PREFACE: What is your HeadShot photography communicating to your community and your potential clients? It cannot be overemphasized, people do equate the quality and credibility of your your craft by the HeadShot you present to the world - 90% of which is made at the subconscious level.
It’s a fact: your clients are making snap-judgements about you simply by the face they first see. It’s not that they’re judgmental but rather responding naturally to an intrinsic awareness of what elements of design represent quality and which do not. Though they might not be able to precisely articulate why they chose to bounce to another website, they nonetheless sensed something that expressed “less than professional.”
How many times have you seen poorly crafted headshot where the person pictured errantly reason that because they are numb to what constitutes a quality headshot, so must you – their potential client. These same professionals are the first to decry the absurdity of the general public relying on bargain services or amateurs to provide their particular trade, but don’t think twice about either taking their own headshot or hiring the cheapest bidder they find on the web. Costly mistake.
Long gone are the days of putting forward one’s best foot - it’s been replaced by one’s face. First impressions are indelible. That is to say, unless you are aware of the lasting message intended with your head-shot, the odds are it is saying something about your identity other than what you wish. More than likely, it is also doing more harm than good.
At its very core, a headshot portrait is the silent yet ever present ambassador to community and business connections. If you are going to emphasize any facet of your self-promotion, a prudent first step is to begin with a supremely crafted, professional headshot.
So then, what makes a headshot stand out from the crowd? There are actually ten components, but to keep my posts pertinent and tidy, I have limited them to the Four Key Factors. I like to think of these as the 3Ps and 3Es.
The following four topic headings, Planning, Positioning, Painting and Expression, (expression & expression) link to my blog, Photosical, where each of the Four Key Factors are addressed. Please note that the audience of my posts are primarily professional photographers and the information expressed are excerpts taken from my lectures.
As always, should you have any questions, no concern is too small.
Mark Jordan
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Factor 1
PLANNING
Factor 2
POSITIONING
Factor 3
PAINTING
Factor 4
EXPRESSION
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
