Why You Need a Great Headshot in Today's World

In today's digital age, first impressions are made online more than ever before. Whether you're a professional, an entrepreneur, or an artist, having a good headshot is crucial in making a positive impact on those who come across your online presence. A well-taken headshot can serve as a powerful tool in personal branding and professional representation, helping you to stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression.

Here are just a few of the reasons why you need a good headshot in today's world:

Personal Branding: A good headshot is an essential part of personal branding. It helps to communicate who you are, what you do, and what sets you apart from others in your field. A well-taken headshot should accurately reflect your appearance and personality, helping you to make a strong first impression on potential clients, employers, or collaborators.
Professional Representation: A good headshot is also a crucial aspect of professional representation. It can be used on your personal or professional website, social media profiles, business cards, and other marketing materials. A well-taken headshot can help you to establish a consistent image and make a strong impression on potential clients, employers, or collaborators.
Social Media: In today's world, social media plays a big role in how people present themselves online. Having a good headshot is essential for creating a professional presence on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. A well-taken headshot can help you to make a positive impact on those who come across your profiles, and increase your chances of standing out from the crowd.
Acting and Modeling: If you're an actor or model, a good headshot is essential for showcasing your talent and securing work. A well-taken headshot should accurately reflect your appearance and convey your unique qualities, helping you to stand out from other actors and models and get noticed by casting directors and agents.
Confidence Boost: Finally, having a good headshot can give you a confidence boost. When you have a well-taken headshot that accurately reflects your appearance and personality, you can feel more confident in presenting yourself online and in person.

In conclusion, a good headshot is an essential tool in personal branding, professional representation, and creating a positive first impression. Whether you're a professional, an entrepreneur, an artist, or just looking to boost your confidence, investing in a well-taken headshot is a smart move. So why wait? Book your headshot session today and take your first step towards making a lasting impression!

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Industria Leicester 27th October7313.jpg

Business Portraits & Headshots

Amazing portraits in Leicestershire and the East Midlands

Like a previous blog post, it’s great to get a call from a past client who needs a headshot refresh, or their company has grown and they have taken on more staff.

One company is Ripple Touch, led by the amazing Dhara Shah. Dhara and her company specialises in mental health and wellbeing, Dhara is indeed a fully qualified NLP wellbeing practitioner and life coach.

Dhara has taken on more staff and also has let her hair grow a little longer, so wanted new photos for the website and social media channels.

The shoot took place in Dhara’s kitchen, and like the previous shoot we used two different background colours to tie in with the ripple touch branding.

Here are a few shots form the session.

#Headshot #Portrait #LeicesterHeadshot #LeicesterPortrait #BusinessPortrait #LeicesterPhotographer

New Near New Headshot

New Year, New Headshot!

Headshot & Portrait Photographer Leicestershire, East Midlands.

It’s that time of the year again when most people want to kick of their Limkedin and social media channels with a fresh headshot.

Why do this?

Maybe you’ve had the old shot for 2+ years, thats time for a change!

Could be you’ve got in better shape, changed your hair etc

Meet Moh, who found me on Instagram and booked a new headshot session via this website.

Did you know you to can book a session direct from this site??!

Moh wanted a more corporate yet relaxed look, so we shot on my standard grey background. As requested I also did a cut out of one of the photos and placed it on a pure white background.

Next to be ‘shot in the face’ was upcoming author Alex Harwood. Alex has a series of books coming out soon and his publicist needed a stand out headshot (black and white preferred) for all PR comm’s, social media posts and indeed the inside cover of the books.

I took my mobile studio and set up in Alex’s garage, within a matter of minutes we’d got the shot. I’d spotted it and gave it 5 stars on my editing software. But we kept shooting a little more in case something else happened and we could maybe better it. But we didn’t. Every time we viewed a new image and compared it to the 5* image, the 5* always came out on top.

So we went with that, here it is..

Amy D Album Cover Shoot

Amy Daniels Musician & Vocalist, Album cover portrait shoot.

Leicester Artist Photoshoot

Album Cover Portrait Photo Shoot, Leicester, Pete MArtin Photography

An Instagram message popped in from a local singer songwriter called Amy Daniels.

Amy was in the final stages of launching her debut album, and needed some images for the front and back covers of the CD and for herwebsite, social media etc.

Amy set up a Pinterest board with images she wanted to take inspiration from. Once I had those I put a plan together to get her all of the required images, and a few more. I hired a local photography studio which I’ve used on a few occasions where I need multiple creative options. As for backgrounds, we had black, white, wood panels, plants… As for the lighting I kept it quite simple with only 1 or 2 lights and a simple reflector used sparingly

As usual I shot tethered to my laptop so Amy could see how the shots were taking shape, she could then also offer creative input to tweak the shots to her own personal preference.

I absolutely love creative shoots like this, it’s stretches my imagination and lets me experiment to get some pretty unique results.

Business Portraits Leicester

Leicestershire Headshots & Portraits

Brilliant Business Portraits East Midlands

I had an email enquiry recently from the fine folks at Cresco, https://crescospreaders.com/ they were having a website refresh and wanted staff portraits with the accompanying short bio on each person.

We had a phone call consultation about the shots and decided to use a green background with a slight gradient, so it tied in with their branding colours. They have a great space to set up my mobile studio, a little more was appreciated as to create the gradient an extra light was required, but I’m sure you’ll agree the final shots look brilliant. It was also decided that I’d shoot half body portraits as opposed to tight headshots.

Mobile photography studio on Location for amazing business headshots and portraits in Leicestershire and the East Midlands — Mobile Studio on Location for amazing portraits and headshots in Leicestershire and the East Midlands

Everyone took direction well and we got the desired friendly & approachable results Cresco wanted to portray.

Have a look t a few of their shots below. Also, how amazing does their website look with the portraits on??!! https://crescospreaders.com/about-us/

So Cresco was shot in the morning, and it was time for GP3 Financial Solutions in the afternoon.

GP3 are based in Oadby and were referred to me by two other companies I’d completed headshots for.

For their s shoot, GP3 requested a slightly off white background and a more close up headshot rather than a half body portrait. I set up in their board room and set to work. Once again, due to everyone taking direction well, and seeing their photos appear in real time on my laptop, we actually finished ahead of schedule.

While i do not like to rush these sessions, I like to keep a pace during the shoot. It keeps the client/subject on their toes and not overthinking it too much. Also, If i finish ahead of time I’m out of the building and not taking anymore valuable time from the clients working day. Everyone wins.

Take a look at a few of the shots and a short BTS (behind the scenes) video clip below.

Pete Martin Photography behind the scenes. Portrait and Headshot photographer based in Leicestershire covering the East Midlands.

Leicestershire Charity Event Photographer

East Midlands Charity Event Photographer, Leicestershire Based

Menphys Charity Business Sports Club

I was introduced to the Leicestershire Charity Menphys via my good friend Chris Cain from Kazzoo IT, during Chris’s headshot session he mention a charity hike up Scafell Pike in aid of Menphys.

Menphys is s children’s charity working with disabled children based in South Wigston here in Leicestershire.

During the hike, I was introduced to a number of other businesses and Liam Deacy, the head fundraiser at Menphys. I recognised his face, but couldn’t place him.. After a slightly odd conversation in the car park it turns out his uncle is a singer and we were in the same band together in 1996-2001!

Menphys have an amazing business sports club, where for a nominal fee you can join and attend 4 meeting a year with a sporting personality. There is a 3 course dinner, a presentation by the sports person then some question and answer time. Right at the end there is a photo opportunity, which is where i come in!

I photograph the entire evening, but my favourite part is the meet and greet at the end of the night. I use a simple studio light set up against the Menphys backdrop to get a nice clean look. All of the edited photos are available via my private gallery and from Menphys the day after the event.

Here are a few images from the events i’ve shot for Menpys in 2022.

Leicester Portrait Photographer

Leicester Portrait photographer

Food Photographer

I few weeks ago I was contacted by a lovely lady called Harriet from Peterborough, who is setting a new business all around healthy food.

While I would not say I’m a food photographer, nor food stylist! Harriet needed a bulk of images to launch her website and also to kick start her social media channels.

After a consultation phone call to find out more about her business, Harriet set to work plan out out each dish she was going to prepare and the overall aesthetic. This prep work was key to the photoshoot running smoothly. Harriet also sent me a selection of sample images from other health food individuals that she liked the look of, this was my homework to research how the final images were put together and lit etc.

When it came to the shoot day, I arrived in Peterborough at 10:30am to find that Harriet had got all the dishes underway cook wise. Within 30 mins the equipment was set and I started shooting.

As it was a nice bright day, and the food photo area was near some bi-fold doors we used all of the available natural light. The only thing I used to modify the available light was a couple of small bounce cards/reflectors to reduce the shadows slightly on the opposite side.

During the final prep of each dish I swapped to camera 2 with a 35mm prime lens and grabbed some environmental portraits, I think these look awesome in black and white.

Towards the end of the shoot we did some lifestyle shots inside and outside with a little bounced flash to give a nice clean look.

Overall I’m super happy with the results, and it was a great day.

Many thanks to Harriet and her husband Dan for being so accommodating and Uber prepared for the shoot. And for sending me off with a food parcel and bottle of red wine.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Leicester Portrait and Headshot Photographer

Location Headshots for Businesses

I love it when an email pops in from a contact I met a few years ago. Caroline Hunt owns Emerald Starfish recruitment, based in Market Harborough Leicestershire. Caroline had recently moved offices and taken on two new members of staff, so it was the perfect time to update the website with some fresh images.

We did headshots in colour and black and white, and also did some environmental shot in the office and in the reception area.

Here are a few samples from the Emerald Starfish shoot.

Another nice surprise was an email from Northwood Estate agents. This was a new client for me, but a similar story to Emerald Starfish. Northwood was also recently moved office and taken on more new staff members.

A date was set, but sadly I had to cancel!!

Those who know me will know how much I hated to cancel and let people down. But I was ill, really ill… not COVID, but I’d burnt out. A GP advised me to rest, take more exercise, keep hydrated and generally take time off from my business to reset myself.

Northwood was re-arranged for the following week, and what a great shoot!

All staff members were ‘shot in the face’, two edits each provided in colour and black and white. I also did a couple of team shots while I was there.

There was a chap there who I recognised, but I could place him. Turns out his name is Elliot, and he used to live next to me 8yrs ago!! Small world!!

Here are a few photos from the Northwood shoot.

Commercial Photographer Leicester

Commercial Marina Shoot

Photo Shoot for multi service design agency in Leicestershire

MDL Marina Plymouth

A brilliant design agency I work with have MDL Marina’s as their client, they asked if I’d be interested travelling to Plymouth to photograph an Eco Gym at a Marina…. Of course I said yes.

This time a team of five headed down to Devon to capture images of the new site and facilities. The drone went up to get an Ariel view, it was nearly bought down my some crazy seagulls who though it was a play thing! We captured all areas of the gym, and we even got some of the public involved when there were using the equipment.

We stayed over on the Friday night and had a lovely Mexican meal. Saturday morning it was time to shoot the gym manager Helena in action on the equipment having a workout. These were my favourite shots of the weekend, the lighting was brilliant, everything just slotted into place.

The drive home was long, 4.5 hours, but I’m sure you’ll agree the photos captured were worth it!

See below for some of the shots.

National Space Centre - Mental Health Week

Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

Leicestershire Charity Photographer

As some of you will know, I do quite a bit of work (paid and pro bono) for the Leicester mental health charity LAMP.

In April I was asked my Matt Barton from LAMP if I’d be interested in recording a short 3-5 minute video at the National Space Centre for national mental health week. The video would be about how astronaut’s cope with loneliness and their mental wellbeing in space. This tied in with the their theme, to take LAMP to the Moon.

A meeting was held with key staff from the Space Centre, Matt and myself. It was soon apparent that one video would not be enough, we would need FIVE!.

This worked quite well as LAMP could release one everyday of the week during mental health week… The only issue was the time restraints in getting it filmed, edited and delivered as we were getting close to the start of mental health week.

Filming was done on a Wednesday, most of the edits were completed on the Thursday and Friday with only a couple of revisions required from the Space Centre and LAMP.

I’m really happy with how these turned out and the response to them has been positive.

Here they are below.

If you are looking for something similar for your charity or business please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos courtesy of Greg Hollingsworth, and ambassador for LAMP and the director of Hollingsworth’s, specialist commercial and litigation solicitors in Leicester.

Myself and Greg Holllingsworth also put on a charity curry night at Cusine of India in Wigston.. we asked local businesses for some raffle donations, I got in touch with my old singer Shona so we could perform a few songs before dinner…

We raised just over £1000 for this great charity, here are a few photos from the event.

During this week we also completed a series of runs or walks, mainly in 5km chunks.. Everyone who took part recorded their activities on the LAMP Strava group, and the aim is to reach the moon before July 20th, which is the Apollo 11 Landing in 1969.