top of page

4 Mistakes My Customers Made and How You Can Avoid These Mistakes

Writer's picture: Ravi PutchaRavi Putcha

You booked a photoshoot for headshots. You are about to take your digital presence to the next level. The shoot is scheduled too, you are all set. Congratulations!


A successful photoshoot is not just about finding the right photographer, it is also right preparation, avoiding mistakes that others made. Learning from your own mistakes is going to be expensive and time consuming, learning from others' mistakes is smarter, more efficient and cheaper too. Make new mistakes of your own, avoid mistakes others made - it is a shortcut to wisdom.


headshot photography

Through last few years of my professional photography, I noticed 4 mistakes my past clients made – these mistakes recur with uncomfortable regularity. I wish I could turn the clock back to tell them how to avoid them but I can’t, that's is turn the clock back. What I can do instead is to tell you and help you avoid them. Here they are...


Mistake No. 1: Not preparing for the shoot – putting too much trust in Photoshop.


Photographer needs to be prepared for the shoot as he is getting paid. Sure, I come prepared for normal situations as well as for eventualities like equipment failures, delays etc. And your preparation is equally important. You are the one getting portraits done, your portraits, and you ought to be prepared for the shoot, no one else can do it for you.


However some people don’t prepare – either because someone else was forcing them to be in the photoshoot or because they think it is not necessary because they think


‘what are we paying the photographer for? He will do the work, all I need to do is just show up for the shoot‘


or


‘the photographer can fix these issues in Photoshop later'.


This casual approach didn't end well for those clients. Why?


Preparation has 2 components


1.   Mental preparation (reading this blog post is a part of it). Being mentally prepared is about knowing what you need to do to prepare and why. Understand the process, ask questions, don’t assume anything. 'Chalta hi' attitude will get low quality headshots that I don't want to do.


2.   Grooming & attire: You don’t need to look like someone else, you just need to be yourself, a confident, comfortable self and grooming is the way to get there. Recall how you felt when you were wearing a nice suit that you think makes you look better than your normal self. It is the attire that made you feel good, feel confident and happy, right? Psychologists call this feeling 'Enclothed Cognition'. In phycology experiments researchers noticed that people wearing lab coats and stethoscopes behaved like doctors, even though they weren't doctors and knew that very well. People dressed like the Police behaved like Police even though they weren't Police and were aware of that.


You can’t feel confident in a shoot while wearing a worn-out t-shirt and old Bermudas. Put on the best attire you got, groom the best you can as if it is your wedding day. Get your best attire ironed, polish your shoes - we are not going to do a full length shots, still, put your best foot forward, haha! Make this photoshoot a memorable day for yourself.


Shave/trim (men), get a haircut, put on makeup (for women), do what’s necessary to make yourself look your best version. Don't slack off or cut corners.


There's not going to be virtual shave in Photoshop, no way! If you didn't shave, you will have headshots with your stubble, period. Shaving in Photoshop is technically NOT feasible. There's not going to be virtual hair dying in Photoshop either - that's photo manipulation and as a principle, I DO NOT do photo manipulation.


When you got both the attire and grooming down, you got to feel great during the shoot.


Confidence can’t be faked. Even professional actors and models use these techniques to get into a right mindset before the act – that’s what the training in acting/modeling is all about. You don’t need to ‘act’, you just have to be yourself. A confident self, a happy self that you want your clients, employers, colleagues, investors to see and only way to get there is to groom right and dress right. There are no shortcuts.


Photoshop is overrated. It can’t do all the things laymen think it can. It is just a dumb piece of software. If you are in doubt as to what can be fixed and what can’t be fixed, please check with me - don’t assume anything.

 

Mistake No. 2: Not giving enough time for the shoot

It only takes 125th part of a second to take a photo. But obviously that’s not enough time to get you a great headshot. Because many things need to fall in place for that and it takes time to do make sure they do.


·       The setup needs to be done and ready

·       You need to look and feel comfortable

·       We need to try different looks, different lighting to see what works best (yes, it is an experiment)


Hurrying through the shoot is a very bad idea. You are putting the photographer to stress test and setting yourself up for failure – meaning you won’t get the results you were looking for. You need to give it time and be patient.


Please don’t plan anything big on the day of the shoot – that will stress you out. Allow a generous buffer – if the shoot is expected to last for 2 hours, have 4 hours blocked in your calendar. That you can make it less stressful for yourself and get the best possible results.


Having a train or a flight to catch after the shoot would be a disaster in making. A client of mine turned up 1 hour late for his outdoor photoshoot carrying 3 suitcases and his spouse and his 4 year old in tow. It was a hot and humid July day and his shirt was drenched in his sweat after one and a half hour cab ride from Noida. He was planning to catch a train to Amritsar (from old Delhi station) and had 1 hour cab ride ahead to get there. This is the best recipe for ruining a photoshoot and surely that's what he did. He was understandably tired, stressed, anxious, grumpy, uncomfortable and consequently didn't cooperate with me, his child was upset that he wasn't in the photos. They all resented me for asking them do this and that. I wish I didn't take up that shoot. I cringe as I write this, it's that bad. I blame him for the outcome and blamed myself for not writing a blog post like this, warning me beforehand like I am doing to you.


If you need to travel on the day of the shoot, lets plan the shoot another day or leave a big buffer between the shoot and your travel. If something comes up and as a result you can’t give enough time, I am happy to reschedule the shoot.


Please don’t think of just getting it done quickly - that'd be a disaster in making.


Mistake No. 3: Turning the photoshoot into an IPL watch party


Photoshoots are not social events. They are very personal events, an intensely private event. It is about you and you alone. No one else, not even the family members closest to you will be in your headshot. You can go for a family portrait though.


A headshot is all about you and you only.

·  Don't invite people over to watch/guide you with it, that's my job and I will take care of it


·  Ask your family members, colleagues or friends to simply leave the room. Ask them to AVOID sticking around, avoid watching how it is all going. You may tell them that the photographer is a grumpy fellow who can't concentrate with people watching over his shoulder - go ahead blame it on me, just don't tell me you did that. LOL!

 

Mistake No. 4: Not taking my suggestions (about poses, photo selection, others)


You are an expert about yourself, understood. No one knows you better than yourself, okay, agreed!


But you engaged my service for a reason, right? You wanted the kind of headshots I shoot. And I have a specific process for helping you pose, to get you comfortable. I may have a fair idea what makes you look good and I will ask you to turn your chin towards me, look away, lean forward a bit (or all at once, LOL!) – when I do, please follow my lead! Please, work with me!


You need to trust me to know what I am doing. In the same manner that you trust a doctor to prescribe you right medicines, you need to trust me to do the right thing for you. I am invested in my work many times more than any of my clients because this is the only thing I do; I do this for a living. Each headshot I produce adds or subtracts from the reputation I painstakingly built. This is very important and valuable for me.


You got to listen to me, act on my suggestions. I assure you, I keep an open mind – I am happy to hear your thoughts and ideas too. If you have a different idea, we can do that too, let’s go as I suggest as well as with your ideas. Let’s experiment and see what works. Let’s keep it a win – win.


A couple of clients thought they knew, they were adamant about certain ways of posing, certain ways of composing my shots (can you believe it?) both of them were not as happy as they could be had they followed my lead. They thought they knew better about how they look good. Sure they do, in a mirror not in a headshot – that’s my department, they should have trusted me with my work but they didn't and now they know.


I hope this helps you get a picture about what not to do before and during the photoshoot. If anything is not clear please message me or call me and I am happy to clarify.


Good luck with your photoshoot!

Commentaires


Les commentaires ont été désactivés.
bottom of page