How to take your own headshot

The photos above is one I took of myself, to check out more see my Facebook page- Tammie Nawathe, or Instagram with the same name-

With graduation around the corner, and student loans still not increasing it seems harder and harder to get a good deal. If you know someone, may be a friend,its a great help BUT what if you need another set a few months later. Maybe you tanned over summer and need a new one,new hairstyle or colour? Headshots will be chasing you your whole professional life through and if your not able to get some done, you think you won't get a job.

I have devised a foolproof way to get headshots done on nothing more than your camera phone. (Still I haven't specialised in achieving personal action shots- I would advice a 'real' photographer) you can at least keep the CV up to date.

So...

You need

- phone

-selfie stick

That's it!

If you know how to do your own makeup tats perfect, if not I will create a post in the coming weeks. Here is the basic need to knows.

1. Be natural.

2. Don't layer the makeup on too heavy, if you emphasise your eyes keep the lips natural and visa versa.

3. Do not over worry about minor imperfections (spots,bumps...) They can be removed after.

4. Look like you- edit as little as possible. I only play with lighting and shadows in this set, and leave my body the way it is. If you change your face shape or colour the picture is not longer of you and it don't help when you arrive for an audition.

Step by step

-Set your phone on your selfie stick, with the front facing camera on

- Set the phone to video mode

- Take a video of you face on and then turning your head side to side.

- Review the video and then start working with angles ( I recommend keeping the camera at shoulder height and adjusting the torso for angles, to reduce shadows (especially of the phone).

- Allow up to 2 hours.

- Go through the video and hit pause, slide the slides in the video from side to side forming mini photographs

- When you find an image you would like, screenshot the picture (ensuring it is a blank screen without additional information).

- Hit edit on the photo

- I first change the exposure (meaning how much light has been a load into the image, TIP a slightly higher exposure will mimic studio lighting and camera- but ensure it doesn't blend you into the background

- Then still in the 'light' category of your editing features, add a little more contrast and shadows.

- Make sure it never becomes grainy, looking heavily edited- we are just extracting more relevant information from the picture

- Decide if you want a colour or black and white picture.

- I recommend having one of each for each photo.

- To do this screenshot the image again, before adding or taking away colour, as the phone will only save as a new copy

- Go between the editing features and tweak until happy to the effect you want

- These are perfect for small pictures, such as on a CV or website. Depending on the quality of the camera it may become blurrier when blown up to A4.

Have fun keeping up with everyone else's headshot uploads on social media.

I will reccomend getting professional ones done throughout your career if you can, where they can offer more expertise advice on what angles suits your individuality, and for moving or action photos.

Hope this helped, let me know how they turned out .