Headshots. First Impressions Count.

Having a great headshot is as important today as it has ever been.

You may ask why that is and what has changed in the last ten years or so to make it so. And the answer is two words, Social Media. I live in the busy and beautiful town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, where standing out from the crowd is the same as in any other big town or city.

Quick scrolling through feeds and swiping along someone’s images has become a fast-paced affair. Time is precious for most folk after all.

So for someone on LinkedIn seeking to get noticed for their next job, or for a headshot photographer like myself, whatever image we show needs to be spotted and to stand out.

Portrait of snooker pro Ken Doherty

I once met someone who used to work at Linkedin, and he said how important a good headshot photograph is on someone’s profile. It can say a lot about someone at the end of the day.

As a headshot photographer who works out of my studio in Tunbridge Wells, I have the tricky job of choosing 4 images to put on my homepage out of hundreds in my archives.

It is said that when we visit websites, we subconsciously decide within a few seconds whether to stay or leave. So those 4 photographs I choose has to tell a viewer very quickly about my style and how I love to shoot.

A headshot for Alice using just natural light.

So what elements in a headshot make it stand out from the rest? Well this is just my take, but key I think is to not have the ‘employee of the month’ type dated imagery, with forced grins and uncomfortable suits.

The more natural and ‘you’ that we can achieve from a portrait session the better. This means to wear something that you are comfortable in and that gets the message across about who you are or what it is you do for a job.

A Portrait of head chef Robin Read in his restaurant ‘The Counter’ in Tunbridge Wells.

Technically for me, I light my headshot and portrait sessions simply and effectively, using a mixture of natural light and flash.

Before I even pick up the camera, the kettle goes on and I want to find out about the person I’m about to photograph, what they do, what makes them tick, and what they want from the session. Armed with this info, we get the very best out of the shoot.

So to sum up, having great imagery is so important, be it for your next casting and to put on Spotlight, or for LinkedIn for that next job opportunity.

If you’d like to find out more about how I work or would like to enquire about booking in a headshot session please do get in touch, it would be lovely to hear from you.

Steve.