How I prepared for my Headshots

Back in September, I had my first professional photo shoot for a new headshot. Before the day of the shoot I was absolutely terrified and had no idea how I was supposed to act or what I was supposed to do. As I am typing this I am now realising how ridiculous that was, and I am so pleased with how the final photos looked. So I thought that this week, I would talk a little bit about my experiences and what I was advised when getting my headshots taken.

Fist of all, I got my headshots done with a company that I had been following for a couple of years - Flying Fletcher Headshots. I had heard of them when applying for my university and they took all the headshots for the students involved in the London Showcase at the end of last year, so when I needed a headshot for my Disney CEP application and they were doing photo shoots for a week in my area, it seemed silly not to contact them. They were very reasonably priced, with their rates starting at £80 for three edits (£60 with student discount). They said if I promoted them on Facebook I would get an extra edit for free and they also sent me an additional photo of me that they used on their Facebook Page, so I was actually given a total of five edits which was fantastic for the price that I had paid for them.

Photo Credit: @FlyingFletcherHeadshots

One of my biggest worries was what I was going to wear for the photo shoot. The Photographer told me to bring an arrangement of clothes with me so we could swap and change and play around with a few different styles and looks. I was advised to stay away from tops that were too low cut and of tops with spaghetti straps as they were not appropriate for casting headshots. To stay on the safe side, I brought two jumpers (one of which was a turtle neck) and a sleeveless top; all of these tops were appropriate for the photo shoot. 

I was also advised that I should bring clothes with a variety of colours that suit my, so that match my eye colour or colours that bring out my natural tones. I was very worried when they said this at first as I usually just pick up clothes and wear them if I like how they look, I have never thought about if the colour matches my skin tone. I was very worried at first, as my first thought was to go with a blue top. I tried on a couple of blue tops, but although these matched my eye colour they seemed to wash out my skin tones. But there was one day when I was out shopping and I spotted a stripy green jumper. I tired it on and it was perfect. It was stripy and had different tones of green, all of which really complimented my skin tone, and I knew that I needed to take this top with me on the photo shoot. I was advised to bring something patterned to stand out and I think the stripes were perfect as it did not over complicate things too much. 

I needed to wear my hair as I would have to wear it to an audition, which would just be my usual style. Having short, very curly hair naturally means that I am rather limited with what I can do with my hair anyway. I can tie it back, but that sometimes risks some hair from coming out of the style and doing its own thing, so my usual go to is just to leave it how it is. Luckily of the day, the wind was working in my favour and did not blow any of my hair in my face, if anything it brushed it away, which is exactly what we needed. The photographer was so surprised when we got to the end of the shoot and we hadn't had to touch my hair once, it just did it's own thing!

A major thing that I was worried about in this photo shoot was the fact that I had to wear little to no makeup. Usually I go out with at least eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, but for a casting director to really see me I needed to leave all of that at home. I did wear a small bit of mascara since my eyelashes are none existent without it and a nude lipstick, but that was it for this photo shoot. I don't think my face looks as terrible as I thought it would, I think my main reason for thinking the photos look a little off are purely from looking at my own face. It was scary for me to do a next to no makeup photo shoot, but I am very glad I went thought with it and I think I have some fabulous looking headshots.

I was also advised that on the day I should bring a hairbrush and my makeup with me, just incase any touch ups were needed.

Photo Credit: @FlyingFletcherHeadshots

At the shoot itself, I was asked what sort of characters I would play and I explained to the photographer the character types I tend to be cast as. We also played around with a couple of different styles to see if we could get some good headshots in the style of characters that I might not necessarily have played but what people may think of casting me as. Which is where this monstrosity came from up above. She wanted to take a photo of me looking deadly serious, and I just think I look a little dead inside. It was fun to play around with different character types though, and I did come out with some fantastic headshots.

After the shoot, I received the unedited photos that night and was told to select four to be edited. I sent them off the next day and received the finished edits about 1 to 2 weeks after I sent off the photos I wanted editing, which I was very happy with. I was also told that I just needed to contact them again if I wanted any additional edits or any edits in black and white.

So that's all I really have to say on the subject of headshots. I am absolutely in love with all the photos that I was given - edited or unedited. It as a really fun day when I had my photo shoot and luckily for us we avoided the rain! I feel like next time I go for a photo shoot I will be more relaxed and I will have a better idea of what to expect. I really hope that this post gave you some guidance as to what you may expect, and also I would 100% recommend Flying Fletcher Headshots if you are in need of a headshot as they were absolutely fantastic to work with!