Headshot Photography frequently asked questions
Hi, I'm Leon from Leon Britton Photography, based here in Liverpool, we do all sorts of photography, from headshots to portraits, weddings, etc. Today I'm chatting with my good friend Bob, who's also a photographer. Hi, Bob.
Hi, there. I'm a Suffolk-based photographer. And this is my studio here in BentWater, Suffolk. And today what we thought we do is Leon and I've been talking. And one of the things we always get asked by our customers is that we thought we'd just go through of a few of the questions that they have said.
And to start off with one of the questions is how long is the session. So I'll lastly on that question first. Oh, okay. So I think for me it depends on. Is an individual that's looking for a single photograph.
Or is it somebody that's looking for a collection of photographs that formed like a bit of a bundle? Normally, I am located in the studio for about 2 hours. Some shoots can take 45 minutes, some can be 1 hour and 59 minutes.
But I think it depends on the person how comfortable they are with posing. And taking instruction. How about you? By how Long? Yours. I'm very similar thing to you. I find depending on what the client is and who they are if they are professional and they only need a headshot for LinkedIn, it can be like 45 minutes, but sometimes if they want a variety of images or if it's a few people, then obviously the session takes longer. I normally say to my clients that I don't put a time limit on my sessions.
So there's no pressure from me, but pretty much usually within an hour and an hour and a half. We're all done most time. See since I'm finding that during the sessions as well. One of the other questions which I get asked quite a bit is, can I see the pictures as we go along during the shoot? Do you let them see the pictures as you're taking them? Well, I probably work pretty similarly to you as well. I shoot Tethered. So in the studio, I have a great big monitor on the wall.
So when the image is actually coming to the computer rather than waiting until the end of the session to show the client are they actually coming in on? The monitor. So it gives me a great reason to sort of talk about how they're working, how the pictures are coming out. Also, the client always feels a bit more comfortable when they first see the first image come through and they know everything's working.
What about you? Yeah, I agree. I've actually got a large screen on the wall. So what we do is for the first couple of shots, we stop and we discuss normally looking at the screen. What do you don't like about your image? What is it you're not liking about yourself on the screen?
I want to have identified that then we overcome those ways to hopefully get over those issues that they're discussing. But yeah, no, I shouldn't the images as we go along, and at the end of the session.
I also make a point of going through the full collection on the screen just so they can see the bulk of what's predominantly going to be appearing in their Proof Gallery. So talking about the Proof Gallery. How long do you wait before your clients get to see the images?
Right. On a good session. Say, during a standard week, I'd probably say it's about 48 hours. It can be quicker, but usually, I say about 48 hours allows me enough time to go through the Gallerie and give them a private link so they can log in just for them their own time at home. Do you do this similar? Well, I'm exactly the same. Basically.
So after the shoot, I'll go back to the office. I will go through all the images and take out images. Basically. Mine out ten times. It's because they're blinking. So they're all gone. So the client so not showing a client name is no point. And then from there, it's usually I would say I would tell the client 48 hours. But as soon as I've got the proofs ready, then go up to a Gallery that has a password. And then I basically ask the clients, to tell me what images they would like me to edit.
So once I've edited it, I usually. So I tell my clients it's two weeks from when they've chosen, not from when the shooters, it's when they're chosen the edited images. Which I think is quite important. What about you?
Yeah. I think it's pretty much the same. So once the clients made their final selection. And we sorta invoicing all that sort of stuff. I normally say about two weeks now, if we can do it quicker, we'll do it quicker. But it depends obviously, on the volume of photos that they choose. And also it depends on the level of work, if any, that may need to go into making the picture get to the level that they want it to be at. So it depends on what we've agreed in the session, but yeah, I think ideally.
If it can be quicker than two weeks, it's quicker than two weeks. But as a rule of thumb at the moment, I'd say. Ten to 14 days is enough time to say that you're going to have your final images from the dates of selection, as you said before, not from the date of the shoot, because sometimes it can take.
Oh, a couple of weeks before people picked the images from the Gallery. But yeah, and sometimes it can be ten minutes. The trickiest one of them is ten minutes. So. But, you know, it depends on how many images you need and what you're looking to achieve with them. Exactly.
Exactly. I'm exactly the same. So that's the way I work. Well, to be fair, I think we've pretty much covered the basics. The basics of what happens at a shoot. And I'm sure we need to do this again. I'm sure.
There are that many topics that people have questions on when it comes to headshots and portraits, like, what do I wear? And What's my beauty? Beijing before I turn up for the shoes, how much editing do you do?
Yeah. Can you get rid of this? This and this. What's your that we'll see the other one I had last week. But your code of ethics with regards to editing. Yeah, there are all sorts of questions, but we can cover those again. Another video, if you want. Brilliant. Looking forward to it. Excellent. Well, Bob, it's been my absolute pleasure talking to you. You're a star. And I'll speak to you again.