As an actor, what do you need to get started? Wondering, do you need headshots to be an actor, or what should acting headshots look like, or how to pose to look your best? My tips for the best acting headshots are intended to make you stand out from the crowd! Professional headshots are critically important. You need so much more than just the minimum requirements. Get noticed with the best acting headshots in NY – from Long Island to NYC!
Actors absolutely need headshots. They are an essential tool of the trade, necessary for uploading to on-line casting casting sites, as well as printed 8x10s to leave behind at your auditions, attached to your resume. A great headshot can open doors for you. A bad one will slam them shut! That means its essential that you find a photographer who specializes in acting headshots, to do this right. Its certainly not something you can wing on your own, because your dream is depending on this! Finding the right photographer is actually harder than finding a needle in a haystack, because virtually any photography studio will claim to offer headshots, despite the fact that they just don’t actually comprehend the difference between a portrait and a headshot, nor even the difference in their purposes. Their so-called “headshots” are really just portraits from the chest up. That’s not a headshot – that’s still a portrait and it will do nothing to give you any kind of edge over the ton of other people competing with you for the same roles. You don’t want to be just another “this is me” headshot in the pile! As one of the top headshot photographers in the country, Its my job to make you stand head and shoulders above the competition, and get you noticed by the casting directors!
Headshots are NOT portraits! A portrait is intended as a record, that captures the way someone looks and, if the photographer is any good, the subjects personality actually will shine through. That’s great for family portraits or senior portraits, but that’s got nothing to do with professional headshots. Acting headshots are not about who YOU are, but instead, about what you can bring to the role with your skills in portraying a character. Your headshots should not say, “This is me.”, they should scream, “This is what I can do!”. A headshot, be it for business or acting, is meant to sell you and your abilities. A business headshot should present you as a confident, competent, approachable professional who can get the job done. That’s also what your acting headshots need to say! They should show you as a confident, competent actor who can portray the character they’re looking for, – so good, that you’re good enough to pull that character off in a single still frame. These character shots tell a story. Every nuance of expression is a critical element that refines the details of the character’s back story. Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words.
So, what’s my back story? With a background that included a major in theatre and a minor in psych, along with my intuitive and empathic gifts, my fascination with human behaviour and motivation, makes me uniquely positioned as a professional photographer who understands the deepest and most subtlest expressions that form the intricate characters I capture in my actors. We actually have such a blast in the selection appointment as well! My actors are just blown away with their images, and really start to understand all the subtleties of expression in the images, as we start reviewing the images. A smile can be so many things… happy, charming, coy, or crazy! A dramatic expression can go from miffed, to angry, to enraged, to psycho! You just look at the images, and in a glance, you’ll see that they tell a whole backstory of the characters. Its mind-blowing to see the differences in characters… in one fram you’re a girl that had a bad day, and in the next, you’re one that had a bad childhood!
Because I have such a deep understanding of emotion, I can direct your through those expressions and then explain these nuances as we compare the images. This helps you understand which images to submit for which types of roles. It also helps you, as an actor, to hone your skills even further, and make you better at your craft, refining your character portrayals to a much deeper level. These are things the casting directors will pick up on, seeing that you have a deeper grasp and understanding than the average actor. Often, my images will look like movie stills – single frames of a movie, because you’re so in-character, it looks like we shot it during a scene. That’s a very impressive thing for a director to see in a still frame!
You’re just not going to get anything like this from 99% of your local photography studios. Headshots are a specialty. For this, you need the rare professional photographer experienced with directing their subjects through a wide array of characters. Mind you – we’re not talking about elaborate makeup and costumes. These are all built on expression. I’m simply directing you through the emotions, the mindset of the character, and by posing you down to every micro-muscle of expression. Within a few frames, I capture boy-next-door, to the guy you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley! By showing a great variety of expressions, I not only show off your acting chops in a still image… I show your full range of characters, allowing you to have an array of images to submit to a variety of casting calls. You need to have headshots that match, as closely as possible, to the role you are auditioning for. This enables you to be seen as suitable for so many more roles!
Are you really going to leave it up to the casting directors imagination, when you give them a bland headshot that just says “this is me”, and hope they can picture you as the character they’re looking for, or are you going to go in with confidence with a headshot that screams “I’m what you’re looking for!”? Its just essential that you find the most skilled headshot photographer that offers this as a specialty – even if it means traveling to get there. This is your career. Your headshots are your one shot to make a great first impression! You’ve got to make it count! Its an investment in your career and shows that you want to be taken seriously.
If you want to land more auditions, you’ve got to show them that you’re right for the role! Prove it! Show off your acting chops! If the character is mean, submit the headshot where you’re looking menacing. If its the lead role in a zany sit-com they’re looking to fill, you submit your goofiest smile shot. Show them right up front that you can pull of the exact type of character they’re casting!
Its my job to do everything in my power to get you noticed! I’ve got your back and want you to succeed in your dream! So I want to give you every possible edge, and that means powerful headshots with tremendous connection, that exude confidence, and show that you are serious enough about your craft to invest in world-class headshots that impress!
As serious as I am about getting you the most amazing variety of headshots, that’s doesn’t mean that the sessions themselves aren’t an absolute blast! We have so much fun in our sessions, and when you’re having a good time, you’re relaxed and confident, and I can direct you through all the posing that leads to the most amazing headshots you’ve ever seen! I just love making newbies look like polished pros! And from the feedback I get from my clients, they’re booking lots of roles and the casting directors are very impressed with their world-class headshots too! Just imagine the confidence you’ll feel, knowing that you’re walking into that audition like a polished pro, with a headshot that’s going to blow away the competition! Are you ready to WOW them? Let’s do this!
