The image of a public figure is quite important. In this case, I literally mean image, beause I'm talking about photographs.
Mug shots (also known as head shots) are used in stories, press releases, opeds, blog posts, Facebook profiles, Twitter avatars -- almost everywhere.
Having a great mug shot is important. Public figures need to look competent.
Yet if you look at stories, press releases and web sites, you'll see a lot of bad mugs, a lot of boring group photos and even more abstract photos.
These abstract photos are often the prettiest things on the page. Beautiful landscapes. Stunning sunsets. High-res stock photos of thematic items like clocks, money or a close-up of a handshake.
These pretty photos are a mistake.
For one thing, you don't want people to look at gorgeous abstract things that make the human beings on the page look terrible by comparison.
For another thing, more and more research is coming out with eye-tracking studies that show these pretty photos are a waste of good space.
Instead of asking people what they like to look at, sensors track where their eyes actually go, and how long they stick around.
They actually spend more time looking at headlines and text than you'd expect. And they skip over those pretty photos.
Effective Photos
The best photos -- the most effective ones -- aren't the pretty photos. What they do look at are photos of (a) people who are (b) facing the camera while (c) doing something that's (d) relevant to the story.
People are more likely to read a story with a great photo, more likely to comment on it and more likely to share it with friends.
What you need are action shots of people doing something related to the story. "Action" doesn't have to mean Bruce Lee acrobatics or Michael Bay explosions.
A story about writing shouldn't feature an amazing, high-definition photo of an old Underwood typewriter, no matter how pretty it is. A better photo would feature a person at the keyboard, pausing to look at the camera -- or bent over a page of text with a red pen in her hand, editing like mad.
The Frozen Smile of Death and the Typical Boring Group Photo
So we've got two common photo problems to confront: (1) The Frozen Smile of Death Mug Shot, which make people look comatose or with a fake smile so big and dorky that not even Brad Pitt would look good under those circumstances, and (2) The Typical Boring Group Photo, where half the group looks like they don't want to be there and the other half seem like they need to go to the bathroom.
Whether you're the one taking the shot, or you're giving direction to the photographer, here are some ways to fix both problems.
Mistake No. 1: Turning Photos into Set Pieces.
There's nothing deadlier for a photo than trying to freeze time.
Yes, you need to get the lighting just right, and maybe set up a tripod and wait for the last member of group shot to show up. Or the tallest guy in the front needs to move over to the back because he made the person behind him disappear.
Yet all this arranging of pieces and freezing people in place tends to -- surprise -- freeze people. It makes for boring photos.
Have the group DO something. Not pretend to do it. Actually doing what they do all day, as a group.
If these are engineers who built an award-winning solar car, show them in the shop, working on the car. Not posed. Actually working.
This makes it harder for the photographer to get a good shot that shows their faces. OK. So the photographer has to work harder. It also makes for a much more useable photo.
Mistake No. 2: The Frozen Smile of Death Mug Shot
People turn to stone when they get their portrait shot. It's a disease.
Photographers often make it worse by giving tiny stage directions. Tilt your head down a quarter-inch. Move your shoulders a little to the left.
One way to get active, interesting action shots that can double as mugs is the same idea as the group shot solution: shoot the race driver in his F1 car, the karate master working in his dojo or the architect wearing a hard hat as he tours a construction site.
Another solution is to shoot practice shots that aren't practice at all.
Here's how you do it and why it works:
People aren't frozen ahead of time, when they're getting ready for the actual photo. They're talking to the photographer and other people in the room. They're relaxed. When you get serious, and start truly shooting, that's when they freeze.
So sure, go ahead and click during the "real" part of the photo shoot. What you really want, though, is to catch them before and after that part. You want them talking to people, and giving real smiles to actual human beings instead of a camera lens.
Set your digital camera to shoot fast when you hold down the button. Don't shoot a frame, look at the frame, then shoot another frame. Let it fly, because it's hard to capture little human emotions and facial expressions. Sometimes, they'll be blinking, or have their tongue between their teeth as they talk. That's fine.
Digital means every frame is free. You can delete all of the bad shots.
A professional photographer shooting an actor or model for a magazine cover is happy to do 200 shots and have five good ones at the end. I see so many people take two shots and call it good. That's fine for your family vacation album. It's not fine for public figures who may be using their mug shot for opeds in The New York Times or a Twitter feed with 90,000 followers. Take the 200 shots. Look for the five good ones. Pick the best one out of those five. It's worth the time, because images are important.
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