Hero Shots

When you are featured on a magazine article, or if you have a website featuring your professional solo-practice, the editorial portrait is most likely putting yourself as the centerpiece. Your portrait may have much to do with your professional life, but it is primarily about you, your world view, and your attitude toward your role. Hero shots are contrary to typical corporate photography because the latter reduces your story to a generic image of your role or position in the company hierarchy (headshots) or visual cliché of what might happen in a company. Imagine a young woman operating a pipette in a biomedical company, or a young man sitting at a trading desk, or a few lawyers sitting at a conference table in front of a big bookcase. Those are not a very good hero shot unless there’s a unique story about it.

Hero shots are photographed in a way that maximally relates to the editorial story. So, it is usually photographed on site, or location, in a place that relates to the story. If it’s about your career, you might photograph at where you started it, where you are, or perhaps where you want to be at the end. It is rather uncommon to shoot it in the studio or unrelated location unless you want a very clean-cut, simple image.

In this age, many high-level professionals perform the majority of their work on computers, mobile devices, meeting rooms, and most generic or uninteresting situations. How often did you see a photograph of MacBook next to a mug cup of coffee in a cute office desk? Boring! Hero shots should not look like a stock photo. No one said that, but that’s an obvious point. You need to organize your thoughts and provide an abridged version of your story so that we can think through this process together.

Typically, hero portraits are used as an editorial material or a design base on which text and other graphics may be laid. Therefore, these images are often composed with about one-half of the space unoccupied by the main subject. If the picture is meant to fill a magazine spread, the photo is usually taken horizontally, avoiding the face around the midline, and with an empty space in one side. If the picture is used in one full page or 1/4 page, it’s usually vertical.

If you are using the pictures on your website, it’s best to do the rough design first to identify the spaces and sizes you have for photos. Then think about what kind of pictures would work well for each of those spaces.

Service & Pricing

Don’t expect this shoot to be the same as standard corporate headshot work. This is for people who really know themselves and communicate about it.

Please inquire about pricing, etc. There are many variables.

Talk to the photographer and book your session now.

Editorial portraits can be arranged by an individual professional, an editor, or an agency. The price varies depending on the location, logistics, the scope of the work, any additional components like retouching work and professional makeup artist. The cost typically increases with the complexity of the work, so it is helpful if you send adequate information when inquiring. Booking a shoot requires advance payment.

If your work requires copyright buyout or work for hire contract, we are willing to consider that requirement, but the price will be adjusted accordingly. Please be upfront about it at the time of inquiry.

RETOUCHING: For all headshot packages, natural look retouching starts at $200 per image, depending on the work needed. After reviewing the pictures, you can decide to opt for retouching. You will watch the retouching process in the studio and discuss which parts of the image need to be retouched.

MAKEUP ARTIST is available for $200. The makeup artist will provide custom natural-look makeup. ($275 includes light and finishing hair styling.) The latter is not meant to substitute for routine hair appointments like trimming and coloring. We recommend you go to your regular hairstylist first; if the hair gets messed up during travel, the makeup artist can finish the hair in the studio. If the session takes longer, you can pay for the extra time or release the makeup artist.

Talk to the photographer and book your session now.

Sample Work Gallery

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Add-on options

Magazine-quality retouching is very common for a publicity photo, as it can significantly improve your impression. It removes temporary skin blemishes, lightening under eye circles and wrinkles. The price starts at 60/image. We usually perform retouching while you watch, a very detailed work that you won’t get bored watching. Since BEAUPIX does a lot of demanding fashion and beauty photography with in-house retouching, we have the level of skills that very few headshot photographers have. If you are particularly conscious about your facial features, a heavier retouching, such as facial contour correction (e.g., slimming face or fixing double chin) is also available.

For female professionals, good natural look makeup is essential. If you are comfortable doing makeup yourself, it is usually sufficient, but otherwise, the studio can arrange an experienced makeup artist for your session at an additional cost, starting at 200.

It is possible to take your headshot in the studio, and swap the backdrop with another picture, for example, a scenic image. There are pros and cons of this approach, so if you think this is your route, please make sure to discuss this option with the photographer in advance.

Testimonials

We received so many reviews from former clients; please visit a separate testimonials page for full list. Here’re some: