London Headshots
A Background to Headshot Photography in London
London has some of the best headshot photographers in the world serving a large comunity of Actors and Business Professionals. The styles can vary from simple and clean lighting with neutral backgrounds to creative cinematic portraits that express creativity and story telling.
My headshot portfolio encompasses a range of both. Headshots are an important marketing tool for many individuals, all businesses are more visual nowadays because of social media and people want to see a professional image of the Actor or Individual before they work withe them. There aren’t many Central London studios nowadays and most work on the outskirts of London because of high rents especially when Photography Studios need a good sized footprint to work in.
My studio is in Greenwich Zone 3, just 15 minutes on a train or tube from central London. I have easy parking outside and the journey for my clients is often a big consideration into who they want to book their next headshots with.
Over the years I have been shooting headshots they have changed in style dramatically. before i sarted photography in 2010 and workign as an actor, all that was required was a 10x8 cropped black and white image. Now the types of images requested by my clients is significantly different.
We shoot colour headshots, often include landscape images and now a more relaxed informal portrait is almost as important as a traditional headshot.
Ive tried throughout my career to always learn and incorporate new lighting styles, evolve the way I direct clients and add new items to the studio to keep it creative. For me some of the other headshot photographers in London don’t experiment enough with how varied a headshot can look. There are too many people using the same generic grey background and simple lighting pattern, that for me doesn’t portray the headshot client in a full picture of who they are and what they do.
Booking a London Headshot
If your’re in the market for new headshots here are some tips on how to select the perfect photographer for you.
Research headshots on Social Media
All Photographers these days will use mainly Instagram but possibly Tik Tok, Facebook and X to promote their images. search in these outlets via #hashtags for terms such as #londonheadshots #actorheadshotslondon #headshotphotographer. this shoudl give you a great starting point.
Google Search headshot photographers
Searching for similar terms or other ideas like ‘ Headshot Photographers near me ’ or ‘ Best Headshot Photographers in London ' in google will give you more options. Also, their ranking on the resuklts page may be a good indicator of how established they are, not necesarily the best work but if they search well they will most likely have been doing it a while.
Photography Memberships
There are often groups and associations that promote headshot photographers who’s work has been qualified through an application process. Im a member of two of these groups.
Im an Associate Member of Headshots matter a global community of photographers.
And a founding member of THE APHP which represents only the best headhsot photographers in London.
Friends and Industry with great headshots
Ask around other people in your industry that you know have a high quality headshot, where did they go and did they get a good service they would be happy to recommend.
The great point of this is you know how that person authentically looks in real life, so does their professional headshot represent them honestly.
What make a good Headshot
This is such a hard question to answer as one thing with photography is that it is subjective, which also makes it interesting!
Technically Executed Headshots
It goes without saying that anyone calling themselves a professional photographer should be able to at least produce a technically sound image, but you’d be suprised.
At bare minimum it should be
In focus
Exposed properly, not overly bright skin
Light in the eyes, a nice catchlight and some colour shown in the iris
Sensible retouching, not overly softened or smoothed
Using a suitable lens for portraiture, not too wide and distorted
An understanding of what a headshot is for the specific industry.
Connection with the camera
The viewer should want to learn more about the subject in the headshot. This comes from the subject feeling relaxed and having something to say in their eyes. It may be v subtle but we can all tell when someone in a photo wants to be there and is presenting in a way that feels natural to them, not forced or awkward.
We are all experts in body language, we know when we see an image wether the subject really engaged with the moment.
Attention to details
Did the photographer pay attention to things such as
Wardrobe looking organised and well styled
No distracting elements in the background
Hair or make-up that needed correcting
A complimentary colour palette between the skin, eyes and background
Photographic Style
After these fundamental elements, its all about wether the photographer is elevating the client above something that looks ordinary.
I think we wold all as clients and photographers aspire to our headshots being inspiring and extraordinary.
We want them to tell stories, hold the viewers attention for that extra moment and leave a lasting impression that stays with people after they’ve seen the image
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