Headshot Photography frequently asked questions – What to wear
Hello I'm Bob foyers and this is my studio here in Bentwaters Suffolk today I'm chatting with my good friend Leon and we're going to be discussing some of our frequently asked questions so I'll hand you over to Leon
hi Bob good afternoon and good evening good morning whatever time it is how are you you're right yes very good yourself excellent yeah not too bad at all in this chat we've decided that we would kind of have a bit of a plow through our list of frequently most asked questions and the subject that we thought we were going to have a chat about today was Bob what to wear so I'll let Leon go first um because obviously we've got a little bit of a list going by all means yeah now when when we're looking through the list there is a significant number of things that you should and shouldn't wear and both of us we try and go through about all that with our clients anyway but I think the number one that comes up on the list is um no logos you definitely don't want logos that says the man who stood here with a low quality shirt but you I think it's I think it's a distraction and I think it takes away from any professionalism that you're trying to convey by possibly hiding behind a brand what you think Bob um well to me it's usually the kind of uh so for example the prime one that I I really don't like is like the night tick and that's not because I don't like the brand it's just because it's such a dominant logo where like a polar Ralph Lauren where it's just the little logo on the thing that's not a problem I have got no problem at all that usually they make nice dress shirts and everything like that so that isn't an issue but it's these big Grand logos that cover the chest basically and they look you're not advertising that brand that's the kind of what I try to say to my clients is if you work for Nike then fantastic advertise the brand but if you don't work for Nike don't advertise them you're after the whole point of a headshot is that you're advertising yourself of course of course so that that's kind of my mentality over it what's next on the thing is uh well this one I think is actually quite a good one and this is probably what you are sort of a bit more okay with is dressing for the job that you want rather than the job the one you have yeah I think I think that's more key for especially um with people that are looking to make applications for jobs and get promotions or people like actors and entertainers um they say that it even Spotlight refers to it on their website you should always appear as though you're already fulfilling the role that you're after that way then it's not that far of a stretch for somebody to imagine you doing the role based on them seeing you in the photograph brilliant brilliant what about colors well planes got to be playing it's got to be bold it's got to be simple um but nothing too loud unless that's the character that you are you know it's a big red in yellow and green and orange um I think plain colors is quite good because the attention is supposed to be this not this um exactly and if this is the attention um do you do the squint test Bob when you look at the photos yes uh yeah so I I look at it and if if so when I look at a photograph and I look at a photograph of a person if their outfit takes more of the space in my sort of visual then for me that's too distracting okay so sorry I'm cutting you off no you Karen I do say a little bit different as well so apart from the how much space is on the picture um I also do the one where you get them to squint when they're looking at the photograph and you say where are my eyes being led to in this image now if it's your fancy blazer with the big shoulder pads and the big collars Etc that's not working but if you're naturally drawn to the face then you know that we're going in the right direction because if you're generally LED that way you know there's someone else looking at the picture that doesn't know you potentially going to look the same way exactly and also that that then leads on to sort of minimal patterns so with with also with minimal patterns is my thing so I try and tell people that um if they're wearing a shirt with loads of stripes and zigzags and everything like that it becomes very distracting uh ladies blouses for example if they've got low loads of floral patterns also another distraction so you know keep it a plain shirt playing blouse plain shirt simple is best yeah and also think it's about the materials sometimes uh plays a part in that if you're looking at some of the um some of the suits that people have turned up in especially the ladies especially metallic panels or shiny material um it might look great when you're going out but photographing it that extra reflection is another distraction that can pull you away from the focus in hand the face also the fact that if you're wearing something with it with metallic reflection can't quite often it's a bit like glasses you actually get a glare back into the camera which it is is actually not an easy thing to remove in Photoshop so so I always suggest to clients if especially if I've seen them wearing it to ask them to get changed yeah does that also apply to jewelry as well for you Bob well I'm I'm minimally is best I it's when it comes down to headshots keeping it simple keep it simple keep it simple if you do wear jewelry then wear the jewelry that you normally wear don't just suddenly turn up and you know blinged out big Hoops yeah no no no absolutely so just just keep it incredibly simple and just the whole point is uh so I explain every time I do it just keep it simple yeah I think that also has got to apply to the makeup as well because when some of the some of the clients turn up with a full face of makeup it doesn't really give me much flexibility on how we can change it with lighting and certain types of makeup especially if it's heavy if that really thick sort of bold makeup that covers everything um it also takes away I think some of the texture of the skin which you've ended up with photographs that could potentially look like they've been heavily photoshopped and they haven't it's just it's that thick do you give your clients any form of guidance on making um probably very much very similar to you less is more not too heavy on the foundation is also what I try to explain and also some of the makeup actually has reflecting elements in it yeah I mean in the when they do the highlighting yeah so that it then it affects the way the light falls um and sometimes I try and also if people are bringing makeup with them I ask them to bring their makeup with them so we if we feel it's not working because obviously I'd Shoot Tethered so if we look like it's not working and and the makeup is either too heavy or not not applied enough then we go through and that's just add it up and occasionally also which I find quite useful is I actually sometimes have a makeup artist here and we we pay for an extra makeup artist just just in case anyone doesn't understand the meaning of the word tethered because that's one of our phrases um it's connected to a large screen so basically while you're shooting you can show the clients and say this is what we're looking like so far this what you like what you're not like and let's change the bit of this makeup because it's not working Etc but I think that's the the gist and then um I actually turned mine off sometimes just to stop the distraction because sometimes people get too um distracted by looking at themselves on the screen but um it's definitely a fantastic tool and it also means at the end of the session you can you can go through and say now look how well you've appeared with nice simple colors simple makeup your hair is impeccable we've got no major patterns that are throwing us out and you've left the bling bling jewelry on the couch which is great which is perfect absolutely perfect it's perfect well thank you Leon um and I look forward to always a pleasure yeah no so I look forward to talking to you next week I think these are brilliant awesome I'll speak to you again Bob cheers bye bye