Self portrait for job search
bigsnowdog
Registered Users Posts: 55 Big grins
As part of a job search, I have developed, or am developing, a LinkedIn profile. I read where it is supposed to enhance it if you have a photo of yourself. And no, I don't mean a job search pertaining to photography.
While I love photography and everything related, I have never cared for photos of myself, since I am not an easy smile, if you get my meaning. I don't/can't just smile on command.
I am curious what advice you may have with regard to what sort of photo would be good and how to best achieve the end result. I have my trusty Canon 40D as a tool.
Thank you.
While I love photography and everything related, I have never cared for photos of myself, since I am not an easy smile, if you get my meaning. I don't/can't just smile on command.
I am curious what advice you may have with regard to what sort of photo would be good and how to best achieve the end result. I have my trusty Canon 40D as a tool.
Thank you.
0
Comments
You might find Yuri's thread of sps interesting. If you are going to be dealing face to face with the public in any job you do then you will have to develop the art of smiling appropriately. Practise that for your sp. Also I suggest a slightly desaturated colour style, almost frontal pose, and to show as little of your body as possible.
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
Any photo which accompanies "marketing" - which, in essence, is how you're planning on using your linkedin profile - needs to represent the "product".
So, how do you wish to present yourself to prospective employers who may be hiring you.? Do you need to project "warm and caring", "professional", "approachable" or {fill in the blank} for your industry? If you need to appear professional and serious, then perhaps you need to try for a pretty traditional "corporate style" photo in the style you see people in that field. Are you in an industry which values creativity? Then perhaps a more artsy shot with some imaginative processing (although I wouldn't go too crazy with that). Etc etc.
Once you know what you're trying to "sell", you can more easily decide how to set up your shot to achieve that. Clothing choices and how you "style" the shot can suggest a lot; look at lots of examples of what you want to achieve and how they're lit, any props, wardrobe etc. Once you've got that settled, then you then you can work towards grabbing the expressions you want as you're shooting.
I've found when doing SP's that I take a lot of shots - and I mean A LOT (sometimes as many as 500+ just to get one or two possible keepers) - simply because it's so hard to judge my own facial expression as I shoot. But... what that has done is help me to lose any self-consciousness as I do it. It's only me and the camera, the worst outcome is that I'll hit "delete" for a bunch of bad shots, and I find that I start to experiment with expressions in a way I have never - EVER - done when other people were shooting me (although I hope with the experience I've gained by using myself as a model I won't be quite so bad next time somebody else is shooting me!). I let myself think silly thoughts, play "let's pretend" with myself to see what expressions that might elicit, make myself copy the way I've seen models strike a pose and then make microadjustments as the photographer fires off a string of shots... You get the idea. It's just me and me, so it's not as embarrassing as if I tried to do that in front of somebody else!! One thing I've found helpful too, is to turn AWAY from the camera and then, using the 2 second timer of my remote (which has beep indicator), I'll turn back JUST before I know the shutter's going to click. It's a trick which can lead to some more natural expressions, I've found (I've used it on subjects, too - on a count of three - and it can sometimes loosen things up for them, too).
I'll usually fire off a set and then look at them on the computer (I tried shooting tethered once, but it actually proved even more complicated so I gave up on it - for me, it's easier to look at them on the computer after the fact). I'll try to assess which expressions worked (or didn't) and then use that info to go fire off another batch, hopefully making the appropriate adjustments!
From a technical standpoint, get a remote - wired or infrared, a cheapie from ebay, whatever.... doesn't matter. But it is much - MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH - easier to do this when you can stay put than when you have to run into position after having pressed the 10 second timer on the camera!
SP's are easier with more depth of field than I typically like to shoot (since I'm a big fan of shallow DOF portraits) but I've found if I'm shooting around 5.6+ (from about 6-8ft away) I can usually nail focus in all of them (which at 4.0 and below from that distance is sometimes iffy, especially since from in front of the camera I can't guarantee that the the focus point is aimed on what I would like to have be the sharpest point, ie eyes). Make sure to be as far in front of your background as possible so that you do get some falloff and blurring (useful even in front of a "real" bg, since wrinkles magically disappear when the dof isn't picking them out with perfect sharpness!)
HTH.
...or you could just add a disclaimer like "Serving suggestion only".:D
Thorough treatment, dm, great points! I would maybe add a general one, that you should groom yourself enough to show that you really care to present yourself at your best, but do everything else - pose, lighting, bg etc, and especially post processing, in the very simplest way. Most everyone will not jump in and judge you by your particular physiognomy, but they will immediately judge you by your behaviour, and how you present your particular physiognomy is a sample of your behaviour. With a glancing reference to Schopenhauer, your face is a hieroglyph, let your behaviour be the key. Look your best, look honest.
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix