Headshots are one of the most important things actors need to find work. An actor can flub one audition and nail the next, but a bad headshot remains a bad headshot. That’s why it’s in an actors’ best interest to make sure their headshots are professionally done and to take the necessary steps to make it the best it can be. So how can you do that during quarantine?
Shawn Allen McLaughlin, an actor and headshot studio manager, took part in a YouTube Live for Backstage’s new video programming The Slate to share the steps actors should take now in preparing for a future headshot session they can have when social distancing ends.
Headshots should capture the real essence of you.
“One thing to think about with headshots is that they literally just should look like you right now and look like you on your best day. You don’t need to have anything too fancy because that’s not really how you would look every day. It’s how you would go to an audition. Also, it should just show some personality and then your face should be straight on to the camera and your eyes should be looking into the camera. That’s kind of the basic setup for a headshot. So within those very simple guidelines, you can really have some fun with it. There are lots of different styles out there for photographers and for how they like to sell their headshots.”
How Actors Can Stay Fiercely Proactive During Quarantine Play into your types.
“Think about, what am I portraying? What am I giving off? What are my types? These are things that you can do on your own. Everyone has different characters that they just are believable as. Sometimes the type is more your personality than it is your looks and that way you can mix it up a little bit. A great way is asking a bunch of people who you know [and] ask them to write down like 10 different jobs that they think you would play on TV or something, different character roles. When we do headshots at our studio, we like to do either three looks or five looks depending on what people are doing. Sometimes for five looks you come in and you’re doing some commercial print as well and your agent needs a little more. But with those three looks, you can do such different types with those outfits. That’s something that you really want to think about. Personally, I’m like a dad, a husband, a newscaster, or something that wears a suit. Then I’m a nerdy kind of smart guy, which I am nerdy kinda smart. So those are my three general types and with those, I can wear an outfit for each that just kind of says yes, that is what it is. That’s exactly what you should be playing on TV or in film. Sit down and figure these out...Everyone has it in them to play different roles, but there are some roles that people say yes, that is what you’re going to play. It’s usually based on what you look like and your personality, a little bit of both together.”
Don’t let the outfit overshadow your personality. Let subtle colors do the work for you.
“When you think about outfits for headshots, the outfits really should be secondary to the character. You should look at it and think, yeah that belongs there, that’s right. So think about a movie that you watch where everyone is kind of dressed in the same style, especially a period piece. Everyone is dressed the same kind of style. No one really sticks out, it looks like it fits. You want to be as subtle as possible with your outfits that you’re picking because then you’ll just look like that character. You won’t look like you’re pushing, you won’t look like you’re trying too hard. You’ll just look like that character. A way to do that is with colors. This is a psychological thing…
If you wear green, like army green, people will think that you could be military. Like a tight army green T-shirt or a button-down, it has that feeling to it. Purple has a regal feeling to it. So if you want to play something that’s a little bit more upper class, you could add a hint of purple. Red just says sometimes like really sexy and fun and flirty. Yellow is a little bit quirky, and when I say quirky I mean a little bit fun and silly. All these colors mean something before you even put it on. Psychologically that’s something that can help you out with that as well. And so when you’re picking out your outfits and you’re picking out your different styles just know….you can put more than one picture up there. If you have stuff that’s just a little bit of a different feeling to it, it’s the feeling that it gives you, that’s something that you have to think about when you’re picking out your outfits.”
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