If part of your business is capturing headshots, then this is for you. Even if you're thinking of adding it to your portfolio, it's worth checking these essential tips and tricks as, if you're a commercial photographer, you can up your customer's average spend by offering this essential service.
1. Have a great booking system that sends out information on what your clients need to do to prepare for their upcoming shoot. I use Calendy (there's a free version and a paid version available). I send out a few paragraphs informing clients what I expect from them, what they should expect from me, my fees, payment methods and also how to prepare to get the best shots. Personal grooming and fashion tips should also be included, as you always want your customers to turn up looking their best, as this will reflect in your images. It's easier for them to read about bleaching a top lip and pulling stray nose and ear hairs than it is to be talking to them in person about this, as it may or may not even apply to them, but shows you've considered everyone.
2. Don't take photos as soon as people come into your studio or space. Talk to them, make them coffee, tea, whatever. Talk to them about where they are going to be using the images and whether they will be using them with copy text to the left or right. Look at the clothes they have brought with them and help them choose the first outfit to shoot. Reassure them if they have turned up with a zit from hell. It happens to the best of us, and rarely does anyone turn up looking immaculate. This is important, as people will feel more relaxed with people they like and trust.
3. Kit-wise, find a style and stick to it. I use three Godox AD200 with the bulb head on a Godox S2 Speedlite Bracket for Bowens. I use Godox strip boxes, as they are cheap but good quality and offer a decent amount of diffusion. I turn on the guide lights so that the eyes adjust to the light and we see more of the color in the eye. They are set up in a triangular configuration with the top two parts of the triangle at 1/16 power and the bottom horizontal strip box set at 1/32. My Canon EOS R is set up at f/4-5.6 at around ISO 200 and 1/160 a second shutter speed on a Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens. I always use a tripod, and my kit of choice in the studio is a Manfrotto MK290XTA3-3WUS 290 Xtra Aluminum Tripod with the 804 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head. I shoot tethered using a Tether Tools TetherPro USB Type-C Male to USB Type-C Male Cable and edit into Adobe Lightroom Classic. You can also use Capture One, as the tethering on that is better, but I prefer using Lightroom.
4. Get good at banter. The face is an expression map of people's feelings, concerns, and worries. The best way I've found to get great, expressive photos is to make people laugh and shoot through the smile. By that, I mean, first, start by understanding the key stages of the facial expression. During the initial energy in the face from hearing something funny, they might tilt their head back and laugh, and then comes the cooldown. The energy still resides in the face for a second or two, and this is what you are aiming to capture, as this is the most impressive part. The final stage is where the face returns to the expression prior to what made them laugh or smile. Getting good at making people laugh puts them at ease and brings out their personality. Plus, you get some incredibly expressive and amazing photos that are going to blow people away. Remember, most people will have never seen themselves like this.
5. Use an app or a notepad if you're not good at coming up with things to say to people. I recommend Peter Hurley's Hurleyisms. It's a good way to have instant access to a few funny things to say if you freeze up, and it'll get you into the habit of coming up with things that will eventually lead you to develop your own banter and style.
6. Get some good training. I recommend The Headshot: The Secrets to Creating Amazing Headshot Portraits. It's what led me to train with Peter Hurley in London when I took the Headshot Intensive training a few years ago. It really took me down another path, generating an additional income stream that makes me a decent amount every year.
7. Advertise on LinkedIn. Most of the clients that are going to need a great headshot will be found there. Use headshots you've taken in the past to advertise for new clients. Write a blog on how a killer headshot is going to raise people's profiles that they can use on their website and social media.
8. Pricing-wise, big companies will tend to want all of their employees photographed at the same time for maybe a website refresh or even employee badges, so remember to give them the price of a day rate as well as the option of a session rate and price for editing chosen images. The session cost is usually what I charge for a single two-hour session, and then, I charge per image edited. For multiple-client business sessions, you can still have a ful- or half-day rate, but you should spend at least 30 minutes with each member of staff to get the best shots out of them. Don't try to rush everyone through, or you'll end up with unhappy clients and will be unlikely to get a repeat booking or even have them choose more than one shot.
9. Once your session is over, sit the client down, make them a cup of coffee, and allow them to choose their images. If I've shot around 200-250 images in a two-hour session, then most people choose around 20-25 images to purchase. These are edited and uploaded to my finished client platform. I also upload all the unedited images to another gallery and inform every client that for every recommendation I get because of them, as soon as the new client books in, I allow them to choose an image from the unedited gallery to be edited and keep free of charge. This is a good referral system, as it's using people that are already happy with their images I wouldn't otherwise sell, and it's good to be able to reward people for recommending you.
10. Partner with a local makeup and hair stylist. Lots of clients will do their own hair and makeup, but offering the service at an additional upfront cost makes this more of an experience for people and makes the session a little more special. You can work on a referral fee from your hair and makeup artist and earn extra revenue from the session.
Hopefully, this will give you a little insight into how I run my headshot business.
13 Comments
So in addition to using the same Hurley lighting for each subject, people also use a list of Hurley-isms?
Dang, that's interesting...
So I'm just mentioning what I use Mike Ditz . You are of course free to use it or not use it. That is your choice and these are my suggestions. As I say in the article "it'll get you into the habit of coming up with things that will eventually lead you to develop your own banter and style." If you are already an established headshot photographer then I put it to you, you wouldn't need the tips included in this article.
I just wasn't aware that a script was part of the Hurley headshot program...
A guy I knew back in Detroit would tell the subjects to say different variations of "hey".
Hey! I like that lol. It's not it's just an idea to help new photographers connect with their subjects
I was daft enough to pay for the Peter Hurley video some years ago. It actually taught me very little, apart from the knack of saying every shot is amazing. (So that bit did change my approach with clients, so I will say thanks to Mr H for that bit. :) ).
Peter works with a lot of confident and successful actors. It is almost impossible to get a bad shot with them. Saying daft things to achieve a response will most certainly get us a lot of expressions - few of them will be useful or good. It's the stocking-filler of posing techniques.
Unless we've got a subject who can look amazing without trying, headshot work is far more detailed and nuanced. Two shots with only tiny differences in the eyes can be a world apart. I find a slower more considered approach gets better results tan throwing "isms" out there.
I think there is too much slavish copying of well-known photographers' techniques. They're often trying to "sell" us something different because that's what can set them apart. But different isn't always better. I doubt any of us would struggle with a triangular setup which gives weird catchlights and awkward modelling, if a celeb 'tog hadn't told us to do it. And I doubt many of us would have subjects contort their bodies so every part was facing a different way.
The secret to great headshots isn't in the wizz-bang of a session. It is in the communication, it's having a relaxed and confident subject, and it's almost all about the eyes. Simple lighting that doesn't distract and knowing how to place light for a subject rather than blasting with the same setup we used for the last 100 people.
It isn't about "cinematic" backgrounds or crazy shallow depth of field... It is about the subject. If we're noticing anything else first, then the shot has failed. It may suit our photography urges - but that isn't what a good headshot is about.
Hurley's marketing is brilliant. He's a nice guy and I'm sure I'd like him if we met. FS has made him very popular here, but if we look wider, there are some really amazing photographers who we can learn from. And if we want to see great work - it's often to be found with headshots for the A-listers, who recognise what is important in a great shot and so choose their photographer well.
I'd say that LinkedIn is expensive for the returns it gives, so not sure about that one.
I prefer to work WITH the client as we go rather than show them results after the shoot. We can choose and narrow down shots before moving to the next setup. But then I only offer them 3 images from each "look" so it is important to have things structured.
Throw away any notes with suggested "isms." Have a conversation with your client as you shoot - but remember when they're chatting, they're not looking right for a capture 99% of the time. So balance informality with productivity.
Smile all the time - even when the shots aren't looking great yet in the session. If you are confident, they'll be confident. (THAT, I didi learn from Mr H).
If you're getting 30 minutes with each subject on a multi-headshot corporate session, then you're being treated with time. I've had that and it is lovely, but the reality is that you'll have 5-10 minutes for each. Unless you have a disaster of a subject, you should be able to get a great shot. But this knack comes with experience. I've had as little as 25 seconds for each (yes you read that right...) for Christian Dior. Never want to be there again. Or 2.5 minutes per for Addeco with 150 staff - and that included me popping on a quick dust of makeup each.
On the subject of makeup - learn it. I have about £1000 of Mac makeup in a Pelicase. Many shades and types of powder, different brushes, colour correctors and primers, facial cleaners (before an after makeup), and moisturiser for after they remove the gunk... Because we don't always have a MUA budget but the client still needs to look great. I can transform someone in about 4 mins. (Just don't ask me to do their eyeliner or lipstick...) Oh, and sanitising stuff so you can spray powders between subjects and enough brushes if you have multiple subjects. Practice a LOT on friends and yourself.
As the author of this piece suggests, shoot tethered. Capture One is faster, better and more stable for tethered work than anything else. And it remembers adjustments from a shot to the next quicker than LR. There are equally good copies of the expensive AeroTable by TetherTools and pop it on a quality light stand. (And GoodSync makes a cheap backup software to incrementally make backups as you shoot with Capture One).
Charcoal Grey is the most versatile backdrop colour there is. It takes light wonderfully so you can have colours, vignettes, virtually black or almost white. Popups are fast and Lastolite makes a White / Grey which is only 1/3 stop off Charcoal. (Get their overpriced magnetic holder - you won't be disappointed.)
If you're shooting mass-headshots for corporate, shoot a background plate shot without anyone in it. Very useful if you need to replicate a backdrop because anything other than white or black is tricky to match perfectly. This makes for an easy masked option when you come back and get he backdrop very close to before.
Speedlights are cheap, but they're not as good a choice as strobes for headshot work. This is an investment for years - don't cheap out.
Although the author suggests finding a style and sticking with it, this limits you in a session with multiple looks. I aim for 3 looks in my standard session, and we might go for 3 different vibes. I can go from serious ball-busting CEO to friendly dad next door with just a lighting and jacket change. This takes us away from formulaic lighting of course - but we're photographers not slavish replicators, so we understand how... right...? Heck I can get 7 different looks with one softbox and a backlight. (But it helps to have more tools in the box).
Have a killer portfolio and simple website that shows work big and clear. Only your best, amazing work - and stuff you'd want to replicate because clients have a knack of saying "like this one."
Backups of everything because sessions are short and a dead-something will spoil the flow very quickly. I have backup cameras, laptops, lenses, strobes... even duplicates of most of my makeup powders.
Headshots are simple beasties - which makes them difficult to do well. If the eyes aren't drawing you in, then try again.
Good and useful article!
Thank you Manny.
Very nice set of tips!
I find the eye catchlights distracting a bit. You arranged three thin softboxes in a triangle. Was there some reason you did it that way? Have you considered shooting through the centre of a ring diffuser? That makes a nice, round, pleasant catchlight.
Probably wouldn't be noticed by anyone who wasn't a lighting nerd, though! :-)
Thank you for your nice comments Jan Steinman . Yeah I kinda like the triangle effect catchlight for me it pulls people into the eyes and whilst they don't necessarily know why the eyes captivate, they do and I put it down to the lighting. It's not always that easy to get right as they have to be adjusted to each particular individual but when it's right it creates a lovely falloff and balanced lighting. Filling the face with light also fills any potential wrinkle lines and softens them making for a much more beautiful shot in my opinion. And it's okay us nerds have to stick together ;). Kind regards. Peter
The triangle lighting set up was made popular by Peter Hurley and his headshot system.
Yes I learned that and several other types of lighting when I trained with him several years ago in London.
Nice article Peter... But I have just one important question.
Is that the Go Compare guy?
Ha ha Yes it is! Wynne Evans. He's a great guy, an awesome singer and we did his headshots for his new BBC programme.