Professional Headshots: Of Types, Styles, and Choices
Since time is of the essence and we are currently amidst filming for our final FMP project “The Pillars of Creation” with the currently impending threat of the Corona pandemic prematurely wrapping our shoot for good, I will make this intro and most of this blog entry as anticlimactic as possible: Thus, today’s blog entry will be dedicated to headshots.
As I’ve already mentioned in my blog entry “From Camera Assistance to Director of Photography: My Plan for Employment”, I’ve devised a list of tasks and items that needed to be done/obtained in order to be able to self-promote my skills and services as a freelance camera assistant.
Whilst I’ve already worked my way through my website, my business cards, and my CV, it was now finally time to get my professional headshots done. As these headshots are going to be used for my online presence both on my own website as well as on any social media account and media job search engine, I figured that this might be a good next step to take.
Chloe and the others apparently had the same idea, for Chloe scheduled a collective photo shoot with all LVL6s with our fellow student photographer Grace Ede and the photo shoot took place this last Monday 16 March. And in order to be able to get the best photos to set off our future careers, Grace asked us to provide reference images so that she would be able to recreate them.
And thus started my research journey.
Headshot Types and Styles
It does not come as a surprise observation if I say that obtaining the right headshot for the right job is crucial. Whilst many professional industries – such as e.g. Law and Finance, but also Management, Publishing, Medicine, and many more – require a very clean, formal, and rather brightly lit style, other professional industries will fare better with a different, more creative approach and style.
Since photography also always dabbles in perspective-crafting and thus the idea of objectivity is only an illusion – thank you, Susan Sontag! – it is only natural that the craft of the headshot is important as well. Thus, and from my research conducted, there are a lot of different types of headshots around that help accentuate (or even craft) certain aspects of a person. Some of them are (not an exhaustive list):
Business or Corporate Headshots
Outdoor Headshots
Environmental Headshots
Acting Headshots
Commercial
Feature
Brand Crafting Headshots
Most of these types of headshots are quite self-explanatory, such as e.g. the outdoor headshots and the business headshots, environmental headshots are headshots that put more emphasis on the background as well, visually including the subject within it’s environment instead of singling them out (which e.g. makes for a great subliminal message of being capable of team-work).
With acting headshots, the difference lies in a more formal approach for the commercial sub-category and a more colourful, and thus emotional, approach for the feature sub-category.
And as with everything in life, these general types are not always strictly divided and some might even merge into one another, depending on the occasion they are used for. As such, both business headshots as well as brand crafting headshots might be using grey, white, and black backgrounds to accentuate their subject, or might be shot in black and white altogether.
There are furthermore different types of framing for each and every type of headshot – as might be expected. As such, there are headshots that are closer to MCUs and there are headshots that are more MS, as well as full body ones. Whilst the first one is the most common one, the second is usually associated with creative use, and the third either used for commercial acting headshots or for brand crafting headshots.
Especially in the media and art industries, where the visual aspect, application, and appeal are crucial to the job. Here, creativity, innovation, and uniqueness stand in the foreground and these characteristics are already subversively communicated through your headshot and the display of your person in general. Within the creative industries, applicants using the formal type of headshots might even run into problems finding a job as they already failed to display their unique selling point on a visual level, at least that would be my argument.
So in order to be able to commission a certain style of headshot that is befitting to the industry that I will enter, but that looks professional nonetheless, and that – on top of it all – befits my professional image I am going for publicly, I’ve conducted some more research.
Headshots in the Media Industry (Camera Department)
As already mentioned above, the media industry in general differs from other industries just by the mere fact that creativity and uniqueness are part of the package to be sold. As such, there is also a different appeal, and thus a different style of headshots required. Conducting broad and general research online regarding headshots of camera assistants and especially DoPs revealed that this is especially true for these jobs and particularly in the camera department.
For most of these shots do not fulfil the definition of headshots at all, but rather display the person either working on set:
Or fulfilled it just about so, but also put emphasis on the depiction of them with their gear:
Both of which are completely understandable in their application. Directors of Photography, if anything, are usually recognised by their camera gear. Much like a doctor with their stethoscope, lab coat, or scrubs, and the lawyer with their robe, there needs to be an item that helps you identify your profession easily. People don’t always look their profession after all.
As such, my first big takeaway from that was getting depicted with a camera for my headshots. However, this also informed the kind of framing that I would want to opt for, as MCU headshots would not be wide enough. As such, I turned to researching a bit further and have a look at headshots with wider frames. This time however, I exclusively looked for headshots for camera assistants:
Headshots Men vs Women – Influence on Employment?
However, that brought me to another realisation that would again inform my choice of headshots to go for. For all of the headshots of camera assistants that I found – and that would be considered headshots instead of on-set photos – featured male camera assistants.
Which in and of itself is not a surprise in a still male-dominated industry, but it also informs about the type of style that would automatically be assumed by it. Cause if one compares the photos taken of women and men working in that profession in general, it is obvious that the colour palettes and styles differ – men are usually depicted with darker colours and stronger shadows, whereas with women, brighter colours (such as whites and greens) and softer, less contrast-rich light has been used.
Which, in turn, does not only influence the perception of the depicted person – women being more natural and softer and men darker and grittier – in this industry, it would furthermore associate two different types of genres to be obtained from either person and thus tie their suitability for a certain genre to their headshots. Whilst this is no hard science, I would argue that the type of depiction used would subliminally influence our evaluation of a person and thus of their capabilities.
And since I am most interested in the darker and more contrast-rich styles and especially in Sci-Fi, music videos, and the like, I figured that paving that way already within the headshots themselves could only be beneficial to me and for my future employment. Regardless of whether I would turn out to be right or wrong in my assumption, I would lose nothing by going for the darker style and hopefully being associated by it.
My Intermediate Decisions
As such, and in tandem with my current website and business card design, I decided that I would benefit more from the seemingly more masculine style and colour palette. I figured, that if I brought something new to the table – a slightly more unusual lighting and colour design in contrast to the ones usually used for my gender – I would be able to attract more attention and maybe even subliminally influence my future client’s evaluation of genres I would be suitable for.
As such, I expanded my research even more and attempted to find a solution that not only combines the abovementioned criteria, but also helped associate femininity along with it. Since I already decided that I would be going for a wider framing and incorporating camera equipment in there, I kept an eye out for some reference images, out of which I chose this one from the photographer Alpana Aras to forward to our photographer:
What I liked about this photo was the fact that the woman herself was depicted as smart, driven, confident, and capable – which is the vibe I wanted to exude for my headshots. The best of it all – to my mind – is the fact that this is underlined by the means of lighting and positioning.
The Photo Shoot
The day of the photo shoot finally rolled round this Monday evening. Since I still wanted to be displayed with a camera, but the URSA cameras were already booked out for the benefit of the LVL5s, I thus decided that I would keep using the BMPCC 4k instead. Stepping into the photo studio with my prop camera in hand, I quickly learned that our photographer had used my reference lighting as the reference lighting for everyone as she deemed it fit for a filmmaker. After only a few minutes, the shoot was done and I was able to return back on set again.
The Results
A day later, we were collectively presented the edited photos. Whilst we were been given the option of having the photos in black-and-white as well, I decided against it as the basic lighting design was already rather dark and I did not have any use of these kind of images as they looked more like obituary images to my mind. As such, she forwarded the following photos of myself:
Out of which I preferred these two for my online presence:
My Learning
As you can see, I forfeit wearing glasses in my headshots, as I figured that this would be more detrimental during the early stages of the selection process. Furthermore, from previous headshots taken of me in LVL5, I was being told that people associated completely different jobs than the one I was going for, amongst them being librarian, print publisher, etc:
Comparing the images now to my previous ones, I realised that I have not only come a long way, but also that dropping the glasses and adding the camera was the best decision I could have made at this point. The type of attire that I chose for the latest photo shoot further aided this.
Whilst my attire does not look professional in the strict sense of the word, and as associated with business headshots, I nonetheless settled on this style as it looks more hands-on and on-set practical. This was even more helpful considering the common preconception that women do care more for the appearance – than for the practicality – of their attire.
My aim was to look professional, prepared, and ready for the industry that I am about to enter and that I display what this means for this industry in particular.
Now the only task left to do is updating my online presence with my new headshots – but more about the current appearance of my online profiles in another blog!
References:
Alpana Aras. (2019) Homepage. [online] Images taken from: https://www.alpanaaras.com [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Amateur Photographer. (2020) How to take better headshots. [online] Image taken from: [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
FilmFreeway. (n.d.) Director Biography Jonathan Buck. [online] Image taken from: https://filmfreeway.com/Wedlockfilm [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Headshot London. (2020) Homepage. [online] Images taken from: https://www.headshotlondon.co.uk [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Impossible Horror. (2018) Aidan Tanner. [online] Image taken from: https://impossiblehorror.com/impossible-horror/aidan-tanner/ [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
JaxPhotographer. (2020) Homepage. [online] Available at: https://www.jaxphotographer.com [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Madhattan Movie. (n.d.) Our Amazing Team. Carolyn Constantine. [online] Image taken from: https://www.madhattanmovie.com/our-team [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Mandy.com. (2020) Chandler Perry Profile. [online] Image taken from: https://www.mandy.com/crew/profile/chandler-perry [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Mandy.com. (2020) Taylor Phillips Profile. [online] Image taken from: https://www.mandy.com/crew/profile/taylor-phillips-1 [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Mandy.com. (2020) Tom Anderson Profile. [online] Image taken from: https://www.mandy.com/crew/profile/tom-anderson [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
ScreenSkills. (2020) Owain Astles. [online] Image taken from: https://www.screenskills.com/profile/2a5be308-3f18-4a3c-b387-9c6dd3fb2ac5/ [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
Sontag, S. (2008) On Photography. London: Penguin Books.
Steve Glass Photography. (2020) Homepage. [online] Image taken from: http://www.steveglassphotographer.com [Accessed on 15 March 2020].
UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art. (2018) Lana Lin Headshot. [online] Image taken from: https://uniondocs.org/?attachment_id=109360 [Accessed on 15 March 2020].