<p>In the greater scheme of things, how important is including a professional headshot vs. a well done "homemade" one as part of an application package? Asking while fully agreeing that a homemade version would not be nearly as good as what a pro could do. But does degree of "goodness" really matter when it comes to admission or is "good enough", good enough?</p>
<p>Completely willing to get the pro shots if necessary so to be clear, I'm not "anti" I just want to know. A part of me wonders if there is a downside of an applicant seeming overly packaged. Or maybe on the contrary it signals that they're willing to go the extra mile. Or it signals that they have the funds to do so which also gives me pause.</p>
<p>My ambivalance has inspired me to ask. I'd be particularly interested in the opinions of the college reps on this thread but would also happily hear opinions from anyone with experience to answer this question. </p>
<p>Thank you all in advance for your wisdom. I continue to be in awe of the generosity of help one can receive here.</p>
<p>After seeing many of D’s friends’ pro headshots, I felt very unsure. I’ve had headshots for myself and I know there are some brilliant photographers in the world who really can get the personality in the shot. But…the pictures I was seeing, for kids who did well in their auditions, looked very generic to me. </p>
<p>D wanted to go to the “best” guy locally-- he gave us a very good price. The minute we saw them, we both knew they wouldn’t do. I took D outside, backed her up against the house and snapped away with my cheap digital camera (it does have a portrait setting) while we talked about a boy D has a crush on, her hopes for the future etc. It took 20 minutes.</p>
<p>We got at least 20 great shots-- she looks beautiful and her face is full of thought and feeling-- why? Well, not because I’m any kind of photographer! Because she’s entirely comfortable with me, she was relaxed, she was thinking about things that inspire her and it showed in her face. I had them reproduced at at Reproductions.com, as many here have suggested-- they did a few tiny touchups. That was that. Sooooo–unless you know someone who’s a real whiz, I’d at least try to do it at home and see what you get. You can always go to a pro later on.</p>
<p>I totally agree that a professional headshot is not necessary for college auditions. Some schools send their kids to get ones done with “their” people after they are in school, so going to great expense for the audition shots is just overkill.</p>
<p>When we had my daughter’s senior pictures done, we had her shoot some close ones that focused on the eyes. With Reproduction.coms help we got some very good choices that were printed up as headshots.</p>
<p>Same here- no need for professional shots. While my D did have some, they were getting old and no longer portrayed her the way she was. She went to a park with a friend and they took some great shots. She was accepted to the majority of her schools so I would say they are totally unnecessary!</p>
<p>Please please please make sure the picture ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE YOU. Ive overheard so many auditors complaining about how the girl they saw and the girl on the page doesnt even look like they could be distant cousins. Its the same idea as NEVER EXAGGERATE YOUR RESUME. If you cant back it up when you need to, its going to count heavily against you.</p>
<p>I used a picture that my friend took. Worked out great.</p>
<p>Thought: if you’re getting senior pictures done for high school anyway, and you’re already planning on buying a package, you could ask the photographer to include a headshot. If you like it, use it! If not, you can take your own, and no extra money wasted.</p>
<p>^caramello – that’s exactly what we did, and got some of the BEST pics of d (both the traditional senior pictures and the eventual headshots) because she had such a blast w/the photographers, and never had the “seriousness” of “this is your make-or-break headshot pose”. We discussed it with the photographer before the senior pics, and she was willing to roll that into her senior pics pricing.</p>
<p>In follow-up to Jake’s last comment, I had to laugh. I worked auditions at a regional theater that was doing Annie. You would not believe how many little girls showed up with headshots in which they looked like Annie- wig and all! We had to take pictures of them in “real life” to stick on to the resume before they went in to audition. Serveral moms asked why we were taking pictures and seemed to have trouble understanding that it is sometimes hard to connect an audition with a face at a later time, and the picture is used for that purpose- it’s tough when all we have is a picture of Annie!</p>
<p>If I WAS going to get a headshot done, should I get black-and-white or color? I was thinking color would be better…and full bleed with name on it, or with a border? also, how many copies should I probably get? like 30?
last question: what do people normally wear to get their headshot taken? I think I can have two outfits.</p>
<p>If you go to reproductions.com you can get an idea of what a headshot should look like when it’s printed, as far as borders and names go. I think everyone is doing color - and there’s a 50 minimum at reproductions if you go there.<br>
If you look at backstage.com this week, there’s a great article about headshots and the photographers mention what looks best. If you go to the pro head shots photograhers’ web sites, you can see their work, and you can see what people are wearing. Try to find people who have similar coloring to yours…</p>
<p>Thanks! I didn’t know about reproductions.com.
Also, this might be a stupid question but here goes…should resumes be printed on special paper? or can you just print them yourself?</p>
<p>Again, if you use Reproductions.com you can have them printed on paper that lets you print the resume on the back using your inkjet printer at home. That way you can just print them as you need them and always have an up-to-date resume as you add more credits.</p>
<p>You can also print out your resume on regular printer paper or resume paper and staple or glue it to the back of the headshot as needed. Just make sure to cut the paper to 8x10 to match the size of the headshot. You can easily do this after attaching to the headshot.</p>
<p>For the resume side: Make sure the paper is white and crispy! Some folks actually use cardstock. We use nice quality resume paper. It shouldn’t be thin every day printing paper because the print will show through to your picture on the front.</p>
<p>I have not had that problem with regular printing paper as long as it is decent quality. But resume paper is nice to, because it is a little sturdier. </p>
<p>When casting I personally prefer paper to cardstock, and like it when the resume is stapled rather than glued or printed on the back, because if I want I can lift the paper and write notes on the back of it. However, when push comes to shove everyone’s preference will be different, so simply having a clean, neat presentation of headshot and resume is great!</p>
<p>KatMT - That’s interesting what you say about stapled and not glued. When my daughter was young she acted professionally and I always glued the resume to the headshot because 1) it didn’t leave holes if I needed to update her resume after attaching it, 2) it looked cleaner without the staples showing through the other side, and 3) it laid flatter when in a stack. </p>
<p>This is what we called “mind candy” (I think) back then but I never thought of the advantage of staples in your way before. Now that my daughter does this on her own, she prefers staples because she finds it easier and it’s more common so in case a CD does have a preference she figures she’s one of the pack in that respect. Always interesting to see different views.</p>