Catalog > Photo & Video > Fine Art > Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide > Importance Of Your Headshot

Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Lesson 110 of 138

Importance of Your Headshot

Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Lesson 110 of 138

Lesson Info

Importance of Your Headshot

Here are some head shots. And I took these myself, as I mentioned. Super anti-social. And I decided that I would just do my own head shots. So I did, and that's what these images are. And I think it's important to have some head shots with clean backgrounds, black and white, so dark or light backgrounds. Just for people to choose from. I've had a lot of different people have very specific specifications of what they need in a head shot, so sometimes they'll say "Please only send with dark background." Or "please only send black and white." For example. It's good to have lots of options that give different clients different things. This is good to know if you're not going to do your own head shots, which I don't always recommend. Then make sure that you tell the person that you're going to get to do your head shots, "Well I'd like a dark background," "a light background," "a couple of different outfits." Just get it all done in one go so that you have all of these options to send people...

. Make sure that you feel like it's your personality, too. That's why I created this image here with the profile. Because I felt like that was me way more than the other images. I felt really awkward just looking and smiling at the camera, but then I didn't feel awkward when I could just finally look away. And you know, you might say "But that's not professional." Well, I don't care about that. So if there's a place that's not gonna hire me because of my head shot looking like that, I probably am not a good match for that organization in the first place. These are some extra images which are clearly not head shots. Clearly. I know. But these images are still important to present to people depending on what you're trying to do. Now I'm not going to put these in an official press package. Like I would never print this image out, stick it in there and send it in to somebody. Because first of all, it'd be really confusing. It's not a head shot, but it's also not one of your fine art images, so what is this thing? So this is something that I would put on a website, on an about me page, on a blog for example. I have two different websites. I've got BrookeShaden.com, my official website. I've got promotingpassion.com my blog. I put this on my about page of my blog. Because it's fun, cutesy, whatever. Shows my personality. And I just love this image. I wouldn't put my official head shot on my blog. Because that would look too professional to me. Too nice and clean. And I don't like that. I'd rather put a picture of my dirty feet or something like that on my blog. These are just a few images that I have. I was having an argument about how cool I look here. My thought being very, other people's being not at all. So you can weigh in on that. I think the bloomers really kill it for people. But I don't care, I like the bloomers. So just another image. Now this is not an image that I would use for anything official because it's not good quality. I have so many pictures of myself from cell phones that just look kind of crappy when it comes down to it with the quality. And we're photographers, so we cannot put out crappy images, okay. Even if it's just a silly about thing, it should probably still reflect nice quality imagery if that's what we're doing. Because those are the associations that people make. If someone is looking at your site who's not a photographer, and they see an image that's like low quality cell phone picture, they might associate that with what you do, so I would just stay away from really low quality images. I wish that this was a high quality image. I love this picture. That is 100 percent me in every single way. But it's not, so I don't use it.

Class Description

Creating a great photo for a client is one thing - but turning your passion and ideas into a series that is shared, shown, and sold is a whole different business. If you do it right, you’ll be shooting what you love all the time. Learn how to choose which ideas to create, how to turn your concept into a production, and steps to getting your work seen and even sold in Fine Art Photography: A Complete Guide with Award-Winning Photographer, Brooke Shaden.

This is an all-inclusive workshop that provides the tools you need to run a successful and creative business as a fine art photographer. You’ll learn creative exercises to find and develop your ideas, how to create an original narrative, how to produce your own photo series, post production techniques and skills for compositing and retouching, how to write about your work, ways to pitch to galleries and agents, and how to print your pieces so they look like art.

This workshop will take you on location with Brooke as she creates a photo series from scratch. She’ll walk through every step for her photo shoots including set design and location scouting, she’ll cover techniques in the field for capturing your artistic vision, post-production and compositing techniques, as well as printing and framing essentials.

She’ll round out this experience by discussing all of the details that will help make your career a success like licensing, commissions, artists statements, social media plans, gallery prep, and pricing your work.

This comprehensive course is a powerful look into the world of fine art photography led by one of the world’s most talented photographers, Brooke Shaden. Included with purchase is exclusive access to bonus material that gives exercises and downloads for all of the lessons.

Lessons

FOR ON-DEMAND ACCESS

Reviews

April S.

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Ron Landis

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

Angel Ricci

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.