There are a lot of photographers who give enough time to get range but then only include two or three touched up photos in the package. So as soon as you book that photographer, you put yourself in the position of having to pay more money for additional retouching in order to get photos that cover enough range.
A range of looks is what is useful to casting directors and employers, so photographers should ensure that their basic cheapest packages enable you to give us what we need. We all have range and a casting director will enjoy nothing more than successfully casting an actor as a type that they might not have seemed obvious for.
Ask photographers if they will put all photos from the session on a DVD or memory stick or enable you to download the whole session in a high-resolution format, not just the ones that they have re-touched for you.
Personally, I see little point in them withholding a few hundred photos of you on a hard drive, only to be deleted one day. It takes a few minutes and costs hardly anything to provide you with a DVD or an option to download, so I think it should be a part of the package and not an additional charge. Download — no cost to anyone. You might expect to be asked to pay the cost price for a memory stick or you could provide one.
Unless you are being paid rather than paying for the shoot, I would avoid agreeing to let a photographer sell your photographs or use them for any purpose other than to promote their photography work.
Be sure that there are no unreasonable limits as to what you can use them for. Many photographers are relaxed and trusting enough not to feel the need to have terms and conditions on their web-sites, but some do. Check that they are not too restrictive. Most actors know that its not appropriate to alter a photograph significantly, but if, for example, you want to crop a photo, I think you should be allowed to. I think that a good main shot should have a warm confidence confident, capable and pleasant to work with.
In some cases, it can make an actor look as much like a friendly person as it can someone not to be messed with. However, you no longer need one shot to say it all.
Most actors have range, and many can be as convincingly edgy as they can be friendly and much in between. So, for the Spotlight folio you need a few good headshots that show genuine range. An agent can then choose which photo to attach to a submission.
A photo that has nothing of the feel of the character that you are being suggested for might get you overlooked.
This is clearly very bad advice and is very likely to lead to all your photos having the same blank expression. To get real range, you might do some shots standing, some sitting, looking away, captured, some outside, different settings, different framing, different light, landscape as well as portrait crops.
Some looking warm, smiling, serious, edgy, hard, professional etc, etc, whist always still looking real and organic and not posed or forced. All of this is easy to get in one session of the right length, but not if all the photos are taken with you standing up, face on to the camera and staring down the lens. Take charge if this is how the session seems to be going, or you might not go away with the range that casting directors and employers will want to see.
Crops The right crop of a photo can increase its impact immensely. Cropping is quick and easy so I think a photographer should be prepared to give you more than just one crop of a photo. Longer and narrower often looks better, particularly with mid or full-length shots. Landscape crops Widely used in America and Europe, landscape shots are useful as they look more like a still from a film or TV screen.
Ideally a photographer will include a few on the contact sheets and be prepared to give you them as well as the standard portrait crops at no extra cost. More about crops below Portrait Style Famous people can get away with any old photo because it has little on nothing to do with them getting work. They sometimes use a still from a film or a heavily lit, stylised portrait taken for a magazine.
Often a bit more glamorous, made up, posed, etc. Good American actors are as uninterested in having this type of photo as good British actors are. I think there are a few US agents who push to get some of their good looking actors into the glossy soaps by sending them for this type of session. Most US casting directors will respond to a range of good and natural looking photos in the same way that British casting directors do. It is often useful to have a few shots with a bit more lipstick or more obviously made up look.
Landscape crops are popular in America and are becoming increasingly popular here and in Europe. A couple of actors have recently mentioned that some people in France like to see soft focus photos and I have seen a few Spotlight profiles with eyes soft in all images. This might look lovely in a magazine, but in the context of actors headshots, they just look out of focus.
Any style that makes you less clear to the viewer is best avoided. What can a good headshot do for me? Good photos are what make us look further. This is why good photos are essential and potentially career altering.
Above all, a handful of good photos that cover a useful range are likely to get you more meetings. Bad or uninteresting photos can work against you. Good photos will help you to get an agent or will enthuse your current agent to really push you, knowing that they have images of you that suit a number of casting briefs. Preparing for your headshot session As an actors, its always advisable to look after yourself and to try to look healthy for your session.
A recent client told me that she had read that its best to avoid coffee and sugar for a month before a session. That is obviously going too far, so enjoy a coffee before your shoot if you like. Try to arrive with an idea of what you want from the session. No harm in aiming to look like yourself on a good day, but hair, make-up and what you wear should just look fine but not pull focus.
I think you should check that your photographer has a bathroom or at least a large mirror and a plug socket close by. If it is apparent that you are wearing a lot of make-up, you are showing us that this is not necessarily what you look like in real life and this defeats the main function of the photo.
For some women it might be useful to have a more made-up look as part of their range, but it would be limiting if they were all like that. For most people, having your hair done before the session is not necessary. It can look too neat and you might want to do different things with your hair throughout the session anyway.
So just not too neat or too scruffy. Women should be given time to put hair up, straighten or curl it. Men can arrive unshaven and shave during the session if they wish to so you have both looks covered. I think darker, solid colours tend to work best. Colour is good, but more subdued than bright is usually best. Take a few options. Layers are good and varied neck lines but not all too wide or low so that we still see some of the top and allow it to frame your face, even in the tighter crops.
A white shirt under a jacket is fine. T-shirts with low necklines can look like dance tops on men so not necessarily ideal for headshots. Maybe a casual jacket and a smarter one if you like. So whilst what you wear can help to suggest types and range, in most photos, the look should not be too much about what you are wearing. If you wear glasses, take them with you and get a few shots. A photographer should be able to fix things on the computer if you have a spot or bags under your eyes, etc.
Action Shot — Having relevant action shots will increase your chances of being cast. Lighting — Using lighting properly to accent your best features and to brighten a room will increase the value of your photos.
Background — Uploading a photo with your bed in the background can seem pretty unprofessional. Either take your photos up against a blank wall, or a relevant backdrop i. We wish you the best of luck in landing casting calls, and hope these tips help. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. There are many reasons why Casting Directors need additional materials, like if they need to see you in specific wardrobe.
In their job posts , Casting Directors will leave specific instructions for what and how to submit. Please read these instructions carefully and only send what they ask for.
By showing Casting Directors you can follow directions in a job post, you give them confidence that you can follow directions on set. This one sounds obvious, right? Please be sure to take your photos in good lighting. This is especially important when casting doubles , since Casting Directors often need to match a principal actor exactly. There are many reasons to invest in a set of good quality headshots done by a professional headshot photographer. As previously stated, headshot is the first thing talent agents and casting directors will look at.
Only if you fit the part based on your looks will they look at your resume and show reel. You would be surprised how easily experienced industry people spot cheap photographs and how quickly they are put off. Your aim here is to avoid having your submission thrown into the trash bin right away. This industry has its standards and we must follow them.
In this case, the US and the UK markets were different in a few regards when it comes to headshots, but they are slowly blending together that is the UK industry is catching up with the modern standards of the US. This is not the time to be creative, weird and different. This is the standard size for the industry in the UK and the US.
Both are totally acceptable, and neither is superior to the other. The below two are good headshots that fit industry strandards:. Good portrait headshot example.
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