COMPUTERS
I’ve surrendered. I don’t go in the darkroom any more for headshots. Five black and white prints involves about an hour and a half printing time and one to six hours retouching. I’m finicky. With five scanned negs, the same results can be had in about twenty minutes on the computer. And the number of things the computer can do that I can’t verges on the infinite.
COLOR
Right now, color is hot. Two reasons. One, with digital litho and photo reproductions, it’s now affordable. A minimum run for standard color lithos is @ $500 for 500 repros. Digital gets you 300 repros for @ $100. Two, with electronic submissions, a casting person is looking at a page with 12 to 18 thumbnails (it can be as many as 40 depending on how the casting person configures his/her screen) about an inch and a half tall. Color will jump off a page of black and white thumbnails. BUT...everyone is climbing on the color bandwagon. My guess is it won't be long before it will be black and white that pops off the page of color so don't write it off. However, we live in the now.
JOE'S THEORY: B&W or Color, it’s contrast that makes the difference. Most black and white headshots are flat...lots of gray tones...because folks think softer tones are more flattering. And perhaps they are. That’s a subjective judgment. A vivid, contrasty photo gets ATTENTION. In the Darwinian world of electronic submissions, I believe the same is true with color. The question is not how it looks in your hands but what does it do on a computer screen with 12 to 40 others when yours is the 237th page the casting person has looked at today. With color, I’ve been playing around with cross processing, computer enhanced saturation and multi-character composites. Some like 'em. Some don't. But there is a definite what-the-hell-is-that factor that keeps them from being ignored.
JOE’S RULE: Any shameless gimmick that helps your headshot work is just swell.
A WORD TO THE WISE: If your pics are on LA Casting, Breakdown Services or any other submission site, add your resume to your gallery. I've heard from two casting directors recently that, if they don't already know you, they won't call you in on your picture alone.
COSTS
For headshots I have two packages:
#1 $350 3 rolls of film, in studio, up to three wardrobe changes, up to 8 negative scans of at least 60 megabytes in PSD or TIFF (I can scan up to @600 mgs if you need it.)
#2 $500 5 rolls of film, location or studio, extra rolls at costs (film and processing, $20 B&W, $25 color), up to 18 scans as above*
Each package also includes all computer retouching, formatting to 300 dpi for repros and 72 dpi for e-mail, web posts and home printer so you can walk out of the office and go straight to reproduction. You also get your proofs and negatives. Digital is not archival. On disc or in the computer, normal background radiation will begin to significantly degrade digital within a few years. Your negs, properly stored are, for all intents and purposes, eternal.
Future sessions are at my costs plus $100. I like repeaters.
*Unless otherwise requested, I shoot 120 roll film in 6x4.5 format. Negative is about 3 times larger than 35 mm with exponentially greater resolution in detail and color than the best "35" digital camera. If your prefer 35 mm or 6x6, those are also options.
Humble thanks to Ryan Hall and without Christa McCarthy (Girl Next Door Design) I'd be webless. Comptent, creative, good people.
An extra special song and dance of gratitude to Aria McKenna and Anna Campbell who have allowed me to to experiment with their time, creativity, grace and infinite patience while I wrestled with studio lighting and played with every color film and processing technique avaliable. Their generosity still astonishes me. The debt can never be repaid.
