What Makes a Good Headshot

For quite a lot of people, especially those involved in the acting business of the creative media sector, their headshot will be a very important way to get themselves out there in the business world. Without a headshot, most agents or production companies won't know what the talent looks like and therefore won't get a good idea of what they'll be working with. It'd be bad if you were asking for a dark-haired model and ended up with someone who was platinum blonde. However, someone's headshot tends to say quite a lot about them, and therefore it's very important that your headshot looks good and represents you well.

In an attempt to discover what made a good headshot, I researched into what people thought a good headshot consisted of, and decided to use the research that I collated in order to make a judgement on how to improve my own headshots.

According to a magazine called 'Backstage' (accessible at https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tips-better-headshot-11730/), here are a few things to consider when structuring your headshot.

• Personality
• According to the magazine, a good way to improve your headshot is to "make sure it looks like you." If you present a headshot to a director and it looks absolutely nothing like you, you're unlikely to make a good impression. Therefore, it's highly recommended to not go completely crazy with post-production editing and ensure that your headshot shows your 'type', so that casting directors may get a good idea as to what they'll be working with if they hire you. With this in mind, I'll be sure to not airbrush my headshots once they're complete, and will attempt to make myself look as 'normal' as I usually do.
• Eyes
• A slightly less obvious tip suggested by the magazine relates to the eyes of the subject. According to the magazine, "it's all about the eyes and what's happening behind them". If you're the subject in a headshot and your eyes appear dull and glazed over, then you'll not seem like a very energetic model to be working with, therefore losing out on favour with the director. However, showing some energy and life behind your eyes within a headshot will make you seem like someone a director would want to work with. Considering this, I'll have to ensure I don't appear bored or tired during my headshot, and will have to make sure I get plenty of sleep the night before (although there's nothing to be done about the bags under my eyes).
• Framing
• Unsurprisingly, a big portion of what makes a headshot look good is the framing of it. Backstage magazine recommends that your headshot will usually be a three-quarter shot rather than something like an extreme close-up, which won't show much of your face or torso at all. Ideally, a good headshot will show the model's head and shoulders within the frame. It's also recommended to use a rather high depth of field for the picture, in order to get a blurred background and therefore more focus on the subject. This isn't something I as a subject can control, but it'll be something to remember when I receive my headshots as blurring is something possible in post-production.
• Clothing
• It's also recommended that for your headshot, you don't go ridiculous with your clothing that you choose to wear. Ideally something simple and professional that doesn't distract from your face. In fact, the magazine quoted earlier recommends that your clothing "matches your eyes", perhaps in an attempt to draw the viewer's eyes towards your face. In any case, I'll have to consider whether my usual attire of hoodies and sweaters will suit the nature required for a good headshot.
• Lighting
• Finally, the magazine recommends thinking about what kind of lighting you want to use for your headshot. As someone who did two years of a photography course, I'm well aware of what lighting looks absolutely terrible for attracting attention and what works. Therefore, when having my headshot taken, I'll want to avoid bright sunny days where the sun will draw massive contrast on my face.

Whilst all of these tips are good in practice, it can be hard to remember it all when having your headshots taken. Therefore, I decided to research further into some good examples of other people's headshots, and what they did right in order to learn what I can replicate for my own headshots.

Within these three headshots, we notice several things in common:

• A blurred background, which attracts more of the viewer's attention towards the model's face and not distracting them from what is the entire purpose of the headshot.
• An angle that shows the entire model's face as well as a small portion of their torso, which varies slightly from shot to shot; usually, it's a small portion of the shoulders although the second example goes a little lower.
• A focused gaze on the camera with some expression behind the eyes - the second example shows some clear focus from the model, with his brows furrowed whereas the first example has a pleasant smile and centered gaze, showing her focus as well.
• Simple but presentable clothing that matches the model quite well whilst not distracting from the main subject of the photo; their face. There's no ridiculously bright colours or wavy patterns, instead just muted colours that add some life to the image whilst not distracting and pulling at the viewer's eye.
• Minimal editing (as far as I can tell), allowing you to see the specific details of each actor. You can see the lines of their face and the details of their minor wrinkles, giving a director a perfect idea of what kind of cast they'll be working with if they decide to hire you.

Conclusion

With all of this in mind, I feel that I've gotten a much better understanding of what makes a good headshot. When I have mine taken, I'll have to ensure that I wear simple clothing that looks good but isn't super colourful, as to not distract from the main subject of the headshot. I'll want to choose soft but ideally natural lighting (not bright sunlight, which will cause massive shadow contrast on my face) and will want to ensure that I'm putting some effort into my expression and gaze into the camera. This all is rather foreign to me, as I'm used to being behind the camera (and have even taken some headshots for my sister in the past). However, I feel that using all of the research I've gathered now, I can make my headshot appear at the very least presentable (and ideally stand-out).