Hey folks! Just did a photo shoot for my new headshots. I’d appreciate hearing from any of you who would like to pick a favorite and let me know! They haven’t been touched or cropped yet.
I have divided them into three groups. You can tell me your favorite from each group, or you can just tell me your favorite over all, or you can tell me that I’m ugly and stupid and that I should give up on all my dreams of showbusiness!
I suggest getting a haircut - invest about $60 and get something current, hip, classy, and flattering. Your hair screams - SCREAMS - early 90’s in the way that poodle hair screams “80’s.”
Unless you’re auditioning for “Reality Bites 2 (Reality Bites Back)”, get a haircut!
I, too, would suggest updating your look by seeing a good stylist. Unless what you’ve got going for you is working. In which case, I’d still suggest updating your look.
Don’t get a haircut. It looks good (to this guy you probably have no desire in attracting). Only thing is you don’t want to try looking dangerous, because if you do that (or bend your head over just so) you end up looking like that creepy guy from Kindergarten Cop.
What look are you going for? There are several fine (heh) ones.
The most important thing about headshots is that they are supposed to look like you. Touching up, makeup, glamor shots, etc. are all bad ideas. Overly posed shots just scream “unprofessional” in my experience. Good lighting is important as well as a fairly “front-on” view. You want to be able to see the whole head, usually down to about the shoulder. Shots where the face takes up more than 3/4 of the photo are usually bad ideas. You want the shots to be as accurate as possible, let the casting director and makeup/wardrobe people decide if you need alterations. Every professional actor I’ve worked with has a head shot which is immediately and easily recognizeable as them. Good lighting, face-on, no funky profile shots or slouches or weird angled shots. Shoulders level and fairly square is the norm as well. Some more advice and tips on head shots can be found here.
1-B, 2-C, 3-H (perhaps on 3-H). I like the overall lighting of 3-C but you look a little alarmed or startled.
Group 1 is the best overall, but the lighting is such (especially in A and B) that your eye bags are emphasized too much. Not that you really have eye bags, or circles under your eyes, because it’s obvious that you don’t. It’s just that the lighting in Group 1 tends to emphasize the circles around everybody’s eyes. If the retoucher can soften up the eye bags in Group 1, that would be good. (I used to work as a photo retoucher so I know all about getting rid of eye bags!)
1 B (maybe too much shadow, but it’s a good shot)
2 C
3 C
Group 3 has a few that might work. I do think you really need something that shows you full-face. 3G wouldn’t work for a headshot. It would be okay for a contact sheet. Actually, the same goes for 2C, as well
I like the lighting and background of group 1, but no single shot jumps out at me; if I had to pick one, I’d say D is the best angle of your face.
Group 2 definitely has a scary-fellah vibe to it, which could be a good or bad thing depending on the roles you’re going for. I like C best because it loses the creepy vibe and has a more identifiable background (in half the pics, I can’t tell what the background was and that was distracting to me for some reason).
I don’t really like any of group 3. You tend to look awkwardly positioned in these shots, even hunched over. Instead, I think you want a much more confident appearance.
So, in summary: Group 1, shot D, and Group 2, shot C, are my faves.
Group A: I think this is definitely the best group. I like both pictures A and B.
You look great in B, but you look more interesting, more rich in character in picture B.
Group B: I like pciture C.
Group C: The worst group, but there is something about picture C.