For actors, the headshot is an integral part of the auditioning process. It is the photo that will remind directors of who you are after you've left the room. Not having a headshot can be very detrimental to an acting career, especially for those just breaking into theater and film. But having your headshots taken by a professional photographer can be an extremely pricey proposition for a beginning actor. This article will show you how you can save a ton of cash by taking, editing, and printing the photos yourself.
Instructions
Create Your Own Acting Headshot
1. The first step in creating the headshot is, of course, taking the photograph. The great thing is that now that digital cameras are so popular and affordable (mine is a Panasonic Lumix), taking photographs is easier than ever. With film cameras, taking 80 photographs would have been an expensive undertaking, but with digital photography, the amateur photographer can get a great shot by playing the numbers game--the more you take, the more likely you are to get that awesome shot. To do my own, I used a tripod and a camera timer, but if you have a friend with a steady hand and a free afternoon, that will work even better. Feel free to look at each picture after you take it so that you become aware of how your face looks best. Do you tend to look goofy when you show your teeth? Does tilting your head a certain way make you look fat? Use what you learn from previous shots to make the next one the best that it can be.
2. You may feel like you know which is the best picture of you, but a little-known secret is that when looking at pictures of themselves, people often like best the ones that look nothing like themselves, so you might want to enlist a friend's opinion. It's important that you look like yourself in this photograph, because otherwise, a director won't be able to match you with the photograph, and that's no good. Choose the photo that looks like you and the best that you can be. Aside from that, make sure it's framed well. A photo that cuts off your head or the bottom of your chin will lust look completely amateurish--which it is, but you still don't want it to look that way.
3. Crop and edit. Software worth its weight in salt will, at a minimum, let you crop a photo and alter the lighting and color. If you have something comparable to Photoshop, you can also edit your blemishes. If you have a pimple on your forehead today or some weird blotchiness, you can cover it by essentially matching paint in the software to the color of your skin and painting over the blemish. Just make sure it looks natural. This is also where you're going to decide whether your headshot should be in color or black and white. Either is acceptable, and it's a matter of personal preference. I prefer black and white because it looks classic, but if you like color photography, you can go that way as well. If you have a great hair color or eye color that just makes the picture explode, then this may be the best choice for you.
4. Image sizing is a little different than image cropping. While cropping actually cuts away unwanted parts of the picture, image resizing actually determines the size that the image will print on the page. This is either measured in pixels, inches, or centimeters. Most photo paper that you will find is 8.5 x 11 inches, but the printable area on a page is a little smaller than that, so it's probably a good idea to leave 1 to 1 1/2-inch margins around the edges of your photograph on the page. Then, make sure to save the picture with a new name so that it doesn't replace the original, just in case you ever want to do something different with it in the future.
5. Because glossy photo paper can be expensive, you'll probably want to print a test sheet on regular printer paper first. Just make sure that when you switch to the glossy photo paper in your printer, you switch the printer settings in the computer so that the printer knows that it's printing on a different kind of paper. This is important because it determines the application of ink onto the paper.
Related posts
Alter the look of your home with vinyl siding.If you're looking to customize the exterior of your home, consider the several different vinyl siding options that you can choose from. You can find s...
Make a virtual room before you spice up a real one.If you don't have the budget or time to let your child makeover her own room, give her the next best thing: One fun resource for online room make...
If you're bored with the preset avatars included with online gaming, social message boards and chat sites, create your own with a few clicks on your computer. Introduce yourself to the Internet wi...
It is not as hard to create your own car as you might think. Almost every auto manufacturer allows you to create and build your own car online using a selector tool. You can do this for fun and ex...
The man in your life might be more likely to wear slippers inside the house if he had some that suited him. It's easier than you might think to create a pair of slippers that not only will he wear...
