MAKEUP IS STRONGLY ADVISED FOR YOUR PHOTO SESSION
When you’re booked for a job, you’ll get made up, so you need to be made up for your photo session with an experienced LA headshot photographer. You’ll pay my makeup artist directly, the day of the shoot. (Pictured: the wildly talented Groundlings Theatre Main Company member Ashley Bell.)
SHOW UP FOR YOUR PR OR HEADSHOT SESSION…
…with clean hair but without makeup. The makeup artist needs to work with a clean canvas. (Bring a violin, if you play one.)
Your session
When I wrote “bring a violin” in the previous post, I meant it — a violin, or anything else that helps define who you are and what you do. Your photo session is really YOUR session — unique to you, tailored to feature your gifts. Absent a musical instrument or some other artifact, we’ll play anyway. (Pictured: the accomplished musician/composer/vocalist/actor Lili Haydn.) Contact a commercial and headshot photographer in Los Angeles.
BRING AN ABUNDANCE OF WARDROBE…
… relatively new or in good shape, to your headshot or publicity session. Avoid bold stripes and/or patterns, and anything with a logo. White tops are okay worn beneath another garment, but darker clothing favors skin tones.
TRADE SECRET ABOUT WARDROBE FOR HEADSHOTS …
… your clothes won’t get you hired. It’s not what casting directors care about.
DURING YOUR HEADSHOT OR PUBLICITY SESSION …
… we’ll take periodic breaks to go to the studio computer to review what we’ve shot, which is always a confidence-builder (because you’ll like what you see) and allows us to think about where we go next, creatively. (Pictured: pioneer member of L.A.’s Groundlings Theatre and improv legend Phyllis Katz.) Book your session with Rob Lewine and see yourself in a whole new light!
What’s a publicity session (PR Session)? (Expanded version)
Actors from L.A.’s legendary Groundlings Theatre What’s a publicity session? A publicity session (or PR session) is a photo shoot with an entertainment industry subject whose career is established or on the rise, or for a group of subjects who’ve participated in a project together (e.g. a film or a series), being photographed for the purpose of promoting that project. Typically the subjects are actors but often are performers in other disciplines – music, dance, comedy and so forth. Publicity sessions are commissioned by individuals (or their representatives) or by film studios, networks or streaming services. The shoots are designed to yield images for distribution media outlets, both digital and print. What happens behind the scenes of a publicity session? Sometimes these sessions take place on location – on a film or tv set, for example – but more often they take place in a photo studio or on a sound stage. The photo team consists of a photographer (obviously), one or more photo assistants, a hair and makeup artist, but may also include a wardrobe stylist and set designers, who provide backdrops and/or set elements rented or built for the occasion. The larger the shoot, the bigger the team – and the bigger the budget. Call Rob at (213) 280-0805 The Life Magazine “Steel Magnolias” shoot The most elaborate shoot I’ve done of this sort – not a PR session, actually, but a cover shoot for Life Magazine – featured the stars of the film “Steel Magnolias”. I was allowed to rent a Hollywood sound stage for a week. Prior to the shoot, over the course of three days, a set designer and his crew built a housefront, 30 feet across, lit from the inside, with a wide porch and an exterior dressed in prop plants. The day after that, we lit the set. The cost for the production, catering included, was $90,000 – in 1989 dollars. All this for one setup. On the day of the shoot, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Julia Roberts and Darryl Hannah showed up, each with their own wardrobe stylists, makeup artists and support teams. (Olympia Dukakis had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t participate.) Approximately 90 people were present for the shoot – such was the value of the combined star power. The Life shoot wasn’t a PR session per se – the film studio behind “Steel Magnolias” didn’t arrange or pay for it .But Life Magazine, in those days, meant big publicity, and a lot of publicists were present at the shoot. Most PR sessions are more modest affairs, often focusing on one personality and nowhere as costly to produce as the one for “Steel Magnolias”. How do smaller publicity sessions differ from large productions? Nonetheless smaller sessions may involve scaled-down production elements – hair/makeup and wardrobe stylists, props, set elements, backgrounds. Or not: sometimes a publicity session involves only the subject and a photographer, a photo assistant, a makeup artist, and perhaps the subject’s publicist or manager. (In the studio we have enough backdrops and set elements to forgo having to rent them for lower-budget bookings.) Former Saturday Night Live cast member Julia Sweeney What’s the difference between an economy publicity session and a full-day publicity session? An economy publicity session is essentially an extended headshot session. After several headshots setups have been shot, broader coverage happens – medium and full length setups with custom staging and lighting, during which play is the focus. (If you’re an improviser – and even if you aren’t – we may explore different actions and emotional states.) Economy sessions last longer than headshot sessions, but don’t require a full day. A full-day publicity session is a more comprehensive undertaking which involves planning and pre-production, for which additional expenses may be incurred. Likely you’ll want the full-day option if you and/or your representatives have in mind specific publications or outlets to which the take will be sent. Both economy and full-day sessions have the same objective – to create a set of compelling and appealing images that show the subject (or subjects) at his/her/their best. And both session types follow the same path to successful results. Fundamentally my PR and headshots sessions are about play. We’re in the studio to have fun. How often does it happen? Always. Book your publicity session today! The importance of post-production in publicity sessions Post-production (editing) – the work following the shoot – is the same as for headshot sessions. It’s a thorough, careful process. In Adobe Lightroom, the entire take is reviewed; rejected frames are marked and discarded. There are always more rejects than “keepers”. “Reject” doesn’t necessarily mean “failure”. Many potential “heroes” – the very best images – survive the first edit. During a second edit, the “keepers” are processed – balanced and adjusted to optimal levels. In a third, selects are marked. This is the group that gets sent to you for review. Finally, we’ll have a phone call to review the set together and choose the best of the best, after which further adjustments to the select set may happen. All post-production activity is included in both the publicity and headshot session fees.
RETOUCHING HEADSHOTS
After your shoot, I’ll do an extensive and thorough edit of your session, which includes processing and balancing the entire set of selected images for your review. I don’t do extensive retouching myself. (It’s not often needed.) But when retouching is indicated, I rely on one of the best in the business. I’ll get your selects to him myself; he’ll provide an estimate for your approval getting started. The retouched images will come to you and me simultaneously. (Pictured: the accomplished veteran actor Peter Onorati.)
ABOUT RETOUCHING: DON’T OVERDO IT!
Casting people will be…unhappy…if your headshot is prettier than you are. Pictured: former SNL cast member Julia Sweeney. (Image not retouched.)
Everything you need to know about Corporate Photography
I’m going to make the case that there’s no such thing as corporate photography. Think about it. There’s fashion photography, beauty photography, product photography, architectural photography, landscape photography, wedding photography, baby photography. There’s still-life photography. There’s passport photography. And of course, there’s portraiture. What’s corporate photography? Corporate photography is not a modality. A photographer shooting for a corporate client may be asked to photograph buildings, office environments, production facilities and activities, but for websites, annual reports and other corporate communications, inevitably the emphasis is on people. This is portraiture, which is a modality. Some samples of my portraits of prominent people, photographed, left to right, for Life Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Fortune and Time… Corporate Photography “Corporate photography” – again, it’s not a thing. In my view, the term signifies only that the photographer’s client is a corporation. Portraiture is a form of photography. Advice to prospective clients If you work in public or investor relations for a sizable organization, your job is to have your company shown to maximum advantage. If your executives and other personnel need to appear in their best light (literally and figuratively) is critically important (and of course, it is), your mandate is to hire the best photographer available. If you’ve already chosen an established, top-flight graphic design firm to create whatever instrument you have in mind, likely that firm will recommend a dependable, experienced photographer as a prospective hire – or make the hire for you. If no design firm is involved, you’ll want to find the photographer yourself. “Corporate Headshot Photography” I’ve searched on the internet for “corporate headshot photography” – and have found more than a few photographers who offer services to the corporate marketplace. Here’s some advice they offer on their websites to prospective clients… “At the beginning of your session, warm up with simple and straightforward poses. Simply stand there and smile.” “Try to get some sleep, exercise and sunshine in the weeks before your session.” “Take a look at some prior photos of yourself … show those photos to your photographer…that will help us find an angle that you find flattering.” Read here: Commercial photographer Los Angeles This may be the worst guidance ever offered to a prospective client – all but guaranteed to induce anxiety. ANY AND ALL RESPONSIBILITIES RELATIVE TO THE SESSION LIE WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHER. The subject should not have to prepare anything. The subject’s only job is to show up. And — in my experience — headshots aren’t what’s needed. I suggest portraits – images that capture a subject’s essence. Related article: The humble headshot Does your headshot have impact? Does your headshot convey energy? Executive portraits don’t need to be ordinary! Three words of advice: hire an expert. Three more: …with long experience. Does experience matter? Always. My history My editorial clients have included Bon Appetit, California Magazine, Emmy, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Forbes, Fortune, Geo, Home, Inc., Interview, Life, the London Sunday Times, Longevity, Los Angeles Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Money, National Geographic World, Newsweek, New West, Omni, Outside, Panorama Magazine, Parade, People, Psychology Today, Rolling Stone, Shape, Time, Town & Country, Travel & Leisure, Smithsonian, Us Weekly, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. I’ve shot assignments for Columbia Pictures, Disney, Fox, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, ABC, CBS, NBC, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, ABC, CBS, NBC, Capitol Records, and CBS Records/Sony Music. And for design firms. And ad agencies. I’ve photographed just about every kind of subject: people, places, things. For over 40 years. More details My studio is in downtown L.A., but I do location shoots as well, throughout Southern California and elsewhere. Headshots, group photos, team photos, interiors, exteriors — whatever’s needed. My crew has long experience as well. Our specialty – technical expertise aside – is putting subjects at ease, bringing forward the best of what’s in them. It’s the only path to great results.
