The Actors Headshot F.U.Q. (Frequently Unasked Questions)
July 25, 2009 | 3 comments
F.A.Q.s (Frequently Asked Questions) about headshots are usually pretty boring and disingenuous (What should I wear? Something that brings out your eyes!). The cold fact is most headshot photographers are corny hacks who are more interested in getting you to stay behind to do “artistic nudes” than helping you forge relationships with casting directors. More interesting is this F.U.Q. — a list of fears, insecurities and gross misconceptions about the business of actors headshot photography. Unlike an F.A.Q. I’ll only list the questions. I think the answers are self evident. If you do too I just might be the photographer you’ve been looking for.
Chris Frampton’s Actors Headshot F.U.Q.
I hate the way I look. Will I like the way I look in pictures you take?
I think I have big gums/bad teeth/an unattractive smile. If I clamp my lips together though the whole shoot so that it doesn’t show, will it look funny?
Some actors friends in L.A./Vancouver/New York/Toronto say you’re the hot photographer to shoot with right now. I don’t like your pictures, and I don’t want my pictures to look like yours. Will I like pictures you take of me?
I’ve had my headshots done a million times. They’ve never made an ounce of difference for me with casting. I hear you do pictures that casting love, and that you have a collaborative approach that helps actors translate their skills and instincts for still photography. I want pictures like that, but I’m probably just going to ignore you during the shoot and pose or “make my face” like I always have. Is this going to work out?
I’m fat. I’m going to look skinny in my pictures, right?
Another photographer told me you used to be an actor, and so that makes you less familiar with the process of casting than them. Is that correct?
I hear that not only are you a great photographer, but that you do panel discussions on headshots with casting directors, that you’ve worked in casting yourself, and that you’ve even cast your own web show. I should probably just shoot with the Leyes brothers, right?
My agent is a out-of-touch dinosaur who thinks this whole “color photography” thing is a passing fad and longs for a return to black turtlenecks and chins-on-fists. Will he/she like your pictures?
My agent is a vainglorious bully who hides their feelings of fraudulence by compulsively meddling in everything. Even though they’ve said they love your work, they’re going to demand you reshoot the entire package because they don’t like the colour of the shirt I chose in one of the setups. They’ll explain this to you in a 30 minute long phone conversation during which they’ll demean and belittle your talent and experience in the most condescending manner imagineable. You’ll happily kiss their ass and comply, right?
If I don’t listen to you and just flare my eyes in every picture, will I look intense?
I found a guy on Craigslist who’ll do my headshots for $30. Will you match prices?
If you’ll do 100 pictures for $350, will you do 1 picture for $3.50?
I don’t want to pay your hairstylist but I don’t want any flyaways in my pictures. You can fix that in post, right?
My friend went with another photographer. She’s a 21 year old tomboy and her pictures make her look like a glamourous 40 year old soccer mom. That’s good, right?
And lastly a personal favourite:
I can’t take direction and I’m a compulsive talker. You can just snap pictures between words right?
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Yup, a lot of this sounds pretty familiar!
Haha, yeah I think anyone who’s spent any time shooting actors has bumped up against at least a couple of these. I’m sure you could add a few.
Thank you looking for details. It helped me in my assignment