This 1 Huge Mistake Almost Ruined A Great Headshot Session

In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you one huge mistake that nearly ruined a great headshot session. So when you watch this video, you are going to learn how to avoid this big mistake, and you're also going to learn some other ways of preparing and having a great headshot session. As a special bonus at the very end, I'm going to be sharing with you another video. This is what it's really like doing extra work and the 5 things, items that you absolutely need to bring to have a good day on set. Okay, let's get started. Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center where I share information with, with you, my fellow actors, Based on my 38-plus years working as a full-time actor, it was time for me to get a new headshot. And there are 2 times when you always want to get a new headshot. One, if you are feeling like you just don't look like that picture a whole lot. I mean, I've seen people who have completely lost all their hair, and they had headshots, you know, probably from 20 years ago when they had long Long hair and stuff. It's crazy. You absolutely need to look like your headshot. So if you're just kind of like beginning to get to a stage where you feel like, well, maybe I don't quite look like that person, get a new headshot. The other time is if you're just not crazy about your headshot and you think you want to put together a new one and a better one. So before I go into the specifics of the huge mistake, let me just give you a little bit of information about doing headshots. And on a side note, I don't like doing headshots. I mean, the headshots themselves I'm fine with doing. I just feel there's pressure involved, at least for me, because I know the importance of a headshot. In some ways, your headshot is much more important to you than your acting skills. And you might be thinking, what are you talking about? Because here's the fact, you know, in today's time period, you are going to be granted an audition Based on your headshot. Your resume certainly is a factor, but it's mostly your headshot. Do you look right for, for the role? And if your headshot isn't effective, if it's not powerful, if it doesn't put you into a specific category, if people don't believe you, you're not going to get a chance to audition. So you could be the greatest actor in the world and not get a chance to show it because you're not going to be granted an audition. So there's a lot of pressure involved. I can tell you one of the most important aspects of a headshot is understanding your type, knowing how you're going to be cast, what kind of characters are people going to call you in for. For me, I know this might surprise you, but I have never been asked to read for the role of the head of a motorcycle gang. I know that shocks people. Now, I could be the accountant of the club, of the gang, but I'm not— I'm not the head of the gang. So you have to know what your type is, then you have to find the right photographer for you. And let me just tell you, it's okay to ask around, ask fellow actors, ask some agents. And remember, this is your call. You know, so I would highly recommend interviewing a number of photographers because they are working for you. You are paying them. You want to make sure that you feel comfortable with them. Look, there's going to be a— once again, I'm just speaking for myself— there can be a lot of pressure on, on, you know, during the shoot. You want to make sure that this is somebody who knows how to relax you, how to calm you down, you can ask specific questions to, like, you know, what, what kind of type do you think I am? What do you know? What, what kind of looks should I be giving? Um, I mean, hopefully you can have that information ahead of time, but It's always helpful to get a second or third or fourth opinion. But look, I do have other videos specifically about doing headshots, but that's something. Look, I'm very fortunate. There's a gentleman who lives not that far from me. His name is David Bleckman. He's a really good headshot photographer. He's based near Annapolis, Maryland, and I've worked with him before. He knows how I work. He listens to my questions. He's able to give me answers that are really helpful. And I wound— and I'll show you at the very end— I wound up with a headshot that I absolutely love. So, you know, just take your time going into the process. So here's the mistake that happened, and this was completely my fault. I like the idea of shooting outside. And I have mixed feelings. I like shooting inside. I like shooting outside. Shooting outside, if everything can be blurred out— and I don't know how that's done photographically, but the really good photographers were able to do it— so that you can't recognize what's out there. Look, you want to be the center of attention here. I mean, I have, as you guys know, I do a lot of private mentoring and coaching. And sometimes I'm working with people on headshots, and I'll look at headshots and they have these beautiful backgrounds— trees, flowers, bushes, mountains, oceans. That's not what you want in your headshot. You are the main focus, no pun intended. It's all about you, not your surroundings. Um, so I like shooting outside. It feels more natural. It feels, uh, calming to me. The problem that I have with shooting outside is that you have less control. Right. The wind blows a little and your hair can go crazy. It's a little sunny and all of a sudden your eyes are squinting a little bit. So it is tricky working outside. I didn't want to just go with a plain, you know, white or gray background, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not something I wanted to do. So I spoke with David about Those ideas. And he said, look, let's do this. Let's shoot inside first and we'll see what we have, and then we'll move outside and play. So great. So I hired a makeup artist and she was really good. And here's where the problem came in. And once again, this was my fault. I'm not blaming anybody but myself. And I learned from this lesson and I'm sharing it with you. Most other makeup artists that I've worked with have stayed for the entire session. I'm paying them for a session. So this was somebody who, after she finished putting her— putting the makeup on, she said, okay, we'll have a fun time. And I said, oh, okay, see ya. And meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself, where are you going? You know, I want another set of eyes. What happens if, you know, my hair gets a little bit out of place, or Normally I don't sweat, but, you know, what happens if I start sweating? And she took off. And I, you know, I asked the photographer about it and he said, no, no, I mean, you just paid her for the session. That's how, that's how she works. So, I mean, but she didn't stick around for the entire session. So we shot inside and we did some interesting things, and then we moved outside and I enjoyed what I was doing outside. And then I got all the photos back and I don't know, it's probably And I'm just kind of guessing, I don't know, 50, 60, you know, shots, something like that. And by the way, the amount of shots, it's irrelevant. All you need is one shot. So if you do 3 shots and one of them is great, beautiful. And if you do, you know, 1,000 shots, one's great, that's all you need. So I was looking at the outdoor shots and they were interesting, but my hair was pretty out of place because the wind was blowing a little bit. And I had spoken with David, and, and I know that he has the capabilities of using— and I think he uses Photoshop— and he's able to take stray hairs. But there were so many, it would have been really, really tough to, to fix that. Had there been a makeup artist there on, on set as we were working outside, she certainly could have taken care of that for me. So the final wind-up was we went with, or I went with, an indoor shot. I really like this shot a lot. I'm very happy with it. And I might not have used any of the outdoor shots anyway, even if my hair looked good. But that was the one mistake. I want to suggest to you that if you are setting up a headshot session, and by the way, always hire a makeup artist. It's going to— they're going to make you look better. And if you're spending the time and the money to do a new headshot, don't hold off from getting a professional makeup artist who really knows what they're doing. Not someone who just only does weddings. Somebody who knows the photographer, knows what the photographer wants. I mean, that's the best-case scenario. And I would definitely— I would ask if they would stick around for the session. Now, depending on who the makeup artist is, they might say, well, that's going to be a lot more expensive. And that's going to be your call. But I don't know, I like the idea of having somebody around, even if you're shooting inside. Yeah, your hair might not be blowing around, but maybe things change with your look. And I do like the idea of a second pair of eyes looking in case they see, I don't know, some lint on your jacket or your blouse or something. Yes, that can be worked on. after the shot is done, you know, with editing programs. But, you know, look, it's always better not to have to deal with any of that stuff. So anyhow, here is the headshot that I wound up with. I'm not going to show you the outdoor shots because they, they just don't look good. Not, not from the photographic point of view, just because my hair is just all out of place. But I really like this headshot a lot. I forgot to mention, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. Most importantly, share it. Share it with, with your fellow actors so we can build a community on this channel of actors and models helping each other. That's, that's the whole point of doing this. So please share it through your email, social media platforms. And I also promised I was going to share another video with you. You're going to see 2 things up here. One is you'll be able to see it's another playlist and you can pick and choose what video you want, or you can actually see the video about extra work and the items, 5 items you want to bring. So anyhow, I'm really excited to share this with you and I can't wait to talk with you again. See ya.