2.3 Anybody Headshots

Hi, I'm Scott Jansen, and welcome back to Headshot Photography. In this quick lesson, I'm going to be talking about what I call everybody headshots. Let me explain what I mean by that. In the last ten years, the business and social worlds have gone through a huge change with sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Not to mention, all of the dating websites. So many of our interactions that used to happen face to face have now moved online. What hasn't changed through all of this though is the importance of putting your best face forward and making a great first impression. One of the main ways that this is accomplished today is with profile photos that we use for each of these sites. Our profile photo was often the first thing that people see in online interactions and defines a lot of what people thing of us. This is great news for photographers. Because it means that pretty much everyone you know needs a good headshot that helps them look their best, and conveys things about them that they want to show to the world. If you are just starting out on photography and want to hone your head shot skills, then this is the way to do it. First, because it's very easy to find clients since everyone could use a good head shot. And second, because they are much lower pressure shoots than actor or corporate head shots. Because these headshots can vary so much in their subjects and their uses, there really are no rules or norms as you learn how to take them. Each person you photograph will have a different goal, and you will get to work with them to accomplish that goal. Here are some examples of the variety of different everybody headshots that I have taken. One of the other benefits of starting out with these types of head shots is that the variety and loose rules allows you the freedom to experiment and develop your own personal style as a photographer. On the downside, the fact that these photos are rarely used for commercial purposes means that they are likely less valuable than actor or corporate head shots. And thus, you will make less money per shoot on them. At this point in my business, I rarely do these kinds of head-shots as a session by themselves. But I almost always include one or two of these kinds of headshots on my lifestyle shoots. For example, this is a lifestyle session that I photographed for a physical therapist that specializes in preparing women for pregnancy and childbirth. Here are a couple headshots I also grabbed, just to add value to the lifestyle session. I also shoot a lot of engagement sessions for the wedding portion of my business. In almost every one of these sessions, I like to take just a couple of minutes to grab a few headshots of each of the people. This is usually much appreciated, as they can use them for almost anything. It also turns out to be great word of mouth marketing. Because when someone comments about their awesome new profile picture, they can easily send business my way. The final products and shoots like these are almost always lightly retouched digital files ready for social media websites. Of course, with so many possibilities you want to make sure that you know what your client wants as a final product, and make sure to shoo in process appropriately. In our next lesson, we are going to talk some more about everybody headshots, as I give you some very practical lessons on how to get your own headshot photography business off the ground and running. I will show you some easy to follow steps to get you from a hobbyist with a camera to a full-fledged professional photographer.