Who needs headshots?


Headshots are used for all kinds of things. Everyone knows about models and actors using headshots. Dancers, artists, and writers need headshots. Lawyers, scientists, and lots of businesses use headshots on their websites.

My gorgeous friend above is a bellydancer. Bellydancers have different needs for their images than a chef or a different kind of artist or a lawyer. There are all sorts of headshots and people get them in studios or at their businesses or outside. You can do them anywhere.


For me, the important pieces are knowing what kind of work you do, where the image will be used, and how you'd like to be seen by your clients or audience.


Seems like you could just take one with your phone, and you can. I have done this myself. Sure. I take lots of selfies and some are great, but they don't scream "I'm a professional photographer and artist."

Now people are doing AI ones too. Which, from what I've seen so far, is fine if you're ok looking not quite real and possibly having extra fingers. haha

The process...


When you book a headshot with me, you'll get a questionnaire to fill out that asks questions about the purpose of the photos, but also about your personality and how you want people to respond to your photos. How you want to be seen by others when they look at the photos.


It's not a ton of questions, but it's important to give it a little thought. If you want to be approachable and fun but still look like you will take things seriously as a professional, there are a lot of things to consider about your posture, pose, facial expressions, and even what you're wearing. That's my job and the questionnaire helps me get there.


We'll chat a bit about the plans for the shoot, I'll answer your questions, and we'll talk about things to do or not to do before the shoot. Things like, don't go for a tan or a peel the day before or something, you know. Not rules for what not to wear or anything. I don't like rules either. ;) I can help you with wardrobe that speaks to the vibe you want in your photos.


The shoot is easy. I'll tell you what to do in a way that makes you feel comfy about me pointing a camera at you.


On to editing. I always ask about what level of editing you prefer. Some people hate it if you remove lines on their face and some people want to look 20 years younger. I will go in either direction as you like, but maybe not by 20 years. Same for body edits. I'll do nothing or make subtle changes, as you like. You look great anyway. I mostly use editing as a tool for enhancing things, drawing attention away from things, and removing distractions or things that aren't normally there. Like, if you have acne all the time, then that is your face and I love your face. If you woke up with a large pimple you don't normally have and you want me to make it not exist, then I will do that. More extensive edits can be made for an hourly charge as well.


First, I'll do a round of basic photo edits to make sure they're consistent color and exposure, etc. Then I send you a gallery with proofs so you can choose the ones you want before I do more edits.


Why that order? Well, I love editing and it's more efficient for me to do that on the images you choose instead of all of them. Here's an example.


These were great. I didn't have to do it, but I'm funny about things that take your attention away from the person. Those kinds of distractions can be subtle. Feel free to read that as "Beth is obsessed with details other people might not notice." haha I notice and then I cannot un-notice.

This is a fine image. I mean, she's missing her head so that's not the photo she got, obviously. haha


We definitely fussed over the zipper during her session and this wasn't a distraction in person. But when I was looking at the image to edit it, it still got me. So it gets a fix because I'll never stop thinking about that zipper in her image. Oof Also note the totally fine and normal stretch of the material on her shirt, and her right sleeve.


Y'all, one time I edited the suit jacket of a wedding client in 4 family portraits because it was doing what material does when you move, which is normal and fine. But when I was editing, it kept drawing my eye so it had to go.


The fix:

It's so subtle. You'd never know I did anything. But they don't draw your eye as much. That's all I want. There are other folds and you could go overboard and remove all fabric texture, which wasn't my goal, though it does seem like a fun thing to try.


See? I love doing these kinds of edits. Buuuut, I have to limit myself or I would spend all of my time editing and I have a lot of other things to do. That's why I do the quick edits first and any other edits after you choose your photos now. (For headshots anyway; the process is different for other types of sessions. Maybe I'll write more blogs about that too)


Then you get your headshots! I send a gallery and you can download them from there in a resolution for print and a resolution for online. The only thing is, if you're planning on a much larger image, like, a billboard or the side of a bus or something, then we need to talk about pricing and sizes, but we would have done that way back at the beginning.


So there it is. If you would like me to obsess about small details on your headshots too, then you can book online here.