My First Headshot ...Sort Of

A vulnerable story of my first, and unfortunately my second headshot experience.

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I can officially log my first headshot in the books. I delivered the print myself last night, and the client couldn’t have been happier. I got the shot the first time, didn’t have to do any editing, and I loved the result right away. Okay, okay the first two sentences were true. The client was happy, and in the end that’s what it’s really all about. I very much wish I could say that I got the shot the first try, but it was not so. Thankfully for me, my first headshot client just so happens to be a friend of mine who wanted a picture to use as her photo in a new book she’d written. In addition, if she liked the picture, she planned on using it someday as her obituary photo. Even more fortunate for me, she is exceptionally patient. I write this on Feb19, and my first of two tries was last summer. She and I planned the shoot, she picked out her outfit, and background (some flowering bushes outside her home) and we set up. I cannot put into words how nervous I was. I have taken countless pictures over the years, but I am just beginning my foray into photographing people. My pictures in the past have all been of subjects that can’t express their disappointment with my pictures. After we got set up, I snapped a couple of test shots, and everything was perfect. Composition, check. Lighting, check. Exposure, white balance, all check.

I pointed at her face, right about eye level, took a shot and gave it a look. Her smile was spot on, lighting and color were great, composition was just right, so I said “we’ve got it” and called it a day. I did some quick editing, and to my horror, while her house in the background was in perfect focus, her eyes were not. Not at all. She is kind, and a friend of mine. She isn’t what I would call picky either. I went so far as to get the shot printed, just to see if it was as bad as I feared. It was. Knowing her, she probably would have called it a keeper, and that could have been that, but that’s not how I want to get started. She wanted a good shot, and I have the ability to deliver, I just didn’t. I’m not going to say that it didn’t cross my mind, but it just didn’t sit right. I asked her if we could do a re-shoot, and she kindly agreed. Then life happened. She got busy, I got busy, until finally, one day we were able to coordinate. Admittedly, much of the missed opportunity to get a second shoot was missed because of the great, and growing fear I was developing. I was afraid that I was unable to get good photographs of people.

We gave it another try late December. I was so nervous that I took about 30 photos in each spot in her house that we tried. It was far too cold and bleak to try again outside. I had almost 100 pictures to look through, and it took me almost an entire month to actually look at them. Even then, the first thing I did was the big cull, reducing them to about 30 pictures, and I still didn’t look that closely at them. I was just certain that they wouldn’t turn out again. How will I tell her? (insecurity) Will she let me try again? (fear) Maybe we should just wait for spring, so we can use that flowering bush again. (avoidance) All of these thoughts swirled around so much that they kept me from actually looking at the pictures. My client called me a week or so ago, and I didn’t pick up. I knew why she was calling, and I was too afraid to face yet another failure. I ignored her call. She called me several times that week, and the next, and I ignored those too. I was being an unprofessional photographer, and an awful friend. Finally, she sent me a text, and I decided to grow up, and face the music. I texted back, and went through the pictures. To my extreme surprise, we had some keepers. We had a lot of flops, but darn it, we had some keepers. I felt just silly for avoiding it for so long, and even sillier when I actually looked at the pictures. I wasn’t a complete failure as a photographer like I feared. My logical brain knew better, but for me, getting the logical part talking to the scared part is a difficult task.

Regarding the finished product; is it perfect? No. In my opinion, the overall temperature of the picture is a little too warm. I know that in post, I can adjust temperature, but I didn’t love what that did to her skin tone. I also know that I can isolate bits, and alter them, but at this stage, that is more editing than I am interested in doing. I find the background both un-appealing, and slightly distracting. I could nitpick for hours, but that is my unproductive perfectionist mind speaking, and I am working on that. Though the perfectionist in me wasn’t madly in love with the product, the client was happy, and I learned a LOT with this experience. When it’s time to shoot, I need to slow down, and get the shot. When I think I have, I need to look very carefully at it to make certain. It will be far better to check and recheck to make sure I’m getting it right than it would be to get it wrong, and have to do it again, or worse- lose a client. After the shoot I need to cull and edit quickly. This will show the client that I value their time, as well as mine, and make for good business practice. If I’m not happy with my results, I need to make the client aware right away, and offer to make it right any way I can, or at least let the client decide if they like the photos. Maybe the perfectionist nature that I spoke about in my last blog post “I Got the Shot” is being too hard on me, but it was a learning experience for sure. In any case, I am extremely grateful that my client was so patient, and even more grateful that we finally got the shot!

Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to hear about your first, or most intimidating story, or just drop me a line to tell me what you thought about mine. Hit the comment button, or send me an E-mail. Thanks again!