Kids headshot questions, answered
Every kids headshot site answers the same eight questions. This page is sorted by where you actually are: no agent yet, just signed, a year in, a teen, or not an actor at all. Find your section. If your question is not here, text me and I will answer it and add it.
We do not have an agent yet
Does my child need professional headshots to get an agent?
Usually not. Most Los Angeles kids agencies ask for a few clear, recent snapshots first: phone photos in daylight, plain background, hair off the face, no filters. They sign the kid, not the photo. Once they sign your child they will ask for professional headshots, often within two to four weeks. If you would rather submit with a professional set, a one-look Bright Pop session at $200 is enough.
What are digitals, and are they the same as headshots?
No. Digitals, which older agents still call polaroids, are plain unretouched photos: front, profile, full length, smiling and not, no makeup, simple clothes, flat light. Agencies use them to see exactly what a kid looks like this month. A headshot is a lit, finished close-up. Modeling agencies lean on digitals, acting agencies lean on headshots. If you need a set of digitals as well, just ask when you book and we will shoot them at the end of the session.
Is a cheap virtual headshot session good enough for a kid?
For a first agency inquiry, a clean phone photo is fine and free, so you do not need the virtual session either. For a signed child, a virtual session has the limits of your phone camera, your window and your patience, and nobody in the room is reading your kid. Where it goes wrong is almost never sharpness. It is expression, and expression is the whole job.
My child is three. Is that too young for headshots?
No. We shoot from age 3. Book a morning slot or one soon after nap time. With kids that young it becomes very clear when the session is over, and we do not push past that point; breaks are encouraged, a parent stays within arm's reach, and they still walk away with the shot.
We just got signed and they want headshots
The agency wants headshots in two weeks. How fast can we do this?
Sessions run on weekday evenings and Thursday and Friday mornings. Your private gallery is ready the next day, and finished files arrive within five business days of your selects, usually sooner. If the agency is waiting, the rush option, 20% of the package price, guarantees the finals within 48 hours of your selects. Book Color Pop, two looks, unless the agency asked for something specific, and forward me their note so we shoot exactly what they asked for.
Commercial or theatrical, which one does my kid need?
Both, usually. Commercial is the bright, open look with the real smile that books ads. Theatrical is the quieter one for film and television, and it has nothing to do with theatre. They are shot in the same session on backdrops chosen for each. If the agency only asked for one and your child is under ten, it is almost always commercial.
What should my kid wear for headshots?
Solid colors, bright, nothing with logos, characters or busy patterns, and clothes they can move in. A wardrobe guide comes with your booking confirmation. Bring twice as many outfit options as looks you booked, so two for one look, four for two, and we choose together in the studio: the top that is most complimentary to your kid's skin tone, then a backdrop color that contrasts it. That pairing is the whole ColorPop method, and the wardrobe guide shows it on four real kids.
What backdrops do you use?
Savage Widetone seamless paper, and every color they make, all 55, from Pure White and the grays through Coral, Tulip, Flamingo, Orchid, Plum, Blue Jay, Turquoise, Mint Green and the rest. The paper is chosen after the top, for your kid's skin, eyes and hair, so the whole range has to be there. You can see every color and try it against a top on the pairing board.
What about makeup, hair, braces and glasses?
No makeup at any age; casting needs the actual face, freckles and all. Come with hair already done the way your kid wears it every day; the studio is not the place to get cleaned up. Braces on: shoot with the braces, casting will see them in the room anyway, and update when they come off. Glasses: we shoot with and without, because an actor has to be castable as a character either way, and the choice should be yours.
Should my child smile in the headshot?
In the commercial look, yes, a real one. In the theatrical look, no, but not a frown either: calm, and looking straight into the lens. Nobody says cheese here. I talk to your kid the whole time, and the smile comes from something actually being funny.
How much retouching do you do on a kids headshot?
As little as it takes to be unnoticed. Stray hairs, a scratch, a temporary blemish, yes. Freckles, moles, gaps in teeth, braces, the shape of a face, no. Nothing physical is altered, because the kid who walks into the audition has to be the kid in the file. Natural, effective, and invisible.
What files do we get, and what sizes do the casting sites want?
Every finished headshot comes two ways: full resolution for print, the standard vertical 8 by 10, and a web version sized for Actors Access, Casting Networks and Backstage. The sites each publish their own minimum pixel sizes and file limits, and they change them, so the web files I send are made to clear all of them. Upload the web version, never a screenshot or a crop from your phone.
Are the files good enough to print big, and what do you shoot with?
Yes. Every headshot is shot on a Sony full-frame system with a 61-megapixel sensor or on a 100-megapixel Hasselblad medium format system, so the finished file has enough resolution for a billboard, let alone an 8 by 10, and a tight crop for a casting site stays sharp. The casting sites themselves shrink everything to a couple of megapixels, so the resolution is there for print, for cropping, and for the day an agency asks for the file at full size.
We have been at this a while
How often should kids update their headshots?
Under 8, every six months. From 8 to 12, once a year. Teens, every 12 to 24 months. Sooner than any of that after lost teeth, braces on or off, a big haircut or a growth spurt. The rule behind the numbers: if a casting director would be surprised by the kid who walks in, the headshot is out of date.
Nothing is booking. Is it the headshot?
Sometimes. Signs it is the photo: the expression looks posed, the clothes or backdrop date it, it no longer looks like your kid, or it is a family portrait cropped tight. Signs it is not: the photo is current and honest and the problem is training, type, or the number of submissions. Fix the photo first if any of the first list is true; it is the cheapest variable to change.
Can we reuse last year's headshots with new retouching?
No. Retouching cannot age a child, and a kid who has grown an inch and lost two teeth is a different kid on camera. Spend the money on a new session, not on editing an old one.
Are AI-generated headshots allowed for child actors?
Use a real photograph. The entire point of a headshot is that the child who walks into the room matches the file, and an AI image is a picture of a child who does not exist. Agents and casting directors spot them, and no casting platform is going to defend you when one is spotted. For a kid there is a second reason: an AI headshot means uploading your child's face to a generator, and you do not get it back.
Who owns the photos, and what can we do with them?
You get the high-resolution finals you selected, the ones included in your package or added on, and you can print and reproduce them without limit for your child's career and personal life: agency, casting sites, prints, social media. The copyright stays with the photographer, which is standard for headshots, so the images cannot be sold, licensed or used with commercial intent. The rest of the gallery is proofs: lower resolution, unfinished, and not representative of the studio's work, so those cannot be shared or posted.
Will my child's photos end up on your website or Instagram?
Only if you are fine with it. Like most photographers I reserve the right to use session images to show my work, on this site and on the studio's own social accounts, and never for anything commercial and never with a name. If you would rather your kid's photos stay entirely private, say so when you book and they will. No fee, no questions.
My teen
My teen looks older than their age. Kid headshots or adult headshots?
Same session, up to age 20. What changes is the mix: teens lean theatrical earlier, the looks get a little more grounded, and it is their session, so a parent can be in the room or just outside the door, whichever the teen prefers. No makeup beyond what they wear to school on a normal day.
Can my teen use these for college applications, jobs or LinkedIn?
Yes. The theatrical look on a plain backdrop reads as a professional portrait, and the full-resolution file prints cleanly. Tell me when you book and we will make sure one look is neutral enough for that.
My kid is not an actor
My kid is not an actor. Can we still book a session?
Yes. Same studio, same backdrops, same short session, no agency involved. Bright Pop, one look, is the usual choice, and the print-ready file is made for the wall.
The session itself
What actually happens in a session, start to finish?
Arrive camera-ready, hair done, one parent and the kid. Within ten minutes we have picked the top and the backdrop and your kid is in front of the camera. I shoot a lot and fast and talk to the child the whole time. You sit off to the side with an iPad and watch the photos come in as they are taken, and you can mark the ones you like right there. After fifteen minutes or less, sooner for younger kids, we stop, look at what we have, change the outfit or the backdrop if it needs it, and keep going. Time flies; in most cases both the kid and the parent are done before anyone had the chance to get tired.
My child is autistic, has ADHD, or has sensory issues. Will this work?
Yes, and please tell me when you book. Before I taught, I spent years working with neurodivergent children and teens, and the studio suits kids who do not hold still. The light is continuous, so there are no flashes. A parent is in the room. Your kid can tour the studio a few days ahead if we arrange it, or come a few minutes early to see the room and the lights before the first frame. Breaks happen whenever they are needed, and we stop when your kid is done. Tell me what helps, a fidget, a favorite song, a warning before each change, and I will set it up.
My kid is shy or hates having their picture taken. What actually happens?
I was a child model myself, from 6 to 10, so I remember both sides of it: how much fun being on camera can be, and how intimidating adults who do not understand children are. The session is built around that. We talk, we pick the backdrop together, the camera is out from the start so it stops being an event, and the photos happen inside the playing. Most shy kids forget the camera within ten minutes. The ones who do not still leave with a headshot that looks like them, because quiet is a real expression too.
What if my child melts down, or wakes up sick?
If you need to move the date before the session, the $100 deposit moves with you, no matter how many times. It is only lost if you cancel outright or do not show. And if we start and it is clearly not your kid's day, we stop and rebook once, no charge; a session that fights the kid never produces a usable headshot.
Is a parent in the room the whole time?
Always. There is never a session without a parent or guardian present, start to finish, and you see every frame as it is taken on the iPad in your lap. One parent, though, and no siblings unless they are being photographed too. It is a small space, and one familiar face is comfort while a crowd is a distraction. Leave the rest of the family at the coffee place around the corner.
How long until we get the photos?
Your private online gallery is ready the next day. You make your selects in it, and the retouched finals arrive within five business days at most, often sooner. Need them faster? The rush option, 20% of the package price, guarantees delivery within 48 hours of your selects.
How much do kids headshots cost, and how do we pay?
Bright Pop$200 Color Pop$300 Full Pop$400
One, two or three looks. Every package includes the full online gallery, my picks, and one fully retouched, print-ready file per look. Extra finished files are $40 each. A $100 deposit holds your date and comes off the balance, which is due on the day by Zelle or credit card. No sales tax on sessions or digital files. Everything that is included
Where is the studio?
Pico-Robertson, on the west side of Los Angeles, a short drive from Beverly Hills, Culver City and West LA. It is a small studio, sessions are by appointment only, and directions come with your booking confirmation. Part of what makes a kids session work is that it is quiet and nobody walks in during it.
Still have a question? Email [email protected], or text or call. If it is a good one it ends up on this page.
(310) 270-1182