What your photographer needs in order to provide you with a successful headshot session: Part II

Headshots by Vanie Poyey

This is a two part blog and Part I of this blog post can be found HERE.  This blog is about examples and would make more sense if you read Part I first.

To summarize Part I, a person’s attitude can pretty much make or break a headshot session.  A controlling attitude can stifle the creative process of a photographer while a trusting one can bring about the freedom to get more creative with exceptional results.

It truly does take two to tango and every once in a while, you dance with a partner that can do so exceptionally well.  Allyssa Schmitt (below) is a shining example of someone who had done her research and trusted the process of the photographer she chose.  Our dance was fluid and it allowed me to break out of the steps I’m accustomed to and venture into an exploratory and fun tango!  She had a great attitude, was sure her pictures were going to turn out well and truly embraced the process of getting her pictures taken with me.  Yes she had the same concerns as everyone else like for instance dark circles under her eyes but she was able to let go and have fun because dark circles are not something to fret over when there’s Photoshop!  Having her trust me gave me the freedom to play and from that freedom came some great spontaneous moments.  With Allyssa’s shoot if it wasn’t for the freedom she gave me, I wouldn’t have noticed the old car on our way back that then made me think of having her somehow use it for our shot, and I wouldn’t have noticed the wall we used for her edgier look for which we had to sneak onto private property!  It was a fun adventure!

I find that for the most part those who aren’t happy with the results for their session weren’t happy to begin with.  Having a negative attitude about how you’ve never taken a great picture and bringing that in on the day of your session isn’t going to help your results!  Showing up sick to a session and complaining about not looking good when you should have rescheduled in the first place, isn’t going to help either.  Complaining about how you hate the process, constantly stopping the momentum of a shoot because you are self critical, have baggy eyes, bad skin, or because you can’t make up your mind about clothing or feel the need to fix your hair after every shot will not only slow down the process but will completely deplete me of my creativity.  With such sessions I’m pretty much on auto mode waiting for you to be done fussing over yourself so I can shoot some pictures put down the camera and wait again.  That is not the way great moments are created and captured!  That is not a Tango!  When makeup becomes such a process that it takes two hours of changes for you to still not be happy with your face, then of course you’re not going to be happy with your pictures.  Fact:  In twelve years, I’ve cancelled two sessions for this very reason.  Regretfully I didn’t cancel a third which I should have.  If you’ve done your research, have studied your photographer’s portfolio which also showcases their makeup artist’s work, then when you hire him or her, you simply need to trust and let the professionals do their job.

The process of creating successful headshots comes from collaboration and input, not control.

Enjoy Allyssa’s photos and if you enjoyed this post, share it and subscribe!

Tags: acting headshot, Acting Headshots, actor headshot, actor headshots, actors headshot, actors headshots, actress headshot, actress headshots, commercial headshot, commercial headshots, digital headshots, great headshots, head shots, head shots in los angeles, Head shots LA, headshot, Headshot photography in Los Angeles, headshot photography los angeles, headshots, headshots for actors, headshots in los angeles, headshots la, headshots portraits, Hollywood Headshots, LA Headshot Photographers, LA headshot photography, LA Headshots, Los Angeles Head shot Photographer, Los Angeles Headshot Photographer

What your photographer needs in order to provide you with a successful headshot session: Part I

Los Angeles Headshot Photographer: Vanie Poyey

Speaking for myself, I find that my most  amazing sessions have a lot to do with a client’s attitude coming into the session.  I realize headshots are a large investment and that there is a lot riding on them.  And often by the time actors come to me, they’ve had one or more bad experiences, their agents haven’t been happy with any of their pictures and they are at a complete loss.  Regardless, assuming you have done your due diligence and have thoroughly researched photographers, once you make a decision, it’s important to trust your decision as well as the process of the photographer you chose to work with.  In other words, let the professionals do their job.

What I’m about to say can easily be misunderstood so I want to be very clear.  I’m not saying your input isn’t important and I’m not saying you shouldn’t voice your concerns or opinions. However, when  someone is overly controlling about every aspect of  the shoot from the largest detail to the smallest of details, it tends to stifle creativity.  Not only is the organic process gone, but I’m worried about making the slightest wrong move and failing to please my client.  I’m worried that what I do isn’t what they want so I’m extra careful to only do the things they ask me to do.  I refrain from offering my usual advise and typically end up confining myself to tight parameters which doesn’t leave room for spontaneous moments that make for great pictures.

Believe it or not a person’s attitude can become a self fulfilling prophecy and can literally make or break a headshot session.   The person who walks in with a negative attitude, constantly stopping the flow and the momentum because they are worried about what is going to go wrong because of what has gone wrong in the past, is very likely to walk away with pictures that don’t represent what I do in my body of work.  This is never intentional on my part but if I’m prevented from doing what I normally do how can my pictures turn out the way they usually turn out?  The person who comes in with a positive attitude, is free and open to new experiences, open to direction and entrusts me with the experience, will very likely walk away with exceptional results.

Part II of this post will outline some examples and show you the most amazing session of the year because of my client’s amazing positive attitude!  Stay tuned and share your experiences here!

Below are headshots wrapping up the last of the batch from 2011!

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe!

Tags: acting headshot, Acting Headshots, Actor Head Shot, actor head shots, actor headshot, actor headshots, actors headshot, actors headshots, actress headshot, actress headshots, commercial headshot, commercial headshots, digital headshots, great headshots, head shots, Head shots in LA, head shots in los angeles, Head shots LA, head shots los angeles, headshot, Headshot photography in Los Angeles, headshot photography los angeles, headshots, headshots for actors, headshots in los angeles, headshots la, headshots los angeles, headshots portraits, Hollywood Headshots, LA, LA Headshot Photographers, LA headshot photography, LA Headshots, Los Angeles Head shot Photographer, Los Angeles Headshot Photographer

“There is no copyright”

Headshots in Los Angeles by Vanie Poyey

He said, speaking over me when I attempted to explain why I don’t give out all the high resolution images with my packages.  In a very antagonistic tone, he said it again after I attempted to explain a second time “No no no there is no copyright, who does that?” .  So I wished him luck and hung up the phone.  The actor will remain unnamed but I was a little perturbed by the hypocrisy of this fellow “artist” during this one way conversation which started as an inquiry of my services.  Musicians live on royalties, actors live on residuals,  and photographers live on licensing their images and most of us “do that”.

As my colleague Joe Henson from NY so eloquently put it…

“This issue is definitely one of the biggest struggles in our profession, the concept of licensing fees for the needs of different clients.  Because photography has been devalued by the explosion of talented amateurs who have no real need to protect the rights to their work and because original digital files are reproducible with no degradation of quality, we professionals have to dig in our heels and protect what little value we have left to the rights of our work.  I find it easiest to explain licensing fees to my clients by establishing a link between my rights as a photographer and the rights they retain in their given field.”

To establish that link with the acting profession, I would like to point out that as an actor your union protects the rights to your image in many ways one of which is by making sure you are properly paid for the different uses of your image.  If a show plays an episode you’re in x amount of times, you get x amount of residuals.  In addition, if a show plays an episode you’re in on network TV vs. basic cable, you get x amount of $.   Similarly if you book a national commercial, you get compensated differently than if you were to book a regional one or a straight buyout.

These laws are in place to prevent your image from being exploited without proper compensation.

The same goes for all artists, architects, painters, poets, novelists, filmmakers, and yes photographers.

The Copyright Act of 1976 protects the creators of content, visual or intellectual.

So to get to the point, when you pay x amount of dollars for a headshot session the images of which are intended to be used for your personal promotional needs, you get x included in your package.  For me to exercise some control over how my photographs are used and to prevent them from being used in a manner not intended or paid for, I don’t give out high resolution images.  Instead, each high resolution image is purchased separately and paid for separately with a small copyright mark placed unobtrusively in the corner somewhere.  I ask that you respect my copyright.

If Warner Brothers decides to use your headshot to promote their next show, then Warner Brothers will need to license the rights to that image from me.  The value of that headshot changes when used to bring in big bucks by way of exploiting it as advertising for a show.  Starting to see the similarities in what we do as artists?

I hope so because there is copyright.

-Vanie

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe!

The following images are of my fellow clients, actors I’m grateful for because they support and respect my work as an artist.

Check out Tish’s blog as she documents about her session with us here!

Tags: acting headshot, Acting Headshots, actor head shots, actor headshot, actor headshots, actors headshot, actress headshot, digital headshots, great headshots, Head shot photographer in LA, Head shot Photography in LA, Head shot Photography in Los Angeles, head shots, head shots in los angeles, Head shots LA, head shots los angeles, headshot photographer, Headshot photographer in LA, Headshot photography in Los Angeles, headshot photography los angeles, headshots, headshots for actors, headshots in los angeles, headshots la, headshots los angeles, headshots portraits, LA Head shot Photographer, LA Head shot Photographers, LA Head shot Photography, LA Headshot Photographers