Author Photographs
In preparation for shooting my author headshots I read a lot of interesting articles on the internet.
I learned not to wear white (which I did anyway!), to have well groomed hair (spent the morning with my favorite hair stylist) and to have fun (which I did!).
My 5 best tips for author photographs:
(Based on many more failed attempts than I would like to admit.)
1) Don’t try too hard. It will show in the pictures. Just relax and be yourself. Wear clothes that you are used to, not something new and funky that you will tug at and not be sure how to move about in. Same with hair, don’t go all in, homecoming prom hair-do, but rather your own hairstyle, but at its best, of course.
2) If it’s your style, opt for monochrome colors, that will not make the photo turn out “busy”. Likewise let go of big jewelry that draw focus from your face. I left all jewelry at home, even the necklace I “always” wear. I only kept my rings, which I would feel naked without. Especially necklaces are best avoided, so that your photo later can be cropped without having half of a necklace hanging awkwardly from your neck. I wore my favorite watch, but early on in the shoot, Becs, my photographer, asked me to take it off, and I think the photos were better for it.
Still got the watch in this, one of the first pictures.
Same photo in black-and-white. Later in the shoot I changed into a white shirt with long sleeves that I rolled up a bit for a casual look.
3) For pictures in which one is standing up I would recommend a monochromatic color scheme, to not look cut-off in the middle and for a “longer and taller” figure. I even wore black shoes to make the legs longer despite me not wearing high heels. That’s another tip: 4) Be careful with high heels, since they might make you taller than the photographer; photos taken from a low angle can make your chin look disproportionately big (trust me — I know).
5) Standing with your legs crossed makes you look centered and is also a good and easy way to make you look slimmer. 🙂
We took a lot of different photos, that can be used for different purposes, such as blogs and magazine articles. I have at least fifty, both standing up, sitting down and headshots.
All these pictures are taken by the amazing photographer Becs Viveash, and you can see more of her fantastic work on her website Viveash Photography.
Hope I could give you some ideas!
Lene
Comments (22)
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Jättefina bilder av dig! Precis som du ser ut – fast utan dina halsband som du “alltid” har på dig.
Tack snälla! Yep, inga halsband — lärde mig av erfarenhet, när en bild blev omöjlig att beskära… Den bilden sitter nu i ARC’en (Advance Reader Copy av boken), med halsband och allt. 🙂
Oh, vilka fina bilder o tack för alla tips på hur o vad man ska o kan tänka på.Känner mig alltid obekväm inför en kamera, men kanske med lite kunskap så kan det kännas bättre – förhoppningsvis !?! o tänk om det kunde bli bättre ;). Kram kram
Tack och vad roligt att tipsen kändes bra, kram kram
Well done! I wish I had this before I took my author photos, THREE times. Yikes! Your pictures are beautiful – any of them would be wonderful. Thanks for all the tips.
Yep, it was something like that number for me too… 🙂 Very frustrating, but with Becs it was fun, she is such an amazing photographer. Thanks Leslie, I’m glad you enjoyed my tips. And I love your photo!
Åh, så fina bilder, Lene! Kul att se. Och bra tips. Trodde dock att smycken som bäraren alltid har på sig hörde till personligheten så mycket att det skulle bli fel eller naket utan.
Nu har jag varken smycken eller något förlag som vill fotografera mig, men bra ändå inför framtiden 🙂
Tack Eva! Och ja men precis, så tänkte jag också, tills den eländiga bilden alltid hade det där “halva” halsbandet… Men ringar som man verkligen alltid har på sig, det tänkte jag kan väl inte bli fel. Är man tveksam kan man ju alltid ta några bilder med och några utan, en del saker “ser” man inte förrän man har bilden framför sig.
Och du är grym Eva, snart står fotograferna på kö! 🙂
Well, hello gorgeous! The pictures turned out great! So does your hair have that much of a reddish tint or is that mostly the photographer’s processing style? Either way, you look fabulous. Very editorial shots, perfect for magazines. So let’s hope you end up in some soon!
Loved your tips too, by the way. Now if there were only a pill that could make me super photogenic and absolutely confident in front of the camera…Maybe chocolate helps a bit? 😉
Also, I think Drew Barrymore is your celebrity look-alike, especially when it comes to facial shape. Have you ever watched “Ever After” (one of my all-time favorite movies)? Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of Barrymore could easily be changed to look like you. Lucky!
I asked google and he agrees: your chin and mouth – total Barrymore! It would be fun with a headshot side-by-side comparison…
Thanks Angelica! Actually I have quite red hair, especially in the right light, and that light was perfect! And then I think maybe Becs did a little something to enhance it. 🙂
And I LOVE Drew Barrymore! YAY! Gotta watch that movie, I haven’t seen it, thanks for the tip!
Go watch it right now!!! And then rewatch it because it gets even better! 😉 Seriously though, it’s a great pick-me-up movie for those down-in-the-dumps days.
Wait a minute, I have seen it! It must be “För evigt” in Swedish, I LOVE that movie! Long time since I’ve seen it, I have to pick it up here in Jakarta!
Yep, that’s it! I suspected you would like it… 😉
Lene – Drew – same but still different
that´s the beauty of beauty
I love one and like the other
Ha! Hello Dad, love you too!
All the photos are great, but I especially like the first one. It’s both professional and casual. Really a good one in my opinion.
And thanks for the tips. I don’t think anyone will ever want to take photos of me, but just in case 😉
Thanks, I appreciate it! That’s the one I chose for Twitter, Linkedin and also my author page on Facebook. Always hard to chose which photo to use, but my husband also liked this one the best. 🙂
Hugs!
And the photos you already have are fabulous, you don’t need any tips! 🙂
Vilken duktig fotograf du hittade! Det syns att ni fungerade ihop! Nu har vi alla fått lite bättre koll vad vi kan göra för att känna oss mer hemma framför kameran, och förhoppningsvis fått lite input vad vi kan göra bakom kameran! Även för oss amatörer!!!!! Du är jättesnygg!
Tackar, tackar! 🙂
Roligt om mina små tips kan vara till nytta. Och det kändes verkligen jättebra med min fotograf Becs, hon är helt otroligt duktig.
Fabulous tips!! Now if only I were as photogenic as you!
–Mee (The Chinese Quest)
Many thanks, Mee, you are so kind!