HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY
Whenever you search online for headshot photographers in Los Angeles, you might become immediately overwhelmed by all the options. The same might be said of other cities, like New York. In Los Angeles there are a myriad of considerations you need to make. This can be a long-winded process or a quick one. This post provides long-winded insight, to go over some of the biggest obstacles to finding a good headshot photographer in this city. These factors at least include their prices, their knowledge, a few of their capabilities, and why some might rank higher in online searches despite arguably being inferior in quality, prices, or both.
First, it is important to point out there are always exceptions and none of these factors alone or combined should persuade a perception about any given photographer. How you perceive a particular photographer is for you to discover on your own.
However, these are factors pointed out to help educate a shopper like you, in the market for a headshot photographer, about how to find one. It is important because in many cases people do not realize how important a great headshot is. There is a lot more riding on your headshot than most people consider. It is why you should never leave it to selfie technology like an AI headshot or virtual headshot service provider. Thus, finding value is key.
Speaking of value, this is arguably the most difficult thing to tackle when finding a headshot photographer in Los Angeles. This is particularly true if you only look at the first handful of photographers listed on search results – more on search results later.
As of the publishing of this post, the average price of a headshot photographer in Los Angeles is $322. This is as listed on Google if you search for a headshot photographer in LA. Furthermore, this is for a headshot photographer’s most basic sessions. They do get much more costly. In their most basic sessions, you are often limited to one retouched photo if any, and time can be very limited.
In such sessions you might feel rushed or even somewhat compelled to subconsciously get the most out of your session. It’s no wonder many people opt for selfies or AI headshots. But the fact that most people still do not settle for such inferior results is a testament that most people understand it is important to work with a real photographer. It cannot be stressed enough how much more important a headshot is than most people think.
The reasons many photographers cost a lot are varied. First, like any business with a physical location, there are hard costs. These can include: leasing a studio; business insurance; monthly utility costs for electric, water, phone, and more; other monthly costs that include accounting, legal, HR or IT services; on-going equipment maintenance and replacement costs; monthly application subscriptions; and much more.
Other reasons may not be because of fixed costs. Some photographers might charge a high rate because they simply can. For what might be several reasons, they are contacted often enough for their going rates. So, they don’t need to charge less. Some might say “good for them” while others might think “how unfortunate” because it means the cost much more than others. It is what it is, so long as online search or kickbacks are what they are.
About kickbacks, the higher price might be because they’ve established industry relationships to give kickbacks for referrals. As a result, they get a steady stream of business despite their higher prices for about the same or inferior quality than other photographers might be. There is nothing wrong with this setup, other than it can mean higher prices for you. Again, if you are willing to pay more to work with said photographer, then that is your personal choice. But the point here is to help you find value and avoid paying more when it may not be necessary.
As a result, the main point here is that photographers can charge a lot, and for a variety of reasons, but you do not necessarily need to fall in line with such higher prices if you are willing to search a little more.
Photography is considered a trade, much like an electrician or even a doctor, with a key difference. We often don’t check where our electrician studied but we might do so with our doctor. With a photographer, the same is often true about not searching where they studied.
In most trades, after a time, the vendor’s experience and proof of work becomes far more relevant than where or how they studied. This is also true of a doctor – and can be argued for just about any profession.
For example, when a doctor is first starting out in their practice, what prestigious schools they went to might matter more when deciding on their services. But as the years go by, the online reviews and what customers say about them start to matter more, or at least matter first.
In photography – at least this seems the case in Los Angeles – many headshot photographers did not get formal training from a specific college degree in the trade. A few might have and some photographers might have college degrees in other related or non-related areas. Many others have gotten their knowledge from years to decades of real-life experience and / or training. Others try to lay claim to their knowledge by touting certifications, which may or may not be backed by accepted industry-wide standards. Nor do such certifications guarantee superior results, even over other photographers that might not have those same certifications. What does this mean? For example, one doctor going to a specific college considered best does not guarantee they will be better than another doctor supposedly having gone to an inferior college, especially after years of additional training and real-world experience.
Similar to any established business, there comes a point with a photographer where their knowledge, capabilities, experience, and proof of work are demonstrated by their customer reviews and the end results you see on their website. Fortunately, with headshot photographers in Los Angeles, there are plenty of choices backed by dozens of reviews and websites showcasing their work.
So, while what knowledge they have and how they got it might matter to some, what should matter more is demonstrable results. Does the photographer demonstrate on their website that they can produce the results you need and beyond? This might be the use of flattering lighting in a business suit for a businessperson or cinematic lighting for acting headshots for an aspiring actor. The broader the capabilities they can demonstrate, the more likely you are in capable hands. As mentioned, fortunately with headshot photography in Los Angeles, there are plenty of websites to look at. But these website results should be backed by independent reviews on sites like Google or Yelp.
Knowledge and capabilities are related but not the same thing. A photographer might have the knowledge needed for creating all types of cinematic headshots for an actor but might lack the lighting equipment to do it. They might have the knowledge for creating a natural light headshot in true portrait fashion for a businessperson but might lack the appropriate lens for optimal results. The reverse might be true too – they might have a lot of equipment but little knowledge of how to apply the equipment.
As a result, when researching photographers, you need to avoid those with images that look indifferent. How so? Pay attention to shadows on the face – if any. Do the shadows appear pretty much the same whether it’s an actor commercial headshot, a theatrical headshot, or a headshot for a business professional? This includes how hard or soft the shadows are. What this means is how quickly the shadow line goes from lit to dark. The quicker the shift, the harder the shadow.
If the shadows are very similar, this can start to be telling. Either they lack the knowledge to do anything differently or they lack the equipment to do so. Either way, this means a limitation for your own results, especially if you are wanting multiple looks from your session.
This is not just about the light on your face. It is also about the light on the background and more. In many cases, a three-light setup is ideal. Don’t be afraid to ask your chosen photographer how many lights they might use for you and why. Is it one, two, three, four, or more, and why? More is not always better but one is often not going to cut it either.
A capable photographer should be able to light you for beauty or beast mode, and more. Verify it in their work or by having a conversation with them.
Lighting is arguably the most important element for photography. In fact, the proper use of light is in the foundational definition of photography. But a lack of lighting equipment is not the only possible limitation a photographer might have. There are equipment and application items to consider. There is also the studio itself to consider.
When it comes to equipment beyond lighting, this is usually going to start with the camera body and lenses they use. Nowadays, the most popular camera body purchase with portrait photographers are mirrorless cameras instead of the DSLR, typically from Canon, Nikon, or Sony.
Furthermore, it usually means a full-frame sensor. The sensor is the modern light-capturing solid-state device in a camera. It is what film used to do decades ago – record light. A full frame sensor is essentially the same size as old 35mm film. There are other cameras that use larger sensors – medium format cameras – but it is arguable that high-end full frame sensors have indiscernibly caught medium format sensors when it comes to portrait photography quality. This debate is for a different post. The point here is a good headshot photographer will likely employ a full-frame mirrorless camera as their main camera body.
When it comes to lenses, there are a lot of changes occurring in the market, when it comes to how good lenses are becoming for full frame mirrorless cameras. What remains true is that most portrait photographers understand to typically use a focal length between 85-105mm. Sometimes this can be stretched to 50mm or 135mm, depending on the subject and photography goals of the session. Furthermore, headshot photographers are more and more being asked for full body shots beyond the use for acting and modeling, which have a different focal length preference.
The quality of the lens chosen usually has a direct correlation to the brand that is behind it. The aperture capabilities also factor into how good the lens is. You don’t necessarily need to know all these factors but if you engage your photographer in a conversation as to why they chose the camera body they use and the lenses that go with it, they should have an educated answer rather than answer like “it was on sale.”
A quick note about post-production applications is important. You might hear some photographers say retouching is a no-no or if you cannot get it right in-camera you don’t know what you are doing. First, retouching is not a no-no. Second, getting it right in-camera should be a goal of every professional photographer, but some things should be retouched afterward, at least for premium results.
For a headshot, there will almost always be flyaway hair or several that can be removed later on. There might be a blemish like acne, or a razor bump that may not be there in 1-2 days. There could also be wrinkles in a shirt, or lint on a sleeve, and so on. These minor imperfections add up but do little to change the true essence of a photo when corrected. Done appropriately, retouching can be transformative to producing a truly polished image that positively stuns the viewer. The retouching capabilities of a photographer should be considered in your research.
Then there is the commercial photography studio that a photographer might use. Sometimes they will lease a property long-term for a studio. Some photographers have one they use at home. Other photographers will rent a studio as needed. Yet other photographers will not use a studio at all. So, what might be the limitations in each of these?
When a photographer leases a studio, there are fixed costs with these that they normally need to factor into how much they charge for their services. Obviously, this will almost always increase how much they charge for headshot services. But the details of the studio also matter. How large is it? How tall are the ceilings? Is it in a location you feel safe going to? What amenities exist to help you, like a changing room?
When photographers use a home studio, the size of the studio will usually have limits compared to what a commercial location might have to offer. But there are also concerns for the customer. How comfortable do you feel going to a place of residence to get your headshots done? Were you informed it was a residence prior to arriving? Such notification should be transparent as going to a residence is usually not as comfortable for someone as going to a commercial property, especially if they were not informed of this upfront.
Then there are photographers that rent a studio as they go, or do not use a studio at all. For photographers that rent as they go, this can create logistical obstacles. Now they need to coordinate your schedule, their schedule, and the studio’s schedule. Furthermore, you never know for sure where you might be going for a headshot. It might be based on what studio they can rent and when. One day it might be a studio in West Los Angeles and another day it might be in downtown Los Angeles. Furthermore, one might not know what capabilities a rented studio offers on any given day. In addition, these photographers often pass the cost of the studio rental on to you. So, which studio they used on which day might mean you pay more or less than their last client.
For photographers that use no studio, this usually means you will be limited to outdoors and natural light. This has all types of obstacles all their own. First, studio light has an unrivaled professional look. Sure, it is debatable but a glance at studio results will almost always prove that a studio headshot comes across the most conservative in presenting professionalism. Furthermore, if you want to change outfits, shooting outdoors creates another logistical obstacle.
This has not even gotten into the limitations of nature. Nature does what it wants and when. The sun provides predictability of where it will be and what shadows it produces. But these quantities are only known if the photographer shoots in the same place every time. If you ask them to come to you, these quantities become unknown. Then there are factors like wind and rain that can surprise you. In Los Angeles, rain is often not too surprising but wind blowing hair in your face is much more common.
We have not even discussed passerby people. They can pose their own obstacles. These obstacles can be in the form of people walking by to cars driving by. Some people seem compelled to comment about a photo session as they pass by, or they can get in the way here and there. Cars driving by can be unwanted background distractions in a shot too.
Even if a photographer has all these limits to them or none of them, the one factor you must overcome in your research is ranking results with online search engines. Unfortunately, search engines usually maintain a status quo in results and when looking on maps they limit results to those near you. Here is why both are bad for your research.
When it comes to listings on search results, photographers that have had websites for the longest time tend to rank higher. In addition, so do photographers that put out the most blog posts or other social media posts, none of which have to do with how good they are with photography. But search engines, one in particular, rewards the amount of content pushed despite how good or bad a service (to a point, of course) someone might provide. You must overcome this.
Unfortunately, this means combing through the website of photographers you find in pages 1-3, not just page one. It is almost a given your better photographer, in terms of quality and value, will not be one of the first ones you find but rather buried because they’ve been “out-contented” by other photographers.
When it comes to the use of maps, it is a similar result. Most map results will show you the closest photographers to you. While this creates convenience in how far you need to travel, it disregards value in how good a photographer is and what they cost, and if you are willing to go to them for that value. Like with regular web results, you’ll have to weed through the first three pages of maps too, if you want to uncover value.
So, the chips are certainly stacked against you when it comes to trying to find a great headshot photographer that provides value. But remember a headshot is an investment. You will be judged by it, like it or not. It can be the difference between someone taking the next step to engage with you – for a job interview, new client inquiry, or casting call – or disregarding you altogether. The quality of your headshot is the gateway to someone taking you seriously enough to go past the headshot and reading your profile.
That said, it does not have to be overly costly, nor does it mean you need to spend hours finding value in a headshot photographer. It can be done in around 30 minutes, and it will be time well spent.
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