BEHIND THE LENS BLOG

Lessons & Learnings by Dean Birnyi

Jul 19

Making Awesome First Impressions with Hard Light Business Portraits

Lately, I've been exploring hard light for portraits. it was. a very popular lighting style in Hollywood back in the "Golden Age." I like it because it is crisp, clean, and creates a remarkably powerful, eye-catching image. Hard Light is much harder to work with than soft light which is the standard for portraiture. That's one reason why I like it. #deanbirinyi #deanbirinyiphotography #djbphoto #professionalheadshotspaloalto #siliconvalleyheadshots #actorheadshotsbayarea #ac

Feb 11

Mass Production vs. Hand-Crafted Headshots

Yesterday, I spoke with an attorney who was surprised at the amount of time and effort I put into working with my customers. His previous experience with headshots was from law school. He said he had about five seconds in front of the camera. I've heard comments like this many times before. Typically a company photographer is trying to shoot as many people in a day as they can. In contrast, I'm doing everything I can to make you look good. My goal is to give you the best phot

Feb 5

Dressing for Success

"What should I wear for my headshots?" The answer is to wear things you love. Below is an excerpt from my Executive Headshot Success Guide. This is the introduction to the section on dressing for your headshots. You can read the entire Guide online or download each article individually by following this link. Combining style with professionalism Executives must be prepared to present different aspects of their personalities to suit the culture of diverse workplaces and match

Feb 3

Your Business Headshots are Strategic Communications.

Your men's business headshots aren’t simply a photo showing your smiling face. Headshots are tools that communicate your memorable character traits to the decision-makers you need to influence when you can’t meet them face-to-face. Some circumstances require you to present yourself as an authority figure or visionary leader as an executive. Other times, you’ll want to project decisiveness. And then there are times when you’ll showcase your charm and good nature. Keeping an up

Feb 1

A Customer Service Mindset.

A "Customer Service Mindset." is an outlook that focuses on creating customer value, loyalty, and trust. Anyone who's worked with Hubspot knows they're an excellent example of a company that embraces a service mindset. They define it like this: It's solving for as many customers' needs as possible, regardless of the review they give you. Doing so creates memorable moments like these that lead to loyal, long-term customers. Maintaining a service mindset has served my clients a

Jan 29

A low point of view ennobles my subject.

I like to photograph people from below their eye level because it places them in an authoritative position from the viewer's point of view. The low camera angle fosters feelings of confidence and admiration on the viewer's part. When combined with the open and engaged body language I coach my customers to display we communicate both confidence and approachability. As a headshot photographer, it is my job to make my customers look good in their photographs. I use my knowledge

Jan 28

Why a A Great Headshot Will Help Advance Your Career.

There's a big difference between the company headshot that took 10 minutes to shoot in the conference room and the executive headshots we work on for an hour or more in the studio. As a headshot photographer, I create headshots for business executives and leaders in my studio and do company headshots on location. The average company headshot is pretty basic: simple lighting and a (hopefully) not-cheesy smile, 5 or 6 exposures to get a shot that looks OK. That's generally the

Jan 27

Why I Like Working in My Studio

I love working in my headshots studio because a photo studio is such a novel environment. Most people display a child-like fascination with all the studio's lights and backgrounds and accouterments as they step in the door. "I always prefer to work in the studio. It isolates people from their environment. They become in a sense… symbolic of themselves." Richard Avedon I love it when that happens because I'll let my inner child show, actively sharing the excitement of the exp

Jan 20

Announcing our new team member, Serhii Sandrak.

I am proud to announce the latest addition to the Professional Headshots Palo Alto team, Serhii Sandrak, our Digital Artist. His unique contribution is the ability to add the final polish to our customer's headshots with incomparable authenticity. He has the talent of a renaissance painter and the discipline needed to ensure his work is absolutely transparent. Serhii is a gifted digital artist whose skill and talent was evident when I saw his work on Instagram. He has been wo

Jan 13

Headshots as strategic communications.

One picture is worth 1000 words. Your headshots should be used as tools for your strategic communications.

Nov 1, 2021

Best Background For a Headshot

Headshot Backgrounds The most important part of a headshot is you! The background you choose should be an accent that highlights your personality, enhances your professional persona, and, most importantly, makes your expression the star of the show. I feel backgrounds should be simple and should never compete with your face for attention. There are four different types of backgrounds I suggest shooting on. GRAY It will work on any website regardless of the branding or color s

Sep 23, 2021

Headshots Should Be Cropped Tight

I like to crop my headshots tightly because I value the effect of a tight close-up on people and their interpretation of the photo. To illustrate my points, I've included a side-by-side comparison of the same image with a tight crop and a loose crop. I like professional headshots to have a powerful impression on the people who view them. The tighter crop allows the viewer to feel a person's confidence projecting out from the photo. Headshots are all about expression. With a l

Sep 14, 2021

Clean, Contemporary Headshot Lighting

My lighting is punchy and glamorous. It shows form and creates depth on my client's face in a radically different way from what you will see other photographers using. I like this lighting because it has a clean, crisp, and contemporary feel and is appropriate for professional headshots, especially in Silicon Valley. Traditional Low-tech lighting. Most photographers use “Rembrandt Lighting.” It’s prevalent because it’s a beautiful light that painters originally developed duri

Sep 9, 2021

Coaching to Elicit Authentic Expressions

My customer's authentic expressions are the hallmark of my work. This video will give you an idea of how I guide my clients in expressing themselves with authentic confidence and display their true character with dignity and style. When being photographed, celebrities are coached on how to carry themselves, hold their head and address the camera because projecting the right image to the public is crucial to their success and the future of their career. Looking your best for t

Aug 13, 2021

Five things not to do in a headshot:

Bad headshots will undermine your efforts to advance your career. The purpose of a professional headshot is to showcase your strengths. A good headshot showcases your confidence and approachability, assertiveness, and intellectual depth. A bad headshot can undermine your efforts to advance your career by sending messages of weakness, anxiety, and dishonesty to your network, clients, and prospects. I recently wrote a short post about why sitting down in a headshot sends messag

Jul 23, 2021

Use This Secret Trick to Guarantee a Great Photo

It probably hasn’t crossed your mind, but this photo trick makes a world of difference. I’m always getting compliments on how great people look in my headshots. It’s not just the contemporary lighting, uncluttered backgrounds, wardrobe, and hairstyling. That’s all really important, of course. Bad lighting, messy hair, or wrinkled clothes will ruin an otherwise great photo as well...but, want to know my secret weapon? My “Secret Weapon” is…. Body language. Now, you might be w

Jul 23, 2021

Business Portraits & Relationship Building Headshots Matter

Headshots Build Trust and Speak of Your Character In today’s online world, where you never actually meet your customers, collaborators, and contractors, your headshots are as important as your handshake used to be. You can’t meet everyone important to your success face to face these days, but you can make a great first impression with great headshots. Your headshots are either helping you build trust with the decision-makers you must influence, or they're hurting you. As a pr

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