I didn’t realize how many “genres” of photography there were, until I got deep into photography myself. It was only after years of shooting, did I realize the vastness of specialties out there. There’s sports, portraits, journalism, architecture, landscape…just to name a few. Then you can go into subcategories of each out those. When you dig down a little, you find the specialty of Headshot Photography.
Of course everyone knows everyone is aware of a headshot, but not everyone thinks about the skills to capture a great one.
Headshots are special because they have a specific reason for their existence. Usually, it’s a business investment for branding or marketing. For that reason, a photographer has to invoke a special feeling when someone see the final image. That feeling is based on the individual client.
What are you, as the client, trying to invoke in your own customers or fans? It’s important that your photographer understands exactly what this is. A good photographer can grasp this with a simple conversation of your business.
I recently photographed a new headshot for a client who’s a local Real Estate Broker. I knew that his final image had to portray confidence, professionalism, knowledge, friendliness, and approachability. As a real estate broker, clients need to trust that you know exactly what you’re doing, and that you actually have their best interest at heart.
With this in mind, I wanted the client to have a strong, confident stance, but a friendly face. Here are few of the images we snapped.
This particular client left it up to me to choose the final image. I picked the one I felt fit him best and did my retouching. Below is the final image.
