Actors Headshots - Style Over Substance?

Should the desire to look your best or perhaps better than you normally do be the motivating factor to update your actors headshots?

Obviously we all want to look our best in our headshots – that’s only natural and it’s also important that your headshot should catch you looking your best. This isn’t narcissism; it’s about being professional and presenting yourself in the best possible light. Sure, you should want to look like you do on your best day, it’s important that you don’t look tired, that your hair isn’t badly cut or styled and your clothes compliment your headshot rather than dominate it. It’s you the actor that has to be the focal point of the headshot.

It’s not the photographer’s skill with fancy lighting or allowing their ego to get the better of them by delivering a super-stylish headshot – it should be their skill in presenting ‘you the actor’ in your best possible light that is on show.

One crucial thing you shouldn’t attempt to do in your headshot is mislead the viewer into believing you look different than you actually are. With actors headshots the viewer is the casting director.

Vanity Over Reality?

When you begin the process of researching headshot photographers there’s the temptation to be‘wowed’ by beautiful pictures – headshots that are not necessarily effective working headshots – but headshots that are beautiful. It’s tempting to think that you’d look great in one of those headshots – and you probably would. Maybe you even look better than you normally do, but is this personal vanity and are you missing the point of an actors headshot? I think yes you are!

It’s easy to assume that if you look fabulous and your headshot is very stylish you’ll have a much better chance of being cast, but remember your actors headshots have to look like you. The number one complaint from casting directors is that the actor doesn’t look like their headshot when they turn up for an audition.

Is the style of the headshot more important than the actor who is appearing in it? Actors Headsots by Nick Gregan Headshot Photographer in London

Absolutely not! Actors headshots styles do change over time and of course it is better that an actor uses a current headshot that looks like them rather than a 1950’s style headshot (unless it’s for a specific purpose).

Is it more important to have fancy lighting or to have a connection with the viewer? Will the casting director be more impressed by a modern slick stylish headshot or a headshot where the actor has substance and connection? Obviously it’s the latter.

Understanding light and its manipulation is an integral part of a photographer’s skill, you don’t always need to use artificial lights to take a great headshot but understanding light and how it affects the subject in this case the actor, is absolutely necessary. Likewise shooting a good headshot is not about over-processing the image in Photoshop and delivering your client a headshot that neither looks like them nor has any semblance of reality.

Some headshot photographers have evolved a style that makes the actors they photograph look beautiful – too beautiful n fact, this applies both to men as well as the women they photograph – but do these beautiful photographs end up showing the real you and securing you more work? I’m afraid not. They pander to your vanity.

If you have a pockmarked complexion or perhaps heavy bags under your eyes and your photographer has digitally removed your bags or polished your skin to unnaturally smooth lustre, it doesn’t matter how beautiful you look in your headshot the unfortunate fact is you won’t look the same when you walk into the casting suite.

Wasting The Casting Directors Time

Why would you risk the wrath of the very person you are trying to impress? Yet this is exactly what happens when you submit a headshot that doesn’t look like you, you’re wasting the casting directors time and risking future opportunities. If the casting director remembers you in the future for sending in an unrealistic headshot you may well be risking your chances this time around, hey may just skip on right by you.

Remember substance wins the day, if you’re not quite right for this role you might be for the next one

In the words of Bobby Orr… “Forget about style; worry about results.”

headshots in London

The Golden Rule of Headshots

Is there is a golden rule of headshots?

Yes there is and this is it – you must look like your headshot!

When you walk into the casting suite and the casting director can’t instantly recognise you from your headshot, you’re committing a cardinal sin. The number one complaint from casting directors is when an actor doesn’t look like their headshot! Don’t break the golden rule of headshots!

Is this breaking the golden of headshots?

It could be construed as cheating or trying to play the system. However you want to look at it, the person you’re trying to cheat is the casting director and they’re the one person who can give you that all-important career break. They’re absolutely the last person you want to leave a bad impression with. Whatever short cuts you might want to take in your acting career don’t break the golden rule of headshots.

Let’s talk about fraud

You could be forgiven for thinking that because it happens on a wider scale in phoytography it’s ok to try with headshots. Talking about breaking rules and cheating with photographs, there seems to be an ever-increasing trend in photography competitions to submit photographs that are false or of dubious origin. In the most recent case, Wildlife Photographer of The Year, a prestigious competition organised by the The Natural History Museum in London found a photographer had submitted a photograph with a stuffed animal, as it’s main point of interest. It was a night shot of an armadillo the problem was, the animal was a fake and therefore the photograph itself was a fraud.

 

Crazy photoshop on the hair is breaking the golden rule of headshots

Bringing the conversation back to headshots it’s crazy to think actors will cheat with their headshots. The proliferation of photos that break the golden rule of headshots has increased tenfold over the last few years. The ease of use of Photoshop and other image editing programs can make it all too tempting for actors to ‘tweak’ their own photographs to make themselves look better – even on their mobile phones.

 

It’s ok to ask the question

Obviously I’ve been asked many, many times to 'Photosho' an image, I’ve been asked to do things like; fill-in a man’s bald patch with hair so he looks younger, remove laughter lines and wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. Turn grey hair dark and remove a double chin and numerous clients have asked for skin smoothing and scar removal etc.

My attitude towards these kind of requests as a headshot photographer are quite simple; if it’s a permanent element of your character then don’t under any circumstances alter them. However, if in the case of a blemish or a scratch, then yes I’ll remove them. In terms of wrinkles and laughter lines, I may tone them down a little but I’ll never remove them. As a headshot photographer my reputation is critical to my ability to attract new clients, so I won’t break the golden rule of headshots. There is another important element to consider from my point of view; if an actors’ agent see’s a headshot that doesn’t look like their actor, which is in fact breaking the golden rule of headshots it reflects badly on me and will probably preclude me from shooting their clients in the future because I can’t be trusted.

 

In conclusion

This who I am, no tricks, no gimmicks – just plain old me.

There are many, many roles out there for actors and, an actors’ casting age changes with the way they look. Sure you might want to play the yoing person’s roles but when your face moves into it’s next phase, you have to accept that your castability now suits a slightly older role. What’s wrong with that? Accept how you look, the life you’ve lived and pitch yourself at suitable roles.

Whatever the temptations are, whoever suggests a ‘tweak’ here and there to your headshot, think carefully about the negative effects breaking the golden rule of headshots may have on your career and make sure YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR HEADSHOT.