*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with Vanessa on Instagram  @VanessaJoy.

New to a headshot photography? This quick lesson from Vanessa Joy and her show “Breathe Your Passion” on AdoramaTV will be of great help to you! In a few simple steps you will be able to provide photographers that both you and your clients would love and share around.

Vanessa first shares hew pre-setup – “Before my clients get there, I typically set up some  of the lighting that I know that I’m going to use  for the shot.  I don’t always set everything up, because  I’d like my clients to see the effort that goes into  putting a headshot session together, after all  I want them to see the value of what it is that they  paid for, other than just the final product.” 

“The very first thing I have them do, is to take pictures  with them, looking slightly to the left and slightly  to the right. The reason I’m doing this is  I’m trying to figure out what their better side is,  so that I focus on photographing their better side.  After the pictures are taken and tethered in to Lightroom,  I have the client come over and take a look at  the images with me. While photographically  I might know what side is their better side,  everyone has their own opinion about themselves,  and I want to be sensitive about that  and bring them in on the collaboration of figuring out  which side of their face is better for photographing.”

Vanessa continues – “With this client, we both agreed that  the picture on the right is his better side,  so we move forward and started setting up the light,  to compliment that side of his face. I ended up using  the light here as a reflector, not actually turned on  when I’m taking the shot. So I brought it in  nice and close so that the white part of the 3×4 softbox  could just act as a reflector for the main light  that was going to be on the right side of his face.  From there I directed my client to just stand  in a nice relaxed manner and this helps them feel  more comfortable in front of the camera,  just not standing awkwardly, and then I gave him  direction to put his hands in his pocket and to follow  what I was telling him to do.  With my chin by sticking it out, not up  not down but  out towards the camera so that he  didn’t appear to have  a double chin, which he definitely didn’t  but as we know in photographs,  if the head is  not positioned correctly it can appear so.”

“From there we just move on to shooting  and ideally I’m shooting fairly similarly  positioned photos but I’m just  having him move his chin up, down,  to the right,  to the left – only a little bit, very small  movements.  In headshots, photography can make a  big difference.  For this particular client he wanted all the  pictures smiling naturally  because he’s a dentist.  So a nice bright smile is something  that we were  going for in the images.”

“After taking a few shots  I do have the client come over  and look at  what we’ve got so far at the  tethering station.  I like to do this right away because I will  ask them  to point out shots that they like  and that they don’t like  and hopefully I find a pattern of  facial expressions or  body positions head positions that will  tell me the things that they like, or  don’t like about themselves on camera  this will also give me a closer look at  the image to make sure that the exposure  and light patterns are correct and the  way I want them to be, it’s one of the  main reasons that I tether other than  being able to collaborate with my  clients on the spot.”

“After that we’re  ready to take a few more images and with  a better idea of what my client likes.  I’m able to pose and direct them better,  and at this point they’re more  comfortable in front of the camera as  well because they’ve seen images that  I’m creating, and they understand the  direction I’m giving and why I’m giving it.  They essentially trust me a little  bit more and loosen up in front of the  camera. “

“The last little tip that I give  my clients is to have them look slightly  above the lens, like I’m telling him here  this is to help their eyes look a little  bit more open, appear a little bit more  awake, it doesn’t make them look like  they’re looking off camera, because it’s  just a very slight eye movement upwards.”

WANT TO  LEARN  PHOTOGRAPHY?

Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!

One of our closest workshops – Studio Lighting 101 : Introduction to Studio Lighting  will take place on June  5th, 7-9pm, in one of our Los Angeles studios !!!

Watch the full episode with Vanessa Joy and Adorama TV: