Tips for great headshots & personal branding by San Diego head shot photographer Monica Kane Stewart

February 03, 2015 • Leave a Comment

#nofilter #Iwokeupthisway

APPROACHABLE BUSINESS HEAD SHOTS

PERSONAL BRANDING

FASHION-INSPIRED HEAD SHOTS

For men and women who want a social media profile unlike all others :)

A lot of the same principles apply for modeling, business, and senior portraits - so please read through our website and see all portfolios and get inspired. Then we can use those ideas and examples as a starting point for our conversation, and collaborate on the look and style that is perfect for you and your specific needs and wishes.

Here are some tips for great head shots and defining your personal brand:

1. Have more than one look!

That doesn't mean applying different filters to the same set of selfies you took on that day you thought you looked really great.

It means hiring a professional to spend a few hours with you on location where you can relax and collaborate on different looks, move to different locations, change to different clothes, style your hair and makeup in different ways, and really showcase different aspects of your self and your personality.

For instance, a yoga pose on the beach or bluffs, an approachable headshot at the beach, a relaxed business head shot against a natural or urban setting, a relaxed fashion-inspired shoot like the ones the stars get after the awards shows, you get the picture...

You need a photo that says you're hot, you're approachable, and you're relaxed.

A photo that says looking great, happy, and confident just happens naturally for you :)

2. Don't use the same look across all social media.

You don't want just ONE great photo of yourself, but several, and dare I say: many! This way you can rotate your best photos and not be stale with the same one headshot forever.

For your personal brand you should have a series of looks that together show who you are.

A collection of shots that together showcase your brand (your personality; what you want to convey). You rotate them as you like, and you use specific 'flavors' for specific messages, whether it be for various social media platforms or for different parts of your business (your card, your website, your fliers, the company directory, your album or book cover, etc.)

3. Use your photos to strengthen your personal brand.

Use those various professional photos in different places to strengthen your personal brand.

For instance, you want your brand to convey a sense of trust and of having known you forever. You can't just show an archaic and stiff headshot with a blue backdrop 'a la school photo' and use that same tiny thumbnail across your website and marketing collateral and think that anyone will actually feel like they trust you and know you, or that they want to get to know you.

Show them different aspects of yourself, visually, to tie in with your other messaging or as stand-alone visuals that speak a thousand words.

4. Evolve with your brand

Don't just count on the same old one avatar until you change it 5 years later.

So you gained or lost a few or more pounds, you went short or long, got more gray, went more blond, got some more laugh lines, etc. Don't try to live in the past with an outdated picture because you're afraid it's the best one you'll ever have.

With a professional photographer and digital artist, everything from the most flattering posing to the most flattering lens and the most flattering lighting and location and the most flattering clothing will be planned with you.

You'll be the real you, the natural unedited-looking you that casually looks like you just popped out of a magazine but who still looks like you! Like you just happened to wake up that way. Never over-edited. Just confident and beautiful and real, as you exist today. After all, you're better than ever RIGHT NOW.

5. Hire a professional, Take the Time, Do it Right, Do it regularly

15th Street Photography is a boutique studio offering something very valuable: our time, and custom artwork.

Yes, time is money.

So when the price-shoppers look for the lowest priced headshots, they are also getting the least amount of time and thought put into something that is very important and should be well-planned and orchestrated!

Your personal brand, your image, is not something to leave to a cell phone pic, to a selfie with your arm up in the air pointed down with a wide angle lens on your nose, to an instagram filter, or to a bad photoshop job by a friend who "has" photoshop (very different than a digital artist who understands the nuances of professional retouching done right).

Guy Senior Picture San Diego TPHS Senior Photo Torrey Pines Venice Beach

Nor is it to be left to a 10-20 minute snapshot by a friend or even a professional who either does not have your best interest at heart, or who doesn't have the time or skill to have your best interests executed and delivered to you!

We are not a high-volume studio. High Volume studios usually have very specific locations where you can show up, pose for 20 minutes in front of the same backdrop, and get the shot that everyone else gets based on a formula. Formulas make life easy, but they are also boring and predicable. Are you?

I think not!

Commission me to create unique artwork for you and with you.

Every photo shoot is custom, and every outcome is just as unique as YOU.

We spend the time necessary to capture your true personality. We spend the hours to collaborate on a perfect location and 'look' for you. You will love your head shots!

xo -Monica in Del Mar

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Providing Family Lifestyle & Fine Art Portrait Photography in beach, rural, and urban settings in California and beyond. Creating Art from you and your loves interacting with your favorite places. Our specialty is Landscape Art Portraits. Visit the rest of our website for more info.

Monica's portrait sessions are relaxed and natural. Experience the difference.

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