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Since social networking profiles
now serve as a kind of online resume, Abel advises her clients to
have professional headshots taken
for their online profiles—whether
it’s a personal website or a Facebook page—to ensure even a Twitter account is “on message.”
“We live in a visual world, and
the first thing people see is not
only what you’re posting, but your
photo,” Abel explains. “You want to
have the best picture you can, and
the strongest, most solid effective
message possible.”
For other users who commission professional profile pictures,
the message they’re after is not so
much “hire me” as “I’m hot,” say
photographers. While even amateurs can now afford top-quality
cameras, professionals still offer the
nice lighting, slimming angles and
careful retouching that separates a
so-so picture from a stunner.
“People who want pictures for
Facebook want others to think, ‘I
look like this when I roll out of bed,
with my skin flawless and my hair
impeccable,’” says Capt.
But not too impeccable: some clients, particularly teens and twentysomethings, ask photographers for
images that don’t obviously appear
to be professional. In many cases,
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photographers try to give the feel of
an amateur snapshot—but better.
In the quest for more candids,
photographers often ditch the solid backdrop typical of corporate
headshots for the outdoors: photographer Amy Parrish frequently
photographs her clients in the Ohio
countryside, or uses the 19th-cen-
As social media grows
up, we need to take more
seriously the need to control
the message. We live in a visual
world, and you want to have
the best picture you can.”
tury, timber-frame barn that houses her studio as a backdrop.
According to Capt, her adult
clients will credit her handiwork, but teens who use her
photos on Facebook will crop out
their logo and avoid saying who
took their picture.
“People don’t want to look desperate, like they’ve had photos
professionally done,” Coleman
agrees. “Even though they’re paying for the photo, they want the
picture to suggest, ‘Maybe I just
have a friend who’s great
at photography.’”