos from school days – more stylised than the passport photo, but stylised nonetheless, to a point where they all tended to look stilted, and the same.

This was 10 years ago and more, bear in mind, but handy to reference so that in 2020, we can look at how the headshot moved into the new decade...

The first way that the headshot has moved into the new decade is the understanding and awareness of how important the profile picture actually is!

The world of sport talks about marginal gains to beat the competition – looking at every single area to see anything that can be improved, because if you make those small improvements, and your competition doesn't, then the cumulative effect can be huge.

We can take this into the profile picture arena – thought and investment into the headshot can pay off massively. If you have a shot that communicates exactly what you want to say to prospects, and it's exactly the same as what they want to hear, and it continues through to the whole branding of your presence, you are always putting you and your business at the front of the queue.

So, the cold, dreary passport-ish photo has no place – it MUST stop.

The blank space headshot must also go – even if you don't want to invest in a professional photographer, with the camera quality on smartphones in 2020, there is simply no excuse to have no photo at all.

It could be argued that the home made DIY shot is not what we want, as it looks unprofessional – there is a short and long term view to take on this...

Long term, the selfie will not do anything like as effective a job as the work of a professional. The pros have better equipment obviously, but also skill and experience.

In the short term though, the selfie can work. It's clearly better than nothing at all, but, and it's huge BUT, the selfie should be professional looking!

In other words, no beach shots, no drinking shots, no kissing shots, no 'zany' shots – just a simple smiling face will do fine (taking that short term view).

When it comes to the professional studio shot, this has also moved massively in the last decade.

It's unlikely that any pro will leave you with the stilted slick shots of old. In the new decade, a decent pro will be fully up to speed with the requirements for an effective shot.

It will have you looking professional, yes, but fresh.

It will show the real you, and that means authentic.

It might be inside, but it might just as well be outside, a huge leap in branding photography.

It will tie in your whole message, so the headshot will be part of a branding theme.

A professional will be in charge of the process, but they will want to be fully aware of what a client wants, so it's not simply a case of someone being ordered around by the photographer.

So really, we can see the step changes in the headshot over the last 10 years, leaving the whole arena, modern, fresh and up to date as we march into the new decade!

In need of a headshot refresh, or a whole personal branding story shoot?

Call Phill at The Image Mill for a chat, to see what he can do for you 01274 482032

www.brandimages.co.uk