Laguna Niguel Headshot Photographer

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR LAGUNA NIGUEL HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHER

There are likely many professional headshot photography businesses in your local Laguna Niguel area. It was likely very easy to find all of them. The hard part is actually selecting a Laguna Niguel professional headshot photographer that will make you look and feel your absolute best. This is because headshot photography is not as easy as setting up an expensive camera with good lighting equipment and telling someone to smile. First, be cautious of the photographer that shows you many photos of unrelated work, and then also a few headshots in their portfolio. This is a tell tale sign that they heard headshots were a money-maker add-on to their wedding ceremony, beach, family pets, and high-school sports photography business and they added a few photos in a gallery with some pricing in an attempt to corner the Laguna Niguel headshot market. These types of photographers are often not worth your hard-earned dollars for a headshot. You're probably better off taking your chances with your cell phone camera and an instructional online video.

Headshots are quite a bit more involved than having an expensive camera and lighting equipment and asking someone to smile. In fact, an amazing camera, top quality professional lighting and the skills to use them to their fullest are far less than half of the qualifications required to create a professional and effective Laguna Niguel headshot.

WHAT YOUR LAGUNA NIGUEL HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHER NEEDS TO DO

Ultimately, it comes down to human elements and most importantly how relaxed, confident and approachable your Laguna Niguel headshot photographer can get you to look. This is almost entirely dictated by the coaching and directing skills of your photographer, which are skills that need to be developed and practiced over many years time. Many Laguna Niguel headshot photographers underestimate or even overlook entirely the importance of those skills in a headshot context. To get your best headshot look, your photographer needs to be interested in you and passionate about the craft! The right Laguna Niguel headshot photographer will use their experience, skills and charisma to draw out the best elements in your expression — the things that make you special and unique. They'll be patient with you and create a comfortable atmosphere so when your best elements do present themselves, WHAM, the shot is taken at the moment you look your best.

The right Laguna Niguel headshot photographer for you must recognize any anxiousness or uncomfortable feelings in their clients and understand how to address those issues while simultaneously doing everything else that they need to do (lighting, camera settings, posing / directing, etc...). This is what makes headshot photography best left to those with many years experience who have developed skills in this photography niche.

3 THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING THE BEST LAGUNA NIGUEL HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHER

1. REVIEW PORTFOLIO AND GALLERIES - Patiently review the photographer’s portfolio very carefully for looks of confidence, genuine expression and a generally approachable human in each of the photos in their portfolio. Consistency is the goal here; if this Laguna Niguel headshot photographer can't create a headshot portfolio that contains confident, approachable and genuine people in every single photo, then most likely they cannot do that for you. In fact, the more consistent the portfolio, the better your chances of getting your best headshot photo.

2. SPEAK WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHER - Call the Laguna Niguel headshot photographer on the phone (don't just email them) and ask them how the session will flow and how they will coach and direct you during the headshot session. Any questions or defensiveness about the question, or terse answers that the photographer can't seem to explain any further are quite possibly indicators that they really have zero plans to bring your best out of you in a photo. Ask them what would happen if you hire them and you weren't happy with the images. Photographers who can’t answer this question confidently will not offer any solution to this potential re-do or warranty situation.

3. CHECK RATINGS AND READ REVIEWS - Check ratings and reviews and reach out to one or two of their past clients if that's possible. Reviews are sometimes misleading as every reviewer is different, but having a low overall rating, or no reviews at all might be indicators that they are actually quite inexperienced, or possibly part time photographers instead of full time professionals. It’s very difficult to run a photography business, but often things likes nice websites and client reviews are not things that a part time Laguna Niguel headshots photographer will have time to accomplish. Even five or ten solid reviews can represent that the photographer is a professional and capable of delivering your genuine and authentic self in a headshot image. The more 5 star ratings, the better.

JOHN GLOVER THE MIND READER

John's worked with actors and models that can walk into a headshot or portrait session and own the camera (and therefore, their audience) without him saying a word or providing any coaching. Professionals know what to do with their facial expression in order to convey whatever character they want, and the good ones will convince you that it's a genuine look.

Having up front and personal Laguna Niguel headshot photographs taken can seem like an anxious task. John’s camera lens is capable of taking a confident CEO and turning them into a shy person. Of course, John thinks this is completely normal. There are very few people who can bring the right combination of confidence and micro expression required to pull off a great headshot without specialized coaching and directing. Almost everyone needs some help. Therefore, developing the skills to coach and direct his clients in their Laguna Niguel headshot session was something John identified early in his career as a critical component of success. John has never stopped developing these techniques, and it's part of what makes headshot photography so interesting to him.

John has spent countless hours on ways to comfortably draw clients into the right expression, and these techniques work really well. If you don't believe him, take a look at his headshot portfolio; this could be you. These people, managers, and executives just needed a solid headshot for LinkedIN, job search, corporate branding, etc... Perhaps John just got lucky and all of them were just happy people who walked around smiling genuinely even after he turned on the camera? Of course not! They were just like every other corporate client who probably could have thought of 10 better places to be than having an Laguna Niguel headshot taken. Sure - some of them were more confident and comfortable than others, and that certainly helps.

John's heard the phrase, "I don’t look good in photos!" so many times that he's learned to respectfully ignore it. That phrase doesn't really mean much to John; in fact it’s what motivates him. He assumes that everyone he works with is a little scared or nervous about their Laguna Niguel headshot session until they see evidence to the contrary. That evidence is simply an amazing headhot that makes a person feel confident and happy about the genuine and authentic look achieved. It's certainly true that the ultimate goal is to coach and direct people toward their amazing headshot - John takes this very seriously. But the typical by-product of the process is an unexpectedly fun session for John's clients. This is because John needs to read their minds. What this actually means is he determines what mental state they're in regarding having their photo taken. Then he quickly devises a plan to address their shortcomings and remove all obstacles to looking their best.

John is not literally a mind reader, but he can detect a fake expression, and those don't fly in his studio. He's going to work hard to achieve your real expression one way or another, and that's what you should expect of any other Laguna Niguel headshot photographer you may hire as well.