Late in the summer, Jackie Hobbins (owner of Moonpup Productions and the original Moonpup) was interviewed by the founder of Dynamic Communicators International (DCI), Ken Davis. Ken and DCI have been helping authors and speakers create concise, persuasive messages through their SCORRE^TM and Launch Conferences for over 30 years. Jackie has been working with DCI and many of their clients for over eight years. Have a listen as Ken and Jackie chat about websites, what makes them work and how to best get your message out to your audience.

Click below to hear more:

#1 Hire a Pro

I know this seems self-serving given that I am a professional photographer but I assure you, it will be well worth the money spent. Here’s the thing, from my experience head shots are a tricky beast. It’s often difficult for people to look at pictures of just themselves, no family, no interaction…it’s tough. You want your head shot to be in the hands of someone that can help you with the most flattering angles and lighting, that will get you to relax and that will achieve the look that you’re going for.

All this being said, make sure that you ask to see their portfolio. Head shot photography is unique from any other style so just because someone takes beautiful newborn photos or is a great landscape photographer doesn’t mean they can give you a great head shot. Also, make sure you like their personality. If your photographer intimidates you or makes you feel uncomfortable in any way I guarantee it will be reflected in your photos!

#2 Communicate your brand

Once you’ve chosen your photographer, make sure you communicate your brand so they know how to give you a cohesive look for your marketing/website/profile. If you’re an entertainer, you probably don’t want a super serious photo that doesn’t reflect your personality. If you are a professional who wears a suit to work, you will not want your photographer to take you to a park for your photos—that’s just too casual. Is it important to look approachable or should you communicate that you’re serious? Make sure that your environment and the style of the shoot reflects your brand accordingly.

#3 Consider where the headshot will be used

Is this for an about section of your website? A header? Linkedin? This too is important to communicate with your photographer. For example, a traditional headshot is in portrait style, but I’ve photographed bloggers or authors who needed a header with a lot of blank space so that they could add text or graphics. In this case I would shoot landscape and leave a lot of negative space off to one side. Perhaps you’re a fashion blogger and you need several shots with different backgrounds to use in various parts of your website. Maybe this is just for your company website and they have specific guidelines for the crop. Make sure you get all of the shots you need so you don’t have to pay for two sessions!

#4 File size

Are you a Real Estate agent who will have these printed up on fliers? Or an author getting ready to publish a book? In this case you will want to request files sized for both print and web. Be sure to arm your photographer with this information so they can get the correct sizes to you the first time around.

#5 Colors

The colors that you wear as well as the colors in the background of your photo are very important to consider. Again, this goes along with creating a cohesive look for your website and/or brand. If your logo has bold and bright colors but you wear pastels…it will just look wrong. If your book cover is light and airy and you wear all black with a dark background…well you get the point! With my clients, I almost always get at least one shot with a neutral background that a graphic designer could easily manipulate if necessary, you might want to ask for one of these.

CMYK

CMYK refers to cyan, magenta, yellow and key (or black); the primary colors used in printing. Before digital printing, full-color printing was created with four separate printing plates, one for each color, C, M, Y, and K. Here is the color wheel for four color printing:

Each plate was printed separately, creating a series of very small dots that your eye would mix together to make the variety of colors in the image. Here is an image of this process at resolution that allows you to how small dots created out of four process printing make up an image:

This four color process of printing small dots is still the bones of the printing process. It begins with a white page, and the four color process inks are mixed to get a full spectrum of colors. Images or designs set up for print purposes should always be in CMYK mode.

RGB

RGB refers to red, green and blue the primary colors of light and of your computer screen. The colors on a screen are made with an additive process that begins with a dark screen where all three colors added together make white light.

In an RGB image, each pixel of the image is a different color. Pixels are small enough, that your eye can blend them together to create a realistic looking image. Here is an image that shows how individual pixels make up an image:

All designs created to be viewed on screens should be created in RGB mode.

The more you can familiarize yourself with these different processes, the more you can get your product looking snazzy on the first go! When in doubt, remember:

Printing with ink = CMYK Mode.

Designs for screen viewing = RGB Mode.

• JPG – Joint Photographic Experts Group
• PNG (24-bit and 8-bit) – Portable Network Graphic
• GIF – Graphical Interchange Format

Before we get to the nitty-gritty on these file types, let’s go over a few concepts so we are all on the same page. Here are some important things to know before we move forward:

Lossy vs. Lossless

– When an image is lossy, it means that as the image is compressed, pixel data is thrown out and the image cannot be re-enlarged without losing some clarity. When an images is lossless, you can compress it without losing any data or resolution from the original image.

24-bit vs. 8-bit

This refers to the spectrum of colors that are supported on a certain image type. For example, 24-bit images support 8 bits on each channel, which can generate 16.7 million colors—plenty to choose from. On the other hand, 8-bit image files have access to a total of 256 colors. One thing to keep in mind: the more bits on the graphic, the larger it will be as the fourth channel adds more data to the image.

RGB vs. CMYK

– RGB (red, green, blue) refers to the primary colors of light. These three colors make up all the colors you see on a computer screen in an additive process the starts with a dark screen. All images used on screen should be in RGB color mode. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key-Black) refers to the four colors used in printing to create a full spectrum of colors. Images or designs set up for print purposes should be in CMYK mode.

Now, here is the scoop on each file type:

When formatting images or graphics for web or print, you need to keep in mind that there is a real balance between the quality of the image, and the size of the image. For example, if your website is full of really great photos, but no one has time to wait for them to download, then you’ve missed the mark. Or if your print design uses the wrong color mode, it doesn’t matter how great the design is if the colors are off. Keep the above graphic handy so you can get it right—every time.