How to Take Professional Headshots Yourself - #002

Show Notes

Nola and Lori set out to see if they could take their own professional looking headshots and ‘lifestyle’ professional photos using only their smartphones. How successful were they? What can you learn from their experience so you can take the best photos and use them in branding your side hustle?

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Sticky Brand Lab

Let’s get this shoot, we mean the episode started!

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• How to take professional headshots and lifestyle photos using ONLY your smartphone
• The pose checklist you need for creating a fun and professional/personal brand
• How to use indirect light to take professional looking photos
• What to wear to accentuate your best features and hide your body flaws
• Which filter apps and editing tools are the easiest to use

Just like you need a website, email address, brand colors and brand messaging for your side hustle, you also need professional headshots and photos as the face of your business. These professional ‘lifestyle’ photos give customers a face to go with the name of your business. It brings a human element to business, and can help you promote your personal brand in an incredibly positive way. One really good photo can have multiple uses such as on the about page of your business website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn pages as well as in your email signature.

(2:35.54)  What personal branding is and why it’s so important for your side hustle.  

(3:59.92)  The biggest and often most overlooked reason you need professional photos.

(5:57.60)  One of the most important and most visited places on your website.  

(12:23.54)  Use these tips and tricks to capture your best expressions.  

(19:28.23)  Our favorite apps for hiding shadows and minimizing fine lines and wrinkles. 

Resources
Pose Checklist by Photographer Maggie Kirkland

Helpful Videos
From the Science of People

Makeup & poses from Dominique Sachse (pronounced Sacksa): Flattering Poses for Fabulous Photos 

Wardrobe tips from Kimberly Rodriguez of KRPersonalstyle.com; Link to her YouTube tutorial

Maya of Shameless Swag Link to her YouTube tutorial

Equipment

• Phone
• Tripod
• Circle Light

FREE Editing apps

• Snapseed
• Google Photos
• VSCO
• Foodie

This Episode was Supported by: 
Middle Kid Media
Logo Lite and Social Packages for $475 see our offers page for details 
Additional Savings for Other Branding Services Coupon code SBL20 (Excludes Logo Lite & Social Packages)

Transcript

Nola: [00:00:00] Let us guess. It's been a while since you had a professional headshot done, right? Of course. It's the face of your business. You know, you have to have updated professional photos. It's a must have for your personal branding, including your social and LinkedIn profiles. But if you're like me, your, like, allergic to those stodgy headshots, not to mention the big price tag, especially when you're just getting started. Well, side hustlers. We get you. That's why we did the research on how to use your phone to take photos that look like a professional lifestyle photo shoot. We tested the advice out there. And in episode two, we put everything we learned into this segment of, Is It Worth It?

​Announcer: [00:00:37] You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast. Where time strapped professionals, like you, learn how to create a business you'd love in as little as three hours a week.
Hello and welcome podcast listeners. Lori and NOLA here with another amazing show for you. In this episode, you'll discover just how easy it is to use your phone, to take your own [00:01:00] professional looking headshots and lifestyle photos.
But before we share the tips, tricks and techniques with you that we learned, be sure to click the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, subscribe button and give us a two thumbs up review. So more movers and aspiring entrepreneurial shakers like you, can easily find are helpful show. Let's get the show started. So NOLA, what's your feeling about taking or being photographed?

Nola: [00:01:28] I don't,
I don't. I don't like to have my photograph taken. I don't like to be told smile.

Lori: [00:01:41] Yes. That is the worst. My friend Kelly says that we each have a good side for your face. And she's right. I've done photos. And when I'm looking at the photo and I positioned my head in a certain way, I know that that's the right way or the wrong way, but for the life of me, when I look at that photo, I can't [00:02:00] tell which side I should be consistently doing. It's like, I need to read reversed.

Nola: [00:02:07] Well, I may not like to have my photos done or to have my photo taken even, even in Christmas photos. However, I do recognize that we have to have professional photos for, you know, personal branding purposes. So in personal branding is so important.
I mean, it's a thing now, and if you're going to be out there, you have to pay attention to this stuff. And so it is important.

Lori: [00:02:35] I agree with you. And I think there's some confusion about what personal branding is, especially if you have a business and, or in this case, a side hustle. And you're just getting started because personal sounds like it's about me and not about my business.
Yeah. So for our listeners, how do you describe personal branding?

Nola: [00:02:57] It's how I want people to think of me. [00:03:00] It's the way I want people to know me so that before they even relate to me or as they relate to me that everything that they see about me lets them know what they're getting when they deal with me.
That's how I would.

Lori: [00:03:13] Yeah. I think there's business branding. That's the marketing material. That's your logo. That's your branding colors, all of those things for your business as the face of your business. That's the personal branding that comes into place. So you almost want to separate you as the face of your business and your business branding. And when those are in sync, then people. Connect with you as the representative of the business.

Nola: [00:03:46] Got it. And that is so true. And why is that important?

Lori: [00:03:51] Well, when you're thinking about it, it gives people an impression of you, as you said before, but not a, an [00:04:00] impression of what it would be like to hire you, to work with you, to buy from you, which is why, uh, professional photos are so important.

Nola: [00:04:09] Because people can already start to relate to you as a person and not as a name.

Lori: [00:04:14] Totally. Totally. Now in the past, and you still see this out there today. There's those professional headshots where people are kind of leaning in those contorted positions.

Nola: [00:04:26] And they have that, that modeled gray tope blue background.

Lori: [00:04:34] Yeah, those are awful and they're stodgy. And as you know, we've discussed and they're, they're old, I think they're outdated. And if you've ever been on Facebook and seeing the ads pop up from people who are selling their courses online or their services or their products, that's a good indication of a more modern look, which is more of what we are referring to as the lifestyle

[00:05:00] Nola: [00:04:59] photo. The lifestyle photo.
Because it's not just a pose. It's it's life in action. It's it's more human. It's not canned.

Lori: [00:05:10] And it looks like you're having fun, right? Like you're out there and you're having fun. And there are some poses specifically for that. And we'll get into that in a little bit, but the lifestyle is more, a great representative of your personality.
It removes that old fashion traditional in the suit, in the professional looking wardrobe and shows what you are all about. So it's a real opportunity as a business owner, as side hustler, getting started to have those photos done.

Nola: [00:05:43] So your business, and you're doing your trade, and let's say you get a bunch of lifestyle, you have these lifestyle photos.
Why would you need them? Where would you put them? Why is this important to have. Well,

Lori: [00:05:56] Like one of the most important places on your [00:06:00] website is your about page. So people go to our about page, they'll see some professional looking photo. You look beautiful by the way. And there is a lifestyle photo where I'm cracking up and. Uh, friends and family that know me and they see that picture always say, that is exactly what I look like. That gives them kind of that warm, fuzzy feeling because it connects them. It's real, but there's many other places that you would put your professional looking photo. You could put it for your LinkedIn profile or your business page profile.
You could put your professional photo in your email signature. You could put it in your bio page. If you have collateral or print material. you could put it on your social platforms. You could put it anywhere in banners on your website.

Nola: [00:06:50] And if you have speaking, engagements are always asking for a photo with your bio. So there's that.

Lori: [00:06:58] Probably the best and [00:07:00] almost often place you see professional lifestyle photos is on

Nola: [00:07:03] ads. Duh, there are ads.
There. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Marketing and branding material. So there's, there's your traditional ads. There's any kind of material, especially again, if, as the face of the organization, um, if you're going to be more, want to be on all of those, that thing is to have. A big photo shoot. I mean, to have some photographer taking you out on a golf course or at a Canyon or
Yeah, so yeah, I mean to have actually a really good professional photographer for a half day or a full day, and it takes sometimes when you're with a photographer with all of their equipment, it can take a good day, a good afternoon, and that can be pricey. So that can be cost prohibitive and not even advisable when you're just getting started.
So what do you [00:08:00] do?

Lori: [00:08:00] We decided to take matters into our own hands and find that what you do.

Nola: [00:08:05] When you want to do it on your own.

Lori: [00:08:07] What's the most cost effective way to do a photo shoot is to do it yourself.

Nola: [00:08:13] No matter how you feel about taking your own photos, whether you love it, or whether you find it nerve wracking.
Having professional looking pictures you're proud of is way easier than you think and way easier using your phone than you might imagine. When we come back, we're going to share some of the most helpful tips and techniques we found that help you take practically full-proof professional looking photos.

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Nola: [00:09:07] Come a little closer listeners, you are not going to want to miss these podcasts launch deals. For limited time only, Tish has created a special offer on your choice of a logo design, or social media package to find out what's included in a super-sweet savings head on over to stickybrandlab.com/offers for details.

Lori: [00:09:28] Welcome back to Sticky Brand Lab. The podcast that takes aspiring entrepreneurs from, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, To look at what I'm doing

Nola: [00:09:37] now. We set out on a mission to help listeners create professional photos that they could do themselves. So we researched how to do that. And we learned a lot.
I was surprised that some of these tips were so easy, but made such a big difference listeners. Okay. So. As we explain these, you don't need to get out of pen because you're going to be able to get those links and checklists in our show notes [00:10:00] and on the resources page of our website, stickybrandlab.com.

Lori: [00:10:04] So NOLA, how did you prepare to do this DIY photo shoot?

Nola: [00:10:10] How did I prepare? Well, I procrastinated a lot.

Lori: [00:10:17] Tell me about it. You know, we, we did all of this. We were prepared to do it and I am in the same boat as you did. I was like  why is my head telling me you do not take good photos.

Nola: [00:10:30] Uh. But the thing is, you know, we're our own worst critics we really are.
And so what I did to prepare and what we did to prepare was we just watched some videos of people who seem to be doing it right. And we're sharing their expertise. So we watched videos, we read blog posts and looked at, uh, what photographers were teaching. Just to get some ideas and it, I guess the more I read and the more I learned, the more I could see [00:11:00] myself being able to do that. It's like, okay, that doesn't seem so complicated after all.

Okay. You know what? That is actually easy to do. I think I can do that. So once I had all of that in my head and kind of talk myself into this is doable. The next thing I had to talk myself into is actually getting myself in front of my own camera. 

Lori: [00:11:24] I totally get what you're saying. I also did the research.
I watched the videos, I thought this, they make it sound so simple. And the one thing that I learned for certain is there's a big difference between reading it and watching the video and doing it yourself.

Nola: [00:11:42] Oh yes.

Lori: [00:11:43] So I read the stuff first. I watched the videos, all that, and then I set up my equipment for me.
And I think you did too. We got a tripod that was height adjustable. So I got one that was really tall or that I could have really [00:12:00] short. I got one of those lights for, to put around the camera. Um, I had a remote and I thought, okay, I remember everything that's there I'll go shoot some pictures. And I did that first round and it was good practice because I learned from my mistakes.

Nola: [00:12:23] Yeah. And so, yes, it was even though they're really fast, simple tips and tricks. It does feel awkward at first. So yes, I too got the tripod that has the light ring and you can just slip your cell phone right in there. So that part was good, but I still had to kind of figure out which lighting was best and learn.

Oh my goodness. How to do the remote control. So, you know, so we, we have the phone, we have the tripod, we have the good light. One thing I just had to learn was. To use the [00:13:00] remote and also to let go of the remote before the picture snaps. So, um, I did learn eventually that I could put it on a timer. So I was like trying to hide my hand with the remote in it.

And sometimes I completely forgotten, I had this drop dead fantastic picture, but I have this weird black thing in my hand and it's so weird. So I learned to do the, um, the timing, the self-timer. Self-timer and then ditch the remote and not throw it over the shoulder where I can't find it again. 

Lori: [00:13:33] I learned that mistake too.

Nola: [00:13:34] Yep. So that took a little practice, but if I have to admit it was actually kind of fun.

Lori: [00:13:40] When I did the second round of photos, I went and I actually read Vanessa van Edwards. So she has a website called Science of the People. She interviewed her photographer, Maggie Kirkland, and Maggie provided a [00:14:00] checklist that actually we have as a resource. In the article, they actually have a video and they walk you through all of the photos and this became really important for lighting.

So I did photos inside. I also did photos outside. My best photos, using natural light, both in my house and outside were based on Maggie's feedback. They look the best. They just totally, totally natural. And I used Kimberly Rodriguez of KR personal style. She did a video for us specifically in which she talks about wardrobe.

And that was important because remember those traditional, as we mentioned earlier, the traditional photo shoots all had you in professional attire and. What Kim talks about is really about having fun and how to pick clothes that make you look good for you.

[00:15:00] Nola: [00:15:00] And she even tells you how you can break the rules yet still get the good results, which I appreciated.

Lori: [00:15:05] It was tremendously helpful because I do have photos in using solid colors. And I also have photos with some pattern on it. And they also positioned myself in some photos where I had a big flower picture behind me and succulents behind me. So I kind of used her guidance both for either the scene that I was creating or me wearing it as an alternative, which was tremendously helpful.

Nola: [00:15:38] That was really cool of her to create those videos for us and for our listeners. So you'll get the link down below us as well as on our resource page.

Lori: [00:15:46] And Dominique Saska. Did I say her name? Right?

Nola: [00:15:51] Sachse.

Lori: [00:15:52] Sachse. You're so right. She actually is a newscaster. I went to her site, her YouTube channel [00:16:00] specifically for makeup feedback, but then she happened to have one for posing. And do you have a thing with your neck? Is it just me?

Nola: [00:16:08]  I know what you mean. Yep. Yes. Especially when I smile. And especially if, when I'm being snarky,

Lori: [00:16:16] the double chin 

Nola: [00:16:17] Snarky smiles. Yep. That's again, why I don't take photos! Well.

Lori: [00:16:24] And her feedback was tremendously helpful. Um, just reminding me  how I positioned my head to get some really good

Nola: [00:16:30] photos. Her turtleneck pose.
The big tip that I like to from Dominique Sashse is you pull your neck up and your chin out. And it tends to, like, it makes your little double chin, like go away. You may feel like it's not natural, but on the camera, it makes you look thinner. And it,
Yep. I liked that. That was, that was a big takeaway for me. So

Lori: [00:16:58] as I think I mentioned some [00:17:00] of my best photos in natural light, were in my office was one and I was facing the window just as Maggie has described, but I also have photos in my office in which I went and changed clothes real quickly. In order I set everything up.
I went and changed clothes, got what I wanted to wear, sat behind my desk. And the lighting had changed and I have those photos in there and the lighting is on the side. And so that there's more of a shadow that comes in versus the natural light that came in. Same with there's a photo where I went outside, the sun was behind a tree.

It was setting. So it was diffused lighting just as, um, the photographer had suggested. I set everything up. I took the picture. I cropped it. And I posted it as my Facebook profile and I got tons of likes from it. I mean, people were really nice on two of the photos that I had done, but in that [00:18:00] particular photo, the temperature outside was 102.

Before I did that photo. I patted my face to get the moisture, the sweat off. I leaned over a chair. You can't see that in the photo. Cause I cropped it nicely. I took the picture. The coloring is so beautiful, but if you knew, I think I took a photo of what the porch looked like when I took that to just so that listeners can see how magnificent a good editing app can be.

Nola: [00:18:38] Ah, yes. Yes. Well, I also went outside to take a photo and it did pretty good. It was a, it was a hot day, but I, at least I was in the shade and actually I put that on as my profile as well and got a ton of compliments. But what I should have done next, what I learned later [00:19:00] is that after that, uh, that whole photo shoot, that whole cell photo shoot outside in the hot humid Florida, South Florida air is before going and taking the next pose. Put more powder on your face.

Yes, I'm glowing. And a little light is just glinting off my cheeks.

Lori: [00:19:28] I didn't pay for any editing apps, but I know that there are editing apps out there that you can pay for. And your phone also has some editing, uh, software in it that you can use. Out of all of the editing apps out there and we've listed the most common ones, foodie Visco. My two favorites are a Google photo. And my absolute favorite for me is Snapseed.

Nola: [00:19:59] Yes. [00:20:00] So, because I don't do a lot of photo editing, I had not really tried any of those. And I have to say that Snapseed was really easy. I liked it. I mean, I don't normally do apps. I, well, I'm getting more. What did they say? Call that in business. There's the late adapters. Yeah. I'm a late adapter when it comes to apps, but yeah, now my phone has apps and Snapseed is the latest and it was kind of cool to be able to take that photo and then just kind of press on different effects and have it done. I still did put it into a different, into a photo editing, a desktop tool to do some other fancier stuff, but on its own, it was perfect. I really didn't have to do it  to upload it to  social media. It worked out

Lori: [00:20:46] great. And if listeners, if you want to see some places where our photos are. And you can see the before editing, after editing, the different wardrobes, the scenes that we had, [00:21:00] and you can see all the before and afters in our blog post. So Nola, would you say, is it worth it?

Nola: [00:21:10] I would. It was totally worth it. It was.

Lori: [00:21:13] Totally worth it. If our goal was to take photos ourselves, if I had my husband had been out there, one of the photos that I wanted to do was a lifestyle photo in which I would have been riding a bike.
I was afraid that I would run over my tripod. I

Nola: [00:21:31] didn't do photo,

Lori: [00:21:33] but in the back of my mind, I go back to shoot some more and I do more of the twirling and the dancing and kind of jumping or whatever I want to practice trying to do. Those are helpful to have a second person, but listeners, you can definitely get a lifestyle photo shoot, including headshots all on your own. We using your phone. With a tripod, definitely setting the [00:22:00] timer. One of the things you said Nola was that when you use the remote, I threw the remote onto the table to pose with the timer and the remote fell on the floor. And there's, I don't know if we actually ended up using it or not, but I, I. Photo-shopped out the remote that was on the floor next to me. So you can do that if you have a Photoshop or any other type of photo editing software on your computer.

Nola: [00:22:30] Yeah. We learned a lot and we actually got some very useful, some, some photos done that we could be proud of. And we got some that will never see the light of day. What would you do differently? Like you said, we're probably gonna do some more of these. What would you do differently now that we've had our first round?

Lori: [00:22:50] I would actually record the time of day for the daylight in the different rooms. Because for example, when I was in my office, there's [00:23:00] definitely a time of day in which the natural light comes in.
I would, uh, so I would know when that was, and that would be a guidepost. I would take more wardrobe changes. I think I had three, four around maybe five different wardrobe changes. The more photos you take. The more likely you are to have the handful that you actually like. The fewer phone photos you take, the less likely you are to have many to choose from. So I would be more prepared for that.

Nola: [00:23:36] That's great.

Lori: [00:23:37] And you,

Nola: [00:23:38] I agree about the light. So something I would have done differently is started earlier because one, the big window in our place has light coming in at this one point in time. And so I was getting ready during that time. And by the time I was already, the light had shifted. o there's more shadow. So I had less of less. I had a little shorter window in which to [00:24:00] do some of those insights shots, which is why I ended up going outside for a lot of them. The other thing, it was a tip that I had forgotten that I had read, I would do this next time. And that is to stand away from the wall. I. Uh, I found a really great blank wall and I practiced all those photos. I did my wardrobe changes. I had, I thought they turned out great. And on the phone it looked fine, but once I uploaded them and saw them on a bigger monitor, I can tell that there were deep shadows. And if I had only stood. A few feet away from the wall. There would, I would've popped out more. The shadows would have just dissolved into the white background and it would have been a lot more professional in the end. I was able to use photo editing software to just cut myself out of that whole picture. Um, and so that I can put myself on any kind of background.

Speaking of background. I also learned to be mindful of the background as it [00:25:00] relates to the company brand. And I say that because there was this other really cool background that I stood in front of. Um, I had a solid, um, colored outfit on, which was. And it's a color I really loved. And I stood in front of this wall hanging that had the color in it. And so the together, it was a really great combination and color combination. And I really liked it. However, those colors do not go with the Sticky Brand Lab colors. They're like the opposite colors of Sticky Brand Lab. So

Lori: [00:25:30] yeah, if you're using the photo for personal. Or even your business brand, you have to be mindful of those things.

Nola: [00:25:37] That's right. So again, I cut myself out of that really cool background, but again, that's the whole advantage of the editing software. That's that makes it really easy, but I would not have done that or had to do that extra step if I had been mindful of that, it's still a good photo, but not for, not for personal branding.

Lori: [00:25:57] And I think we'll use a lot more of [00:26:00] our personal these professional photos for some of our means some of our ads, our Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, and it is in our ebook. We did put ourselves in there based on our photo shoot,

Nola: [00:26:16] 50 Side Hustle Ideas that You Can Start From Home Today. That's the name of it. If you download that, that today or tomorrow, I challenge the listeners to find our photos in it. Because we took photos from are each separate photo shoots. Do, do what? Your sell photo shoots. We did a certain post specifically for branding specifically for marketing materials based on a tip that we learned from, um, one of the resources.
And we took our photos and put it in the 50 Side Hustle Ideas that You Can Start From Home Today download.

​Lori: [00:26:53] You're right. And one of my photos in there is a headshot that came from this DIY [00:27:00] segment.

Nola: [00:27:00] And one of my photos is from when I had to cut myself out of the shadowy background, but got everything else. Right.
I think I'm probably, well, I could tell you how it needs to be improved, but I'm not going to. I, I do have a question though. So whenever you're having your own photo shoot and you're taking your own photos and you're by yourself, it's so important to have your emotion and your personality. Come through the camera.
And especially if you can be genuinely laughing, how did you get yourself to laugh when you're sitting there with yourself and a phone in a clicker,

Lori: [00:27:40] By the way, I would recommend that you set the timer on your phone, use the clicker to start it, and then relax, because if you're running back and forth, it's it was too much of a challenge.
Good question. And that brings me to two things. One is play music. If you [00:28:00] play music that gets your body moving, you will have great poses. You will have fun and you will have great poses. That's number one, number two. How do I create the laughing? I laugh at my own jokes.

Nola: [00:28:13] Well, that's good. And then, so what I do, and I don't know if I should even share this, but I guess I'm going to, because I'm sure there are people like me who don't. Well, I can't say don't laugh at my own jokes, but I don't usually tell jokes to myself if I, if I'm alone and I had to kind of make sure that I was far enough from the broad daylight coming in through the window, I basically. Twirled in a circle and did a little circle dance going, blah, blah, blah. .Until I felt so silly. I started laughing at myself.

Lori: [00:28:54] That is a good way t do it.
[00:29:00] Well, that brings us to the end of today's episode. And if there's one thing we hope you take away, it's this the easiest way to start building the business of your dreams. This is take your actionable small steps today

Nola: [00:29:13] to find the photo checklist and all the links mentioned in today's podcast. See our show notes or visit our resources page on stickybrandlab.com. Until next week.

Lori: [00:29:23] Bye

Out-take:
or we share the tips, tricks and techniques with you that we learned. Be sure to click the sticky brand pod lap cast.