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August 18, 2015 / 081815
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Your Marketing or Author Photo – 7 Tips to Getting it Right
By D. Jean Quarles
Thought I'd talk a bit about getting your author's picture just right.
Along with writing, I do a fair share of photography. I enjoy taking
photos of the seasons as seen above, but I have taken an actor's head
shots, as well as done some graduation, wedding and professional
pictures for websites, etc.
However, I'm not photogenic at all! And like some of my clients, I
freeze when the lens is turned on me. There are, though, some tricks to
getting the best photo possible.
Tip 1: Your author's photo is part of your image - a big part. Make
sure it is consistent with what you would like your reader to know or
feel about you. Think about how you want to appear - edgy or romantic?
Whimsical or serious? Natural or funny? Check out your favorite author's
photos and see what they've done to create their image and then think
about what you can do to make yours stand out.- Tip 2: What to wear. Wear a color you look good in. Black is
slimming, but you may find that a bright color is great against your
face. Stay away from busy patterns and bring at least one change of
clothes and perhaps a scarf, tie or other accessory to try. Keep makeup
natural looking - there is no need to go heavy.
- Tip 3: Your facial expression. Practice your smile before your
shoot. You want a smile that impacts your eyes and appears genuine - or
if you are a mystery writer, practice your mysterious look. Determine
which side is your best and make sure to let your photographer know.
- Tip 4: Where to go. Once you have figured out the image part, this
may be easy to determine. If you have a professional taking your photo,
an indoor setting with some lighting, etc will work well. If you are
asking a friend or family member to help you out, you may want to
consider doing your photo shoot outside, as natural light will give you a
better opportunity to get it right.
- Tip 5: The photo. You may want to try both close-ups and some that
include your whole body. For close-ups: I recommend the chicken neck.
Pull your shoulders back, stick your neck forward, tip your chin
slightly down and watch as the extra neck skin and chins disappear.
Play with head tilts - in other words, after each shot move your head
slightly. For photos that include more of your body: Stand with one foot
in front of the other angling your good side to your photographer -
this is slimming as well. Remember the chicken neck. Focus your gaze at a
place just above the camera.
- Tip 6: Take a bunch of pictures. With digital cameras there is no
reason not to. The more photos taken, the better the chance of getting
one you really like. Not only that, but with hearing the shutter click,
click, click you might just start feeling like a movie star and relax
and have fun. I've found that some of the best shots I've taken, many
times, came at the end of a session when I'd shot a hundred or more
photos.
- Tip 7: Photo editing. There is plenty of photo editing software to help you refine your picture. My current favorite is PicMonkey.
I use the free version and it does, generally, all that I need. I also
use some of my iPhone's editing software and that works well too if I'm
taking a photo on the fly.
A number of years ago I heard an interesting fact about photographs -
you can take a photo of almost anywhere and anything and if you hold up
the original photo and a mirror image of that photo, most people can
tell which one is the original and which the mirror image - even if they
have never seen the place or item before. We apparently have an inborn
idea of what images should look like - except that is when we look at
ourselves. The reason, we only ever see ourselves in the mirror - so we
only see the mirror image of ourselves. That's why our own photos, many
times, seem a bit off. In the past I always felt that my personal photos
were so awful and looked nothing like myself even when others raved
over them - now that I realize I'm looking for something that no one
else sees, I'm a bit more forgiving about them.
Hope these tips will help you get the author's image that represents
you, flatters you, and allows readers to easily recognize and remember
you!
D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, House of Glass, Book 2 of The Exodus Series was written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.
She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time .
. . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her
writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com
You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook.
TO COMMENT, please go to:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2014/10/your-authors-photo-7-tips-to-getting-it.html
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I hope you found this information interesting and helpful. Too advanced, not enough, just right? I’d really love to know, so please leave a comment – good or bad or email me at: karencioffi@ymail.com
P.S. If you liked this article, PLEASE SHARE IT BELOW!
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