Having a professional image to use to promote yourself throughout the community is important. We tend to dislike having a portrait made because of several reasons. Number one may be because you’ve never had a professional portrait made. What’s the difference between getting a picture taken and having a portrait crafted? Plenty!

walt's head shotI’m a fan of the square crop but zoomed in to have more impact because these images are usually displayed small.

When people look at photos taken of themselves usually it was taken when they weren’t ready, were in poor light and due to past viewings of photos they always say, “I don’t look good in pictures!”. So tension rises leading to an even more uncomfortable looking photo. Add to that idea we see ourselves in the mirror which means seeing our face reversed from the photo so this compounds the problem of our self image. Lets add one more thing… We tend to freeze our self image in our brains to a time when we looked younger and supposedly better.

Many things go into deciding how the shoot should be accomplished. What is the message the person is trying to share? Powerful, friendly, approachable, knowledgeable or some combination of all attributes? Who is the audience for the photo? In what media will this be used? Knowing this information will determine the position the camera, wardrobe selection, lens choice, background choice and ultimately the success of the session. Remember that shooting into the shadow side of a person’s face adds depth and interest even if it is a subtle lighted area. This was a formal head shot of Walt who is in business development and a global IT services company with a focus on Energy and Utility companies. Let me know if you think we got it right….

head shot of waltOfficial formal business portrait. note the highlights on the short lit side of Walt’s face.

formal business portraitSquare crop for social media site like LinkedIn and Facebook.