The Tip of Your Career Spear: How to Choose a Headshot Photographer

Your acting headshot has the rather enormous and unenviable responsibility, of literally standing in for YOU. If you’re an actor who is not yet a well-known commodity, who isn’t recognizable to many or most industry professionals because you’ve been working a ton, on well-known shows, for some length of time, your actor headshots must be strong enough, engaging enough and compelling enough, to grab an overwhelmed professional’s attention, and MAKE THEM want to know more about you… within SECONDS.

An actor’s headshot can open or close a door. We’re talking about heartbeats, the fleeting moments when someone scrolls through a screen full of images, moves their eyes across dozens of headshots, searching for a solution to their problem. I’ve been in the room many times, I’ve been the one searching for talent as well, this process is enough to set your stomach churning, but it powerfully conveys this reality: Your headshot has one job in this early process… to STOP. THEIR. SCROLLING.

Your actor headshot offers YOU up as a solution to their casting problem… and I promise you, they have a problem they are urgently looking to solve, a role they need to cast, so they can move on to their next problem.

Casting Directors are human beings, professionals under a mountain of pressure, with their reputation and career potentially at stake with every job. They have no time to waste, they are over-worked, overwhelmed, and the clock is ticking for them to bring impressive actors to Producers to bring every role to life superbly. For them to spend any of their precious time looking at YOUR HEADSHOT, a number of elements must come together in that picture, and you, the actor, really must have a laundry list of stars all align in that moment, or you will never even have a chance to have a chance.

I cringe when I hear about inexperienced actors are looking for “a deal” on “cheap headshots.” They’re not willing to truly invest wisely, in the most essential tool they have to sell themselves in our brutally competitive industry. What does that tell a casting professional about the quality of the training and skills? Rarely anything good. They are reducing their chances of getting noticed at all.

I can also assure you that that Casting Directors are well aware of this telltale warning… if they see a headshot that is not up to professional standards, let alone excellent, that headshot it the first signal that actor should receive exactly the attention they deserve in that moment… which is to say none. NEXT!

A headshot must SHOW THEM HOW TO HIRE YOU. Is your “discount” photographer likely to have the expertise, experience and skills to skillfully help you dial in your casting and looks in a consultation before you shoot, and then capture those on shoot day? No, they most likely don’t even engage their clients in anything resembling that process.

SAG has rough guidelines on the price range of what competitive, professional headshots should currently cost. Do that homework, and know your market, before you go hunting. Should price figure into your choice? Of course… but should that be the driving metric? No. Your actor headshots have to stand in for you, and get you in the room! What is your career worth? What do lost opportunities really cost?

Save up, choose wisely, your headshot is an essential investment in YOU.

REALITY CHECK: Anyone can go out and buy a nice camera, buy some lights or a reflector, and run an ad online, calling themselves a headshot photographer. Don’t fall for nice cameras, pretty people in pictures and cool, flashy backgrounds… these are highly specialized tools we’re creating here, scroll-stoppers that convey your truth, your range, your brand… in an instant. Pretty pictures. “good enough” pictures are not enough.

Invest carefully, wisely, in a professional whose portfolio and client reviews backs up their advertising.

So how do you stop their scrolling?

The first hurdle is technical… the headshot photographer must know how to create a technically excellent acting headshot image. That’s accomplished with lighting skills, framing skills, posing skills, wardrobe and color choices, their ability to connect with you through the camera lens, and capture some essential core spark of your personality, your essence. They must accomplish that with you so effectively, that a stranger is immediately compelled to look at your headshot - longer than the others on the page: and that is no small set of essential requirements. How do you know if a photographer possesses the skills to accomplish this? Short of getting valuable recommendations from accomplished professionals you look up to, or a teacher or peer you truly trust, or for a very few, the recommendations of an Agent or Manager who has signed them… you have to do the hard work yourself.

You need to go on a hunt, get online and invest the time searching “Best Actor Headshot Photographer in…” (insert your area here) and spend the heartbeats pouring through portfolios… LIKE YOU ARE AN AGENT, a Casting Director, A Producer, looking to cast your next project. In short, you need to find someone whose work grabs YOUR attention and keeps it , and then you need to start reading the content that accompanies their headshots. Read their client reviews, good and bad, read their Bio, carefully… find out what value they offer… a pre-shoot consult? Okay, great, is it in person or online? Will they do this BEFORE your hire them, or only afterwards? (I meet every client, in person, on a separate day before their session, at no charge.) DO they shoot everyone the same (cookie cutter assembly line) or are they crafting looks and set-ups around the actor’s needs and individuality? Do they offer wardrobe consulting, in depth and in detail? Do they have meaningful entertainment industry experience, that will enhance your headshots? Do you have any reason, after looking at their work, reading their content, and learning about their process, to trust them with your money and time and dreams? Yes, I said it… you are trusting them with your career… because if you don’t seriously vibe with this person you are auditioning to create with you, for you, you’re not gonna come out with the goods, and that is going to cost far more than your headshots. It will cost you time and opportunities. Get on the phone, not just an e-mail, and actually get a sense of who you’re talking with.

Does this photographer offer professional hair and make-up, do they shoot indoors in the Studio, outdoors, both, or only one? Are they competitively priced, or are they worth a premium because they are outstanding? You are selecting the person who is going to create your first, front-line tool to launch or elevate your career. PRO TIP: NO ONE is watching your reel before they see your headshots and love them, any more than they’re watching your self-tape before they look at your headshots. Your headshot must be strong enough, compelling enough, engaging enough, to make them willing to SPEND MORE OF THEIR TIME ON YOU. If you are bargain shopping and settling for lesser quality for the most fundamental tool you require to drive your career, you are imperiling, truly risking the loss of the things you have the least of… TIME and OPPORTUNITY. This shouldn’t cost your rent money, but it should be a real investment.

There’s more, a lot more to this quest for your personal headshot photographer. Can they accomplish the job that YOU NEED DONE? If you know and own both your Casting and your BRAND, (do they know the difference, do you?) then their job is much simpler. If you have a “Headshot A Game,” and can drop right in in front of the lens on shoot day, relax, connect powerfully,  and start killing it in the first few frames, the headshot photographer has a much easier time of it. But if you are like most actors who are not well seasoned and experienced, these essential skills are not yet totally at your fingertips, your command, and you need a truly skilled professional on the other side of the camera who knows how to guide you, how to work with you and direct you as an actor, to draw out your best moments, and catch them with their camera. THAT is what the very best of us do… we support you, we are a lighthouse for you, we empower you to deliver your very best acting work, on cue, on demand, when the camera is pointed your way on the day. We build rapport with you at light speed, we capture your ability to be truthful under false circumstances, and put that talent, that skill, your essential power, into an unstoppable headshot. We also make this an incredibly empowering, enjoyable experience.

This is the kind of process you deserve to have, you must have, to create superior actor headshots that will set you apart from the sea of hopefuls, show off your talent and essence magnificently, and open the doors you need to walk through, to give you the chance to do the work you’re determined to accomplish. Don’t settle for anything less, because I promise you, you’ll be going up against other folks, who refuse to settle, and are in this to crush it. Invest energy and time on the front-side, make your headshot investment wisely, and you’ll be well on your way to beating the odds, and on your way to the career you envision.