Portrait v.s. Headshot photography, what’s the difference?

As a Costa Blanca photographer, quite often I get asked, what is the difference between a portrait and a headshot photo, so here is a brief explanation that will help you decide if you want a portrait photo taken or a headshot.

Headshot Photography:

A headshot is generally a close-­up style shot of head and shoulders that the subject uses for branding, marketing and for identifying themselves in the marketplace. Headshots may be in studio or on­-location. The subject’s expression is approachable and confident. the subject is looking at the camera. The goal is to recognise/identify the subject. All on-line social media outlets use profile pics which are headshots. In my business headshots refer to business headshots, actor headshots and my modelling headshots for kids and teens.

Portrait Photography:

A portrait is any other kind of shot of a person. The options are limitless. Closeups, 3/4 lengths, full body shots, in studio or on location where the setting may be important to the story of the portrait. Expressions can really show any kind of emotion and subject may not even be looking at the camera. Portraits can be of one person or more than one person.

Many people also refer to portrait photos as family photos. In my family portrait photographer portfolio, you will see that this is essentially portrait photography, even headshot photography, but in a family environment.   Photographers have great artistic and creative license to capture a subject and tell a story. As an example of creative license, I was contracted to take portrait photos for a musician. Her brief was to take portrait photos using the stunning landscapes of Alicante and the Costa blanca:

In another photo, she jumped into a swimming pool and I took the photo from the top of a ladder. This portrait photography session highlights the creative freedom you can have as a photography. We agreed that it would be too costly to ruin here expensive flute, so I photoshopped that into the photo.

The most satisfaction I get as a photographer is when I see my photography being used commercially, and not only saved to a personal photo album. This Portrait photo I took was used for an album cover for a grammy nominated classical orchestra based in Alicante. Not only was the photo used for the album, but also as one of the banner photos of the director: Josep Vicent.