What is the advantage of digital headshots?

Saturday, April 4th, 2009 Headshot Q&A

As beautiful as film is, digital has certainly made it easier for photographers to produce work that their clients approve of. For one, during a digital session, at least with me, the actor gets to go through every shot taken. If there’s something we haven’t captured yet, we continue to shoot until we get what we need. Film not only prevented that “sneak preview”, but it also limited us to the number of rolls we could shoot. Now, I tend to keep shooting until both the client and I feel that we have enough to edit down to the “cream of the crop” in post.

Another advantage to digital headshots is that, if there is ever a question about wardrobe or makeup, we simply do a test shoot (just like the old Polaroid). The camera never lies! If you don’t like your makeup, we change it. If the outfit we chose doesn’t work, we change it. Digital sessions are almost re-shoot proof, since everything is previewed ahead of time.

For actors, the best advantage to digital headshots is the fast turnaround. Some photographers hand you a disc immediately after a photo session. I send you an online web gallery in one business day. The reason why we don’t just hand out a disc after the session, is because we take the time to process our images and color balance them for online viewing (but that’s a whole different topic).

The best advantage for photographers is the fact that we can show you what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes showing an actor how terrible that face he’s making looks, immediately eliminates the need to keep telling him/her not to do that!

Last but not least, my favorite part about shooting digital headshots is that I no longer rely on a lab to make my work look good in post. We do all our own color balancing, online proofing, and 8x10s. Although this may not seem like a big deal to an actor, it actually benefits them immensely to have a photographer see the process through from start to finish. There is much to be done in the “lightroom” as there was to do in the darkroom with film. All our headshots are essentially custom prints that we color balance, add contrast to, enhance the colors of, and retouch!