Have you ever walked out of your house without your pants on? Well, I kind of did that once on my way to an audition.
I didn't forget to wear my pants but I did forget to order more headshots for my upcoming audition which is kind of the same thing.
Luckily for me, instead of panicking I remembered I've used FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's) for last minute presentation books and pamphlets before.
Since my headshot is a marketing device, why not order some headshots from FedEx? I mean they have saved my butt in the past, I'm sure they will save me again.
All was great until I picked up my prints. (I only ordered 10 just in case.) …
I chose the wrong paper:
The nice lady at the counter said to look for "glossy cardstock, 10pt." My prints are flimsy and glossy. To counter the flimsiness, I printed my resume on thicker paper. This way when I stapled both together, the weight was balanced.
I sent a smaller photo file…Pixels:
I uploaded a slightly smaller file size to the website so my photo came out a bit fuzzy, almost pixelated. It was noticeable but it wasn't horrible.
It still didn’t look like I printed the photo at home but you can definitely tell it wasn't a professionally printed headshot.
Also, the website detected my photo wasn't 8x10, if it asks you to stretch it out or re-size, don’t do it. Stretching the photo will make it fuzzy.
By the way, if you were wondering, printing 10 color photocopies only cost me about $10. The amount will vary depending on the paper you select. My copies were ready within the hour so I had more than enough time to run home, print my resumes and staple them to my headshot.
Moral of the story is... when you're down to your last few headshots...order MORE from the professional headshot printer!
I know I learned my lesson.
Here is a brief video on taking your own starter headshot. You can watch the extended cut on my YouTube Channel.
*Starter headshots are to be used only for student films or extras gig*