The Secret to Perfect Headshots

Ben and David are extremely, extremely successful actors who also give free acting advice. If you listen to them you will most likely become famous. If you don’t, things probably won’t pan out for you.

As all of us in the business know, the trends for headshot looks are always changing. One year it’s black and white, the next it’s color. One agent says you should be smiling, another says serious. We even heard recently from an anonymous casting guy on the Internet that, “You need to pose in European-style bikini briefs and send me digital copies as soon as possible.” That trend was so short-lived we never even heard back from him! So we felt that with all this confusion over different “looks,” there needed to be a consensus, once and for all. So folks, here is our answer: Get all of ’em! That’s right, you heard us correctly.

There aren’t just commercial parts, or film and TV parts. There are so many different parts, and you need to be ready for every scenario. You should have at least 20 different shots all touched up and printed out, ready to submit at a moment’s notice. We know this sounds a bit overwhelming, so here are some of the most basic looks to include the next time you get your headshots taken:

• Color

• Black and White

• Just Your Head

• Your Full Body with Head

• Your Full Body with Head and Hat

• You on a Cobblestone Street

• You Squatting on a Train Track

• You Pretending to Lean on Something

• You Leaning on a Brick Wall That Says “No Turning Back”

• You Dressed as a Cop

• You Dressed as a Firefighter

• You as a Newsie

• As a Pizza Guy

• As a Beautiful, Beautiful Angel

• You on a Different Cobblestone Street

• You with a Surprised Look on Your Face

• You with a Wimpy-Looking Face

• You with a Sexually-Ready Face

• You with a Face That Says “I’m the Boss Around Here”

• Just You With an Excessive Amount of Touch-Ups So You Look Much More Attractive and Younger Than Yourself (In industry lingo this is just typically referred to as a “headshot.”)

This is just the tip of the iceberg, people. The possibilities are endless.

“But Ben and David, my headshot photographer just laughed in my face before I even got to No. 7!” Well, that’s exactly why from now on you should only get your headshots done at Ben & David Photography©™®™. We do it all. We shoot exclusively on the state of the art iPhone 4S by Apple Industries. We have numerous costume choices, and we get true emotions out of you through various fake-outs. One of us pretends to get a terminal diagnosis from our doctor…click! We tell you someone saw a picture of you on our Facebook page and that they want to cast you on “The Blacklist”… click! Then we tell you that, “We made a mistake and they actually want to hire your best friend”…click!

Also, you know you're getting the best with us because we charge an exorbitant amount of money. Which leads us to our final, and most important piece of advice: Regardless of whether or not you chose our services, we hope you at least spend a lot of money on your new headshots. Because, a picture is worth, as the old adage goes, one month’s rent and whatever they charge at Reproductions.