The Anatomy of A Headshot

The Anatomy of A Headshot

by William Lulow

Professional, commercial headshots are a genre unto themselves because there are certain guidelines that need to be followed to produce a successful one. They are mostly used to let the public know what the person looks like, not someone’s “notion” of how the person appears to her. It’s more of a factual record. With that said, it must also show a bit of the subject’s “personality.” The reason for this is that when someone publishes a picture of themselves, they usually want their viewers to come away with an idea of who the subject is and what he or she is “all about.” In the case of actors’ headshots, they want an accurate representation of themselves at a given point in time, so that casting directors really know what they’re dealing with for certain acting roles they are considering. 

Therefore, some of the requirements for good headshots are:

1. It must show the person’s whole head and face.
2. There must not be any deep shadows that tend to obscure facial details.
3. The shade or color of the person’s eyes must be shown.
4. The lighting should not call any undue attention to itself. It must be bright and “normal-looking”.
5. Ordinary street clothes, rather than any particular kind of “costume” should be the norm.

Here is one example:

Here, the subject’s face is totally lit with no shadows and the lights illuminating her hair serve to provide more information about her. And, the expression is a pleasant one.

This is another one that meets all the requirements. The face is well-lit and the attitude of the image is comfortable. The expression is one of confidence and her personality comes through the shot. There is also something else of note. Look at this extreme close up:

Look how nicely the color of her eyes is reproduced! Believe it or not, this is an important part of any headshot. Subjects with light colored eyes or even some with darker colored eyes can be rendered visible by making sure the pupils are as small as possible. This is achieved by having the modelling light on the flash units turned on. This brightens the light on the subject BEFORE the flash goes off and makes the pupils small thus showing the eye color.

Here’s another extreme close-up. Look at the color of the eyes and how small the pupils are. This is caused by having a modeling light on and the brightness of the flash that instantly makes the pupils contract, revealing the iris’s color. It’s another handy technique used in headshot photography.

Getting all the elements to work at the same time takes a lot of knowledge and practice as well as developing a good raport with one’s subjects. As often as possible, I try to have most of my subjects add hair  & makeup to the experience. One thing having a stylist at the shoot does is involve the person much more in the process of having her headshot done. Along with this, my technique involves finding out what kind of work the subject does, what their interests may be and explaining to them what I am doing as I proceed with the shoot. I may even suggest certain posing techniques and then do some experimentation, showing them the results on the camera’s LCD each time we change something.

I like to get a rhythm going for the whole session so that it begins to flow and the subject gets caught up in the process, as I mentioned. For this reason, I don’t like to use a laptop or programs like Capture One, which allows detailed inspection after each exposure. I believe this kind of thing interrupts the progress of the session itself. I do use this technique sometimes when there is an art director present on the set for one reason or another. But with general one-on-one portrait or headshot sessions, I like to shoot quickly in an effort to obtain just the right expression at an opportune moment.

Once I think we have captured a good expression with the right lighting, we go up to the office, download all the images and begin the choosing process. I always think that if I get good eye contact with my subject and it produces a reaction, that’s what I refer to as the “money image.” If the eyes can reflect a connection between me and my subject, I have the shot I want. The photographer can always say “smile” but if the eyes don’t have that special expression, you have missed it. You can always tell about how the session went by looking at the subject’s eyes. Try it!