Hey y'all, I find myself in need of a headshot but I don't have time to go and get professional ones. Can you all help me choose one? These were taken with my iPhone's portrait mode, and when I uploaded them into postimages they lost a lot of resolution but I will have a proper high res one for whichever one I ultimately choose.

Also, after we took these, I noticed a "fatal flaw" in my make-up. Which is fixable, but if no one notices it, I'll just ignore it. The problem is, outdoor light works best, but the heat index is over 100F here today, so I don't want to retake if I can avoid it....

Having said that, these photos will go on the back of a book, so I have to live with whichever one I choose....



TIA for any comments -- or, if you think I really should take them again, TIA for letting me know that as well!

They all look great but my two favorites are 0800 and 0804

Thanks WTG!

I guess you didn't see the "fatal flaw" -- this is good, I really don't want to go back outside again!

I like 804 as well, or 802. What fatal flaw?

You certainly are photogenic, SK!

That said, the pictures are remarkably similar except for one thing - a few have a slight cant to the angle of your head: 0800 and 0803. Also 0804, come to review them again. I think they are the most becoming. (798 slightly elongates your neck, which is also attractive.)

I've noticed very often women's portrait photos are most flattering with a slight tilt to the head (perhaps, a slight 3/4 rotation too but that doesn't pertain here).

If I remember correctly, Mary Anna is aware of this "trick" in her lovely book jacket photos and tends to choose photos as I described.

(Tangential, but perhaps interesting to some of you...Recently, I happened upon a Plastic Surgery site discussing how their craft can work to feminize trans patients. I was intrigued by the pages showing a great many before and after photos of trans patients who went through feminization surgery. I was fascinated by what the physicians had achieved - some much better than others, of course.)

As mentioned first, I noticed very often the "after" photos showed the patients with their heads slightly tilted. As invariably with such sites, doctors are careful to adopt tricks to enhance the apparent success of their results. I.e., patients in the "after" photos lift their chins sharply*, they wear better makeup (sometimes the "befores" have none!), and - of course - they are smiling.

And that tilting bit is also almost uniformly adopted. It does work to make their outcomes more becoming - for this context, far more feminine too! Sometimes the tilt is half the result.

*The chin pics can also be used to show their success by having the patients in the "befores" deliberately scrunch their chins (mostly jowly), backwards into the neck - Marine posture style.

FWIW, subtle lighting (somewhat from one side and/or backlit) makes another flattering difference. Often there is more than one light source. None of this relates to your specific question, of course - just gratuitously sharing my observations across the years, not about feminization but about how (even without photoshop) cosmetic surgeons exploit photographs to improve the apparent success of their work. Note, I used to do portraits (also promotional caricatures). Probably one reason, I was so fascinated by these pages! ).

without studying, my first "gut" impulse pick is 802...

I agree that 0802 is a great choice, too.

Thanks for the comments so far everyone!

quote:

What fatal flaw?

I'll tell you after I pick the photo.

quote:

Also FWIW, subtle lighting (somewhat from one side and/or backlit) makes a flattering difference.

Yes, lighting is a make-or-break ingredient. Even with the iPhone's portrait mode, which does a lot to soften things, the indoor photos are just not good.

These photos were all taken outside, in our back yard (as I'm sure you can guess). I'm standing completely in the shade, but I've found that somehow, being outside but in the shade (as long as the shade isn't shrouding you in darkness!) gives you all the advantages of natural light without the harshness and squinting, and shadows, of actually being out in the light.

0803 or 0802

804 is my favourite by far!

I like 802 and 804. And 798 just because it is also a good photo and you are proportionally larger against the background. But I guess you could achieve the same thing by cropping one of the others closer in. I think 802 is my favorite by a smidge.

802, then 804.

I think you should darken the background just a little, so that you “pop” in front of it. Email me a picture, and I’ll do it for you (I use Snapseed) and you can see if you like it.

0798 has the best neck line and presentation IMO. The background in that one is less defined as well which I also think is better.

AdagioM, thank you! I'll PM you.

I really like the last one, 802. You look the most relaxed and happy in it.