Why are Quality Headshot Photos Useful for Your Image?
Your face on a sensitively made photograph constitutes a big part of your personal brand. There was a time, not long ago when people associated professional headshots with fame. Headshots were an important part of what brought famous movie stars into public awareness. The details of the professional headshot are like the tailoring of a business suit. People recognize the marks of quality. As part of your business identity, you need a professional headshot to carry the earmarks of personal care and detail that you bring to your business.
Business Advantages of a Powerful Headshot.
A few years ago, eMarketer did a survey that found 82 percent of consumers trust a company more and 77 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that uses social media. Social media contains makes companies more personal and more interactive. The central figures of a business are represented in social media by their faces. The headshot should grow with you, bringing you into continuous contact with your company through social media. You should update your facial presence as you age and change and the nature of your business changes. While you may be tempted to represent yourself by a thirty-something headshot on social media, what happens when you actually meet a client or customer or client face to face when you are in your fifties.
What are the earmarks of a professional headshot?
A knowledgeable professional photographer will identify your business personality and try to emphasize it in the photograph using the tools at his or her disposal. These tools include lighting, angles, distance, sharpness, positioning, even helping you make choices about dress, eyewear, and facial gesturing and expression. Contrary to much popular opinion, the headshot is not simple, elementary, and easy to take. The face and head are the most expressive parts of the human anatomy. Small adjustments can have enormous effects on how you are portrayed. An optimal portrayal in a great headshot can be an identifying part of the way your customers see your business for many years. That's why the right headshot is worth pursuing.
Portraits, Headshots, and Passport Photos.
When your aim is simple recognizability, a passport photograph is all you need. When you get a passport photo, the person who photographs you is rarely a professional photographer. The passport photo requires that you remove all of the elaborations that you wear to individualize you and express your interests or occupation. You have to remove everything that elaborates your facial expression. It has to be in front of a plain background, full-face perspective only, "with a neutral facial expression and both eyes open," and taken in clothing that you normally wear on a daily basis, except for headwear, eyewear, or uniforms.
Headshots are like portraits that minimize the amount of background and context. The more context, like background and other non-facial features are included, the more the photographs resemble artistic portraits rather than practical headshot photos. Often a business owner will order headshots for use in identifying them in social media, business cards, and the like, and then order additional portraits taken on-site in the office or plant to show the context of a business. The face that headshots use little context but still illustrate the business personality of the subject makes the art of creating a powerful headshot that much more demanding.
Headshots will often feel more approachable and personal than a portrait. The headshot is focussed on the person and his or her individual personality. Portraits are often more elaborated and less intense. This is the realm of photographic art. Rules are not hard and fast. Headshots and portraits are variations on a theme.
Lucille Khornak is an experienced portrait specialist based in the Hamptons and New York City. Please contact me to learn more.