Ask HN: Have you paid for the photos/headshots you use in professional setting?
And if so, why?
The hard part is getting "a person who happens to be in a picture" rather than "a picture that happens to have a person in it". That's psychology, not photography, and it's a completely separate skill. You can get the book learning from successful headshot types (notably Peter Hurley, but there are certainly others), but that's sort of like knowing the theory of standup comedy. You've got to actually work with people to figure out how to make them seem like they're looking through the camera rather than at it. And you've got to care enough to keep your subject from figuring out that you're doing any of that.
If you're up to the game, or at least think you could be, then starting with a YouTube search for "Peter Hurley headshot" and watching the excerpts from "The Art Behind the Headshot" (they'll be at the Fstoppers channel) is a great place to start. Hurley's a salesman with an ego, and his clientelle are mostly actors looking for a different sort of headshot than the typical corporate client, but don't let any of that get in the way - the interaction tricks, etc., are still the same. Posing should seem like little offhand comments in the rest of the patter; the idea is to get rid of the obvious, gigantic and scary camera thing, and reminding the subject that the photo is important is going to kill that. Expect a low "keeper" rate, especially early on. (If you allow time for school pictures, you're going to get school pictures.) Once you've watched Hurley, you'll be able to judge others. Joe McNally's humble approach - like he's been given the privilege of taking the photo, no matter who's in front of the camera - also works well. Find someone who reminds you of who you'd like to be, and can be, behind the camera. But it's about reading the people and working with them as people that makes all of the difference.
(It took me hours to realize -- after digging through their HTML -- that the reason my own pic looked so blurry once uploaded was because of this. Logged out, it looks fine.)
If you are developing a service related to professional headshots, I would appreciate you contacting me at mcculley@stackframe.com as I am developing something related to that industry.
I'm considering it because of the popularity of LinkedIn but in the Anglo-American culture and thus most multinational companies - it is frowned upon to attach a photo to your CV.
I do wonder how that reconciles with all the social media around though considering the main way recruiters reach out to me is LinkedIn.
I've been told in Germany you must attach a specific type.of photo, and you must gomtona professional photographer for it
Why? Because it's an effective way to tell your story better.
It says you're confident, because you know that you're awesome enough to deserve a professional shoot.
The specifics of whatever photos you end up using will carry some message. For example being shot in front of books carries an obvious message.
It's good to have a photo specifically designed for professional contexts, rather than one awkwardly repurposed from a social context.
A stiff passport photo would've been boring...
Like it or not, others respond to our image. Using a professional photo is a great way to influence that response.
Much better than I would have been able to do myself / with an amateur friend's help. Not as high quality as studio photos, but also not nearly as expensive, and good enough for my purposes.
It probably wasn't the best way to spend our limited resources at the time. However, the pictures weren't particularly expensive either and I still use one for profile pictures and similar use cases, mostly because otherwise there aren't that many decent headshots of myself. Well, there's this one but I suppose it'd not be particularly suitable for a professional setting: https://bjoernkw.com/images/top-hat.jpg
So, in hindsight I'd say I got my money's worth for those shots.
There is a substantial difference in the way people handle identification with good photos. It feels like people think, "oh, of course, this is you." I liken it to my photo having taken a shower - it makes a much better impression.
People usually hate their identification photos. Having a quality photo is a nice conversation starter.
I think it came out well.
A headshot would be of exactly zero value to me. I have no photo on linkedin or any social media. In fact, zero photos of me online.
Current work asked me to upload a photo for the company skype / whatever. I told them no. It's completely pointless.
If a company wanted a photo for me to apply for the job, I wouldn't apply.
Judge me on my history / technical skills / personal skills etc at the interview. My face is irrelevant.
I agree with your point about job interviews, but in your job, a photo is far from pointless. It helps people you only work with remotely to stay empathetic, and not reduce you to a faceless attributeless character (which is the image placholder photos transport), among other things.
It seems to me that you haven't accepted this fact of life.
Honestly, I try to go into the office as little as possible.
I don't need a photo to help me trust someone though, I judge my colleagues on their work, I couldn't care less what they look like.
I use a low-end DSLR that I take the time to manually adjust.
Results are good enough that I won't bother finding a professional to do better.
35 euro: for private use in applications, social networks eg Xing, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc.
80 euro: You acquire the full rights of use to use your portrait commercially eg for websites, brochures, business cards, publications in books or magazines, all without time and space restriction.
I guess one could try bargaining with them - because without you hiring them, there'd be no license to sell to you. But I guess successful ones can just turn you away.