San Francisco headshots

7 Reasons Why You Need a Professional Headshot

May 22, 2017 in Professional Headshots

1. Personal Brand. You are your own personal brand and your headshot is your sign/label/logo. It needs to look good, well put together, and professional.

2. Professional online presence. With so much networking taking place online these days, a handshake isn’t always viable. Having a professional headshot gives the impression that you are professional, you are dedicated, and you are confident in your ability to get the job done.

3. First impressions matter. Your headshot may be the first thing people see regarding your business – whether online or on a business card. You need to look qualified and confident.

4. Stand out from the crowd. You are not the only one who does what you do. No matter what type of work you do – there is always someone else who does so, as well. That is why it is so important that you stand out from the crowd. Be original. Be professional. Be the difference.

5. High standards. Who wants to show themselves professionally with a selfie? What does this photo state to your potential clients or employers? Selfie photos are for personal social media sites – not the workplace. A professional headshot speaks volumes about your high standards. It shows that you go above and beyond to get the perfect picture and speak the perfect image. You were willing to take the time to do things right, rather than grabbing an old photo on your phone of you at the concert you went to last week. You took the time to create an appointment, attend it punctually, and purchased the professional headshot so that you can brand yourself in the proper, confident, competent manner.

6. Get that job interview or audition. A professional headshot can give you a chance to prove your capabilities just by the poise displayed in the photo. You will exhibit strength and sureness of yourself and your abilities. This gives you a better chance at grabbing the attention you need to get your foot in the door for that interview or audition. Don’t be just another number!

7. Get a self-esteem boost! We all need to feel good about who we are and what we do. Having a headshot photo session will make you look your best which will, in turn, make you feel your best. And what happens then? Your confidence and self-esteem will soar.

Now that you know why you need one – schedule your professional headshot photo session today!

Backdrop Colors for Headshots

May 08, 2017 in Professional Headshots

As a headshot photographer, I prefer three major colors for headshot backdrop: white, black and gray. And, a few other colors in special circumstances. Choosing the right backdrop for your headshots sometimes is a subjective preference. Before a photoshoot, determine how your headshots will be used: on your website? LinkedIn profile and other social media channels? Business cards and other marketing print materials?

White backdrop - The headshot on a white backdrop looks crisp, vivid, and appears to be modern and professional. Most of the corporate companies prefer the white backdrop for the clean and smooth look. Likewise, the doctors and other people involved in the medical industry choose the use of white backdrops for their headshots for the same reason.

Dark backdrop – A black backdrop gives a headshot an empowering and sophisticated look. Many CEOs, young entrepreneurs, financial advisors and classical musicians prefer their headshots on the black backdrop, which looks great as their profile pictures on their websites. In fact, my success in headshot photography started from creating my signature look of portraits on dark backdrop.

Gray backdrop – A gray backdrop provides a highly professional look. Headshots on gray backdrop are timeless and very practical. Gray backdrops may never go out of style.

Brown backdrop – Brown is regarded as a warm earth color that communicates about stability and sincerity to the audience. The headshots taken against a brown backdrop appear reliable, mainly in cases of family therapists, psychologist, and life coaches, who widely prefer this backdrop in their headshots.

Other colors in backdrop – Use of other backdrop color is as a special request by art directors and graphic designers who want headshots to be part of the branding colors.

Your headshot is your personal brand. It is always a good idea, before booking a professional photoshoot to consult with a professional photographer, art director or graphic designer, regarding the selection of the ideal backdrop color to get the best headshots.

Visit BOOK NOW page to schedule your Headshot Session with Valentina Sadiul Photography. For more information contact at ValentinaSadiul@gmail.com or call 415.400.9212

4 Tips for Looking and Feeling Relaxed in Front of the Camera

May 01, 2017 in Professional Headshots

Posing for the camera can be an awkward moment for many people. It is important to feel relaxed and confident in front of the camera for your photographer to deliver the best of you. Surprisingly, even the most photogenic people can easily become stiff and nervous on the camera.

Here are 4 tips on how to feel comfortable, relaxed and confident in front of the camera:

Dress impeccably and comfortably

It is best to dress in clothes and footwear that make you feel powerful and elegant. Your shoes, make-up, jewelry, and clothes choice should complement what you stand for without detracting you from your brand. Wearing clothing that makes you comfortable and confident will alleviate any stress or anxiety when posing for the camera. Remember, your dressing style reflects your real personality.

Body Language

It is essential to have the good posture, natural movement, and a smile in front of the camera. It is worth remembering that your body language tells a lot about you. For your own convenience, find a highly experienced, knowledgeable, and trustworthy professional photographer to work with. A reputable headshot photographer will guide you on the right angles. You don’t have to have modeling skill when you have a skillful headshot photographer.

Be punctual

Punctuality matters a lot regarding boosting your confidence in front of the camera. Every business-minded person knows the essence of being punctual. Arriving late for your headshot photography session can easily trigger anxiety or stress.

Get excited and have fun!

You are more likely to have a successful headshot session if you allow yourself to have fun throughout the whole experience. Looking forward to your forthcoming headshot photography session can effectively boost your confidence.

In addition to the above tips, sipping water/other beverages in between the takes, complying with the crew’s request, looking at the camera confidently, limiting all distractions and breathing easy can lead to a successful headshot photography session.

Visit BOOK NOW page to schedule your Headshot Session with Valentina Sadiul Photography. For more information contact at ValentinaSadiul@gmail.com or call 415.400.9212

Not Only Smart, But Very Organized Business Owners Finish Rich

April 28, 2017 in Career & Personal Life

One of my favorite authors on financial education is David Bach. I have read all his books and I am a faithful follower of his blog. Several years ago, after reading one of his books, Smart Women Finish Rich, I took a close look at my financial goals and struggles. One of the main suggestions of David Bach is a file system for your financial life. I created this system not only for my personal finance, but also implemented the key elements for my business filing system.

As a Headshot Photographer, I work a lot with small business owners and freelancers, sharing my experience and knowledge with them. Today, I am inviting all Smart Business Women / Business Men to a filing system that I am using to keep my business documents tidy.

I keep two filing systems: Paper and Paperless. In this article, I am concentrating on the Paper filing system. It’s always a good idea to have all your printed documents handy to work with should your power source, Wi-Fi, or mobile data fail. I use the Paperless filing system daily. My paperless filing system runs on my computer’s hard drive and I have an extra copy in cloud storage. This allows me to access my documents and business information anytime and anywhere. Also, it is an extra protection in case if my physical folders are lost or damaged in a disaster.

1. File Name: BUSINESS PLAN

Subfolders:

Business Plan
Workflow of customer service: from first email to image delivery
Marketing Plan

2. File Name: GET LEGAL

Subfolders:

Business Documents - This folder contains all state and federal documents related to my business: DBA, EIN, EFTPS, State Board of Equalization, Tax Collector and other documents, as well as all licenses related to the registration of my business. Make sure you are running business or freelance practice following all federal and state law. Decide what identity works best for you: Sole Proprietorship, LLC or Corporation. Take care of all licenses that is required by law for your business. Also, in this folder, I keep a list of all important dates for license renewal, since many are required to be renewed annually.
Intellectual Property - Documents related to trademark, copyright or patent registrations.

3. File Name: TAXES

Business taxes are much different than your personal taxes. For example, your folders will be filled with the payroll tax, sales tax, and income tax.

Subfolders:

2014
2015
2016 - label each tax return subfolder by year. The law requires to keep your tax documents for the last 3 years, though I usually extend that back to 7 years.
Bookkeeping

4. File Name: BANKS

This folder should contain all your bank documents, contracts, checks, and statements. You will want to create separate subfolders for documents of each financial institution your business is connected to: business checking account, saving account, credit cards, loans, credit card processing companies, etc.

Subfolders:

SBB - Small Business Bank checking account.
Chase Ink - Business Credit Card that I use exclusively for all expenses. It easier this way to keep up with bookkeeping. My credit card expenses are even synced to Quickbooks (bookkeeping online service) which automatically divides my expenses by category.
EMS+ - My studio accepts credit cards, so I needed a card reader. I am naturally drawn to beautiful details and Square credit card processing device’s design is very sophisticated, but when it comes to saving money on transaction fee, EMS+ won my attention. The Square swipe rate is 2.75% and EMS+ only 2.25%. I made a quick decision to choose EMS+ low swipe rates over Square’s reader luxurious design.
Loans

5. File Name: INSURANCE

When you run a business, it is necessary to protect your business and family from the unexpected. This folder contains your business insurance certificates. As a headshot photographer, I have two. However, depending on what industry you are in, your business may require more or less.

Subfolders:

Liability Insurance
Gear Insurance - In this folder I also keep a list of all my photography gear. The list includes picture of all equipment, name, date purchased and value.

6. File Name: CONTRACTS

I cancel a photoshoot reservation if my clients don’t sign a Headshot Session Agreement before booking. All businesses should operate on providing clear policies to customers. To make this process simple and organized, all my contracts between customers, companies or contractors are signed digitally using SignNow.com and kept in this folder. I also keep printed copies of my all contract templates. Contact a lawyer who specializes in business policies to create a bundle of contracts for your business needs. Protect your business and yourself.

Subfolder:

Templates
Signed Contracts

7. File Name: RENT

In this folder keep copies of rent agreements related to your business. Include statements of the payments and receipts.

Subfolder:

Studio Rental Agreement
USPS P.O. Box Rental Agreement
Equipment Rental Agreement

8. File Name: VENDORS

Create Subfolders for each vendor or contractor you have business with. Keep all agreements, checks, and documents in this folder.

Subfolders:

Design & Logos
Advertising
Website
Vendors - List of vendors and contact information I have business with.

9. File Name: EMPLOYEE

Subfolders:

Employee Information will include resumes, personal details, tax/pension forms etc.
Payroll will contain the management reports for salary of your employees.

10. File Name: MEMBERSHIPS

PPA
BNI

Stay organized and finish rich! Share your business filing system and leave comments below.

Tips on Choosing Accessories for Your Headshot Session

April 24, 2017 in Professional Headshots

Professional headshots are very important for highlighting the profiles of the career-oriented people. Because of this, it is important to give these photos the best shot – by dressing carefully with the right attire and, though they are often overlooked, the proper accessories. Together, these can make their personalities more impressive for the viewers.

Here are a few tips on those important accessories that you may otherwise overlook:

Right headshot accessories for men

Tie – Lots of company executives or businessmen prefer to wear ties in an attempt to appear formal. They present with a polished look, often seen among professionals such as lawyers, financial advisors, and real estate agents. But headshots without a tie are also welcomed by people who want their professional portraits to look a bit informal or portray themselves as easily approachable. This are common among new businessmen owning startup companies.
Bow tie – A bow tie is a more informal form of neck accessory for men. Musicians, politicians, actors, and some businessmen seem to prefer the use of the bow tie as a mark of their style.
Pocket square – This is a traditional fashion of men, creating squares or stylish designs with hankies placed visibly in the suit coat pocket.
CLICK HERE to see more examples

Most suitable headshot accessories for women

Jewelry – When it comes to jewelry, minimalism is key. For example, a pair of small ear studs, instead of large earrings or a simple chain can be used instead of a broad necklace. However, if the woman is a jewelry designer, she can wear some selected sleek jewelry pieces that are designed by her.

Suitable headshot accessory for both men and women

Glasses – The glasses are recommended to be used by both men and women who wear glasses on a generally. It is preferable for the glasses to have anti-glare coating to avoid the reflection of the light. If you wear glasses, make sure you take all the pairs you own to your headshot session to see which work best.

Visit BOOK NOW page to schedule your Headshot Session with Valentina Sadiul Photography. For more information contact at ValentinaSadiul@gmail.com or call 415.400.9212

Solution for Office Group Portrait

April 17, 2017 in Professional Headshots

As a headshot photographer, I work with companies and offices with multiple team members. One of the challenges in production of a Group Headshot Session is to get everyone together on schedule in the same place. Usually, during business hours, offices schedules are busy and not everyone has availability to join group portrait. Scheduling become even more complicated if the office has many employees. Someone has an important meeting, someone is out of town, someone stack in traffic, etc.

So, when a company’s goal is to get a successful team photo, but scheduling is tough, there is a great solution.

This first team photo represents an office of 5 professionals. Each of team member was shot individually, digitally extracted from the background, and composed to group photo in Photoshop.

Individual headshots can be rearranged in any order you like. It is very helpful in a situation when someone leaves the company or a new hire joins the team. Instead of investing in a new group headshot photoshoot, the person who left company can be easily removed digitally. If company or office has a new hire, he/she can schedule an individual session. Once in studio, he/she will be photographed in the same style to match your group photo, extracted from background and added to the group photo with help of Photoshop.

This technique not only allows you to have the freedom to remove or add new team members, it also allows you to change background of your company's group photo, depending on your branding needs.

If your company or office is looking to update professional headshots for team members, contact me for details HERE.

What to Wear for Your Headshot Session

March 27, 2017 in Professional Headshots

Headshot is a professional portrait of a person, where only the face and the upper part of the body is visible, mainly stressing on the face expression and eyes of that person. The headshots are generally used for posting online with the job applications and the profiles of the professional people, so that their clients can be impressed by their personalities. Therefore, the dress of that person should be distinctly dignified and should give a professional look to the wearer. So everyone should be careful about the clothing that can be used while posing for a headshot.

Valentina-Sadiul-headshots-Wardrobe-for-men

Few useful tips for the selection of clothing for any headshot session

Generally, people should wear only formal wear for the headshot sessions; like two-buttoned suits, shirts or formal kind of gowns. The formal wear is essential so that the people appearing in the headshots look perfectly professional to the viewers.
It is better to avoid too much colorful clothing for a headshot, as it is best to keep a simple and plain look for these professional photos. Likewise, too many flowery or decorative patterns should be avoided, while selecting the dresses for shooting headshots. No funny pattern or funky style is approvable while selecting dress for a headshot session, as it will make the wearer look cheap to the viewers of his/her profile.
Whatever dress is chosen, the wearer should be perfectly comfortable in wearing it; so that he/she looks confident in the headshot. But this dress should be a part of his/her personality; it should never become the main point of attraction of the viewers.
The dress taken out of the wardrobe should be perfectly clean and spotless, so that the wearer does not look messy while wearing it. Moreover, the attire should be well ironed, to make the wearer look smart and confident.
The clothes should be well fitted and any loosely fitted apparel should be avoided in these photo sessions. The whole point is to highlight the person wearing it, which cannot be achieved by wearing a heavy or voluminous type of dress.
It is best to wear the traditional types of formal dresses, as the latest trendy attires may become old-fashioned within a few months and then the wearer will have to take another headshot for keeping his/her profile updated. But a few traditional styles are all-times favorites of people and they never seem to go outdated; like the formal suits or simple white shirts with ties.

Valentina-Sadiul-Headshots-wardrobe-women

Selection of the proper colors of headshot attire as per the skin tone of wearer

According to the expert advice of the professional photographers, the color of the dress selected for wearing in a headshot session should be in sharp contrast to the skin tone of the wearer. If the wearer is very fair-skinned, he/she should opt for a deeper shade of any sober color, to make his/her face more prominent in the headshot. On the contrary, if the wearer has dark colored or medium colored skin tone, he/she needs to wear only a light colored dress, to highlight his/her features in the headshot. Some photographers also suggest choosing the color of the dress according to the eye color of the wearer, to personalize the photo even more.

Parts of outfits that can be overlooked by the wearer

Generally, only the face and the upper parts of the body are visible in a headshot and not the lower parts. So the concerned person needs to be conscious only about choosing the shirt or the top that he/she will be wearing in the headshot session. But the trouser or the skirt will not be visible in the photo, for which the wearer or the photographer need not bother about the selection of these parts of the clothing at all. Neither the wearer needs to match the shirt with the trouser or skirt, as the lower part will not be seen at all. Similarly, he/she can wear any kind of shoes in these photo sessions, as the footwear also does not matter in any headshot.

Special kinds of attires preferred in a few specific corporate houses

When a person needs a headshot for submitting in a corporate company for job purposes or to make commercial tie-ups, his photo should be entirely different from that of a model or actor. Hence, the clothes chosen for this kind of headshots should be different too and the wearer needs to be careful while selecting his/her headshot attire. Since some corporate houses may have their unique preferences regarding the attires of their professionals, it is better to consult the website of the concerned company and derive ideas about their official dress codes, from the posted photos of their top officials.

Ideal dresses for the headshots used on commercial purposes

It is usual for every corporate company to maintain a certain dress code in their offices, which is preferably maintained in the headshots of the people attached to them.
Most of the offices like to see their employees in long-sleeved dresses, to maintain decency of the workplace, which needs to be shown in the headshots of the people applying there. So generally, most of the corporate headshots should be taken with full-sleeved shirts only.
Even the women professionals need to be featured with decent shirts or collared blouses in their headshots. It is better if they wear suits or simple coats over their shirts.
Both men and women can put on jackets over their shirts or blouses, if suits or coats are not available in their wardrobes.
The women professionals should be careful about wearing minimum jewelry, of very sleek designs. They should look very simple in their headshots.

Consult with the professional photographer shooting headshots

The experienced photographers are well aware of the types of dresses that should be used for making the best headshots of their clients. Hence, it is best to show the chosen attire to the hired photographer, before finally putting it on for a headshot session.

CLICK HERE to see examples of Headshot Clothing for Men

CLICK HERE to see examples of Headshot Clothing for Women

Visit BOOK NOW page to schedule your Headshot Session with Valentina Sadiul Photography. For more information contact at ValentinaSadiul@gmail.com or call 415.400.9212