Free Headshots

I think the clearest answer will be: you'll be lucky! Even the most inexpensive headshot provider is a working photographer of some description, and they all want to make a living! There are certainly cheaper rates delivered by some photographers than others; and a cheap rate is not always indicative of a drop in quality or a lack of experience, particularly because some great photographers offer cheaper packages in the hope of attracting maximum custom, so they feel they can afford to give you, say, £250 worth of shoot for £100 fee, which is always worth seeking out. But looking for a photographer who works for FREE?

Your best bet, if you really wish to try and spend no money at all on shots, is to try and track down a photographer who is in the formative stages of their career, and hoping to build a portfolio of work, in order that they can then go on to attract further custom, and appear in 'Contacts', on their website etc. as a serious professional. Because they have not yet set up in business properly, and know that their wares may not, therefore, always be trusted, they can offer the 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' option of allowing you a free shoot on condition they can use good shots of you for the sake of their own advertising. I have certainly come across this option before, though I don't know any leads specifically - your best bet may be to keep an eye on casting sites, like this one or Shooting People, where photographers of this sort advertise, and try and get in on a shoot for them. There are probably also photography directories of aspiring photographic artists online, and if you search through those, you may find some photographers who are still eager to bring in outside talent for free for the sake of generating portfolio work, although you'll have to a) search around and b) discover people who, however great their photographic talents, don't specialise in headshot work.

Certainly, you will not find any photographer in 'Contacts' who doesn't charge, and I wouldn't think any you could source from this site directory wouldn't charge, either - with that said, have you looked through the whole of CCP'S photographer directory to see if anyone is offering to work for free?

• 14 years ago
• 1

Laura! You could do worse than contact Graeme Braidwood. Run a Google on him. He is rather good.

• 14 years ago
• 2

Maybe get a photographer boyfriend...

• 14 years ago
• 3

Snap him up, as they say.

• 14 years ago
• 4

When I first put my toes in to the big pond of professional work I contacted photography students at colleges (you could also consider looking at photography evening classes). I found a student who was happy to provide headshots for nothing. He was lovely, but the photographs were not (despite me thinking they were fine at the time).

There is a reason why you pay to get good headshots (and I do agree that lower prices don't always mean a lower quality of work, so it makes sense to look around). The job just isn't as easy as it looks. A casting photograph has very specific requirements which less experienced photographers may not understand.

Your headshot is so important (perhaps the single most important tool in your marketing toolbox) that you can't really afford to get it wrong - which probably does mean paying to get it right!

• 14 years ago
• 5

What Helen says is, I suspect, true - the risk of working with student photographers is that they will not yet know their trade, and consequently may not be able to produce the sort of headshots that can actually generate you work (with established professionals of years' worth of experience, you may suffer from an opposite syndrome - which is that they have done so many headshot sessions for so many actors over the years that their 'house style' comes out looking a little 'generic' - I personally like a photographer to be a little off-beat in their shot choices - but you will be guaranteed a sense that the photographer knows what they are doing, at least).

Having said that, I wasn't necessarily advocating seeking out photography students, so much as aspirant headshot photographers who have yet to establish a portfolio. They *will* be setting up to take headshots specifically - but may, I grant you, be hard to pin down.

• 14 years ago
• 6

In the beginning I tried very hard to take short cuts with the head shot. And to sum it all up, it doesn't work.
The headshot is your most powerful tool and most vital investment. 'Did the acting career take off without a proper headshot?' NO. 'Did things change after I got it done professionally?' YOU BET!

• 14 years ago
• 7

Yes I do www.modelmayhem.com find an up and coming photographer who you think is good who will be willing to do a TFP or TFCD shoot with you.

• 14 years ago
• 8

I really agree with helen and Fuzz and Co on this one. Pay, pay, pay. Painful but worth saving for. As Helen says, it's what gets (or doesn't get) you to a casting.

• 14 years ago
• 9

The London School of Photography offer free head shots but I don't know what the quality is like. Perhaps worth some research though. x

• 11 years ago
• 10

Gumtree.com have a few :)

• 11 years ago
• 11

Hey,

I have a friend who is a photographer who is currently doing free head shots for a limited time!

constantincerdan.com

look him up ! x

• 11 years ago
• 12

I am a headshot photographer and i am currently doing headshots for £50 per session. I am London & West midlands based.

Take a look at my work on my website

www.alishialovephotography.co.uk

I am an actor so i know the difference between an average headshot and an industry standard headshot.

My email is contact@alishialovephotography.co.uk

follow me on twitter too... @ALoveHeadshots

• 10 years ago
• 13

Hi everyone,
Last Thursday 10th December, a photographer posted a notice offering free headshots. I wonder if anyone managed to book a slot with her, as I wrote immediately after the ad was posted and apparently she didn't have anymore space but she offered me a pack at £50-£100. Did anyone manage to have a free headshot session at all or did you just get the same reply than me?
Thank you
Raquel

• 9 years ago
• 14

Hi everyone,
Last Thursday 10th December, a photographer posted a notice offering free headshots. I wonder if anyone managed to book a slot with her, as I wrote immediately after the ad was posted and apparently she didn't have anymore space but she offered me a pack at £50-£100. Did anyone manage to have a free headshot session at all or did you just get the same reply than me?
Thank you
Raquel

• 9 years ago
• 15

Get a DSLR with a flip out screen and remote control, the ultimate selfie

• 9 years ago
• 16

Simple answer is no although rocco redundo did once I think that's his name. It was many years ago just before the end of the world. Me and several pals ( I say pals I didn't really like them and one of them stunk of beetroot). Anyways I'm going off point or off piste is that it?? Well we where holed up in the local newsagents down to our last bag of revels. Rioters and looters were outside creating anarchy and the end of civilisation was nigh. I remember turning to beetroot boy and asking him where I could get free head shots for my acting portfolio. He said try rocco although he said it in a Russian accent although he was french. I remember calling Rocco up, we didn't have mobiles in them days so we used cups with string attached. I got some great headshots but the world ended so alas I couldn't attend any castings.

• 9 years ago
• 17

Hi Laura
Give your local camara club a try I am a member of Eastbourne Camara club and mine where done there. You will have to tell them the rules of head shots. Most camar clubs have to pay for models so most will do this for free take a look at mine

Phill Rees

• 9 years ago
• 18

I would pay. Just like with showreels. Invest.
It is your profession after all. And it is worth investing in.
Shortcuts will mean wasted time on your part.
Also remember like it is your profession it is theirs too. They need to make a living.
Good luck. Am sure you will find someone and get some brilliant shots!

• 9 years ago
• 19

I think ideastap have a free headshot drop in session. You'll be able to find the details on the ideaspa section of the website, but I agree headshots are definitely worth investing in!!
Good Luck!

• 9 years ago
• 20