Okay ladies, Fall not only means the change of seasons. It also means Family Holiday Photos is approaching! October is a big month for people to schedule their holiday shoot. If you are wanting to get your feet wet, there is no better time than now. But how do you promote yourself? The key to promotion is showing us who you are in a headshot that is YOU!
This may sound crazy, but clients aren’t looking at your photo quality as much as they are looking at how approachable you look. People are terrified of being in front of the camera. They think the camera is going to show all their worst qualities. If you can show yourself as someone who is safe, excited, approachable, and fun…they will book YOU over the photographer who is award winning with no bio photo. So how do you get a headshot that is you?
Photo-Recipe for a Headshot that is YOU!
With two photography books coming out in 2011, I thought it would be fun to work with Brian on a new headshot. Was it fun? Well, anytime you work with your husband on getting a great photo of yourself…fun…is not necessarily the word. But we did have some laughs in the midst of arguing. 🙂
Follow these simple photo-recipe steps to create your own bio photo! (if you enlist your husband to take the photo…God be with you both. :))
Step One: Find a background that represents the look you want to give.
I wanted a background that was bright but also soft. Something that felt warm and light. I had no idea where I’d find this background until I saw this tile wall in Las Vegas!
Start thinking about the feelings you want to convey, and you’ll be surprised at how different backgrounds start to jump out at you in the most unlikely places!
Step Two:Â Angle, Engage and Get Some Height!
One of my segments on the Nate Berkus Show was called “How to Look Thinner in Photos”. If you missed it, you can follow the link below! They apply to Step Two! You want to angle yourself to the camera, put your weight on your front foot so you are leaning into the camera, and have the shooter be higher than you. For me to make this happen, I had to get wet! Yep, my tile wall was the back wall of a swimming pool! So down the steps I went! Ha!
Step Three:Â Butter Up the Background!
Switch your camera to Aperture Priority mode and go as low as you can in your f-stop. The lower you go, the more buttery, blurry the background becomes. See what happens to the tile behind me when Brian used a low f-stop of f/2.8! All those soft, pearl colors became a light, warm background.
Step 4:Â Zoom Baby ZOOM!
To avoid distorted head shapes, have your shooter use a zoom lens. If your shooter stands back and zooms in, your head will look proportional with your body.
Step 5:Â Patience, Playfulness and Practice!
Okay, let’s be honest. If you are going to have your spouse do this for you, I don’t care how good he/she is, you are asking for trouble. As the model, try to be patient, stay playful and give the shooter room to practice. It will make a huge difference! 🙂
To see all the tips on “How to Look Thinner in Photos” from the Nate Berkus Show, CLICK HERE!
You must send me your results for this Photo-Recipe! Email them to info@fioria.us, or post your headshot with what you love most about it on my Facebook page.
Look forward to seeing what you send!
xoxo,
Me Ra
I LOVE this headshot of you.
Mera, You look so dewey and beautiful in this photo. Did the water help reflect light?
I finally have the time (life has been difficult this year) to go back and read all the lessons from the Soar experience and follow along with the three amazing gals. I hope that you truly know how much that you have given to so many women this year, including me, by having the idea and creating this Soar experience. Everywhere I turn lately there is another workshop for photographers, but this experience has been one huge workshop for FREE! You have given, and given, of your time, talent, resources, and heart in spite of the personal hurdles you have had to get through this year. I just wanted to thank you for paying forward all that you have learned and experienced. I know you give up time with your kids and must get tired, exhausted, and run on empty yourself a great deal, but I want you to know that I greatly appreciate all that you pour out to me as a mom, budding photographer, and as a woman. I know even greater things are yet to come for you and it is so fun to be a part of celebrating your success. Blessings to you and your family!
Beautiful and I love it 🙂
I’ve got literally at least 3 dozen bins of fabric…I’m sure I can find a beatiful background to butter up the shot…it’s me I’m worried about.
But I will do this within the next week because it needs to be different from my first assigment in Jan/Feb of this year. I was in so much darkness emotionally that it came out in my self-portrait and the last month or so, I’ve made a promise to my daughter to try and “Live In Color” and that’s what I want the new self-portrait to depict…thanks for the ideas MeRA~ Hugs ~
Me Ra! I have loved this shot of you since the first time I saw it! And I was cracking up because Michael and I just finished working together last week to get a head shot of me. You are right. Little marital bliss happening in that scenario. You rock, lady!
Not only is the beautiful new headshot inspiring, but just knowing that me and my husband are not having to live up to some impossible “perfection” really takes a load off! (We are nowhere near perfect!) It’s good to know we’re in good company. Bless you for that little glimpse into reality! 🙂
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This is wonderful! Since I’ve downloaded and watched your videos, my photos have highly improved! I’m so excited. I’m gonna set my hubby up what I’ve learned and see what bios we produce. Together with these tips, we can’t miss!
Thank you so much for those incredible ideas. finding things to do with children is so hard sometimes, especially during the winter break when they are home ALL THE TIME! Their most recent favourite is to make random sandwich crafts out of bread and salad bits, not sure how to explain it I found at this recipes for kids site here, the’res a little picture with each one which is great. Thought your readers might like to try that too. Well, I must be back to rea life now, either my kids are calling or I’m imagining things, which is also quite possible.
Love her perspective for the holidays. @MeRaKoh Take a Deep Breath and Remember Your Anchors. http://wp.me/pkVdS-3sL