Colour? Black & White? What should we be using for our Headshots?
I’m a huge fan of black and white photography, it really simplifies an image and allows us to focus on a certain aspect of the image. For both portraits and photojournalism it can be a must for telling those particular stories. However is black-and-white photography as effective when it comes to your headshot?
One of the reasons why black-and-white photography has been used so much over the years within art photography is the fact that the use of black-and-white only in an image can help remove us from reality. This allows us the viewer, the space to create our own visions and interpretations to the image. However is this what we want with a headshot? We want to bring people closer to us and build a deeper relationship through our Headshot. Is removing the viewer from reality going to do this probably not. The simple fact that a colour image contains much more information will surely help convey more of a story about the individual and in turn bring us back to reality. For some of those colour photography is much more important, when you think about actors and performers who rely on their headshot‘s for cutting the colour detail needs to be there. The casting director will need to know what colour, hair colour eyes and complexion that we may have. This is all missing with in black-and-white image.
Okay, so not all actors, but we do need to tell a story with as much detail as we can with in one image. This may be your first impression to that ultimate connection let’s get as much information as we can to build that relationship.
Try it out, if you currently have a black-and-white picture on your LinkedIn profile swap it out with the colour version and just see what happens