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Do your headshots make you look GREEN? Updated Q4, 2025
[LA Headshot Photographers by Vanie] I recently attended an event at the Screen Actors Guild Foundation where five panelists, including Chris Game Casting, discussed elements of a quality headshot. Ā This event was live streamed and the archive can be seen HERE. Two of the attendees were casting directors.Ā Chris, with whom I'm personally acquainted, teaches an incredibly effective auditioning class, so he's got cred if you know what I mean. EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN A PHOTOGRAPHER for over 15 years,Ā to my surprise, I walked away from this event having learned something new about headshots!...
The most important thing to convey in your headshot.
[LA Headshot Photography by Vanie] I was asked to contribute to a Backstage West column called "Ask A Photographer". Halley Bondy, one of the news reporters from Backstage West, asked me to answer this question with 200 words or less. Oh Boy! Well here goes! The most important thing to convey in a headshot is specific marketing! The biggest mistake most actors make is taking a pretty picture that says nothing about them. EVERYONE CAN TAKE A PRETTY PICTURE, but a picture that is directly targeting specific age ranges and specific casting calls, such as ābusiness manā, āyoung Momā, āvictimā or...
What should I bring to my headshot session?
[Headshot Wardrobe Tips by Vanie] Trends have changed in LA-- Used to be that headshots were in black and white. Used to be that three quarter head shots were it. Digital advancements in both cameras and printers have made it possible for the color headshot to be reproduced cheaply and led to the birth of online casting. There are hardly any more paper submissions. In fact, most auditions arrive via email these days. SINCE ALL YOUR PHOTOS ARE SUBMITTED DIGITALLY,Ā and since the thumbnails online become really small, the smartest thing to do is to shoot mainly close ups. Makes sense, right?...
How to get into the right doors in Hollywood
[Hollywood Headshots by Vanie] Do you know how to get into the right doors in Hollywood?Ā Ā Back in the day when submissions were done via snail mail, a friend of mine mentioned he was looking for a new agent and submitting his headshots with a clear envelope so they could see the headshot from the outside. Yeah that was a thing back then. I thought to myself, āReally? Thereās got to be a better way.āĀ And of course, that approach yielded minimal results. The calls he received were NOT from the most desirable agencies.Ā Then I thought about one of my clients who had mentioned how he...