highly effective headshots - rates and information

Mark is very good at what he does.
Mark takes the time to really understand you.
Mark listens to you.
Mark puts his heart in his work.
Mark's headshots actually represent who you are, which ingratiates you to casting directors and agents.
Mark's headshots give you control over your career.
Mark's headshots work.

To create highly effective photographic marketing tools for performers by discerning and communicating their individual essence.

We guarantee that you will absolutely love your headshots by getting your approval every step of the way, doing an "instant re-shoot" for each set-up, and by continuing to shoot until you are absolutely satisfied with your headshots by using our complete approval process.

Before we even put you in front of the camera, we discuss the concept of each setup with you, pick out your clothing, and discuss makeup and hair choices. We don't move forward until you are completely satisfied with the direction of the shoot

Next, we finesse the lighting and adjust the details of the photo until we think it's the best it can be. We don't start shooting until you are completely satisfied with all of the elements of the set-up, including the makeup, wardrobe choice, lighting, and background.

The instant re-shoot After about 35-40 frames (the digital equivalent of one roll of film) we break to look at what we've done. This is your opportunity to see what might be missing, or what we could do better in that set-up. Then, we go and shoot another round of images that add to and improve on the first set.

When we're done with the second set of images, we take another look at what we've done. If you aren't completely satisfied we go back and continue to shoot until you are.

By working this way, you can be assured that you will walk out the door completely thrilled with your headshots.

Contact

studio
888.273.2838
323.664.7070
(it is generally best to telephone first)

facsimile
323.664.9970

The studio is located in Los Angeles, California, in the Silver Lake area (between Hollywood and Downtown, one mile off the 101 Freeway at the Silver Lake off ramp). There is a map at the bottom of this page.

Your headshot is your single most important marketing tool and will generally follow you for about two years. The difference between an excellent and a simply adequate photographer wouldn't even amount to $15 a month in most cases, although the difference in the success of your career can be staggering.

Choosing the right photographer could be the most important business decision you make in the next two years.
Ask yourself: Is it worth saving a few hundred dollars on an investment of thousands?

Mark's services aren't inexpensive, although they are only a fraction of his commercial rates. Mark generally only shoots two sessions per day, and puts a great deal of time and effort into each one to achieve the results you see on this website. Currently, Mark is generally only shooting headshots one or two days a week (due to an otherwise heavy photography schedule that includes advertising, corporate, magazine and entertainment photography). The cost of the service reflects the high quality of his work and the time spent with each client.

The Ultimate Headshot Package
• Three hour interview and wardrobe consultation prior to the shoot (both with Mark and his stylist/makeup artist)
• Information Gathering Project to help us assess how you are perceived by others
• Six Hour Shopping Excursion with the Wardrobe Stylist
• Full Day Shoot at Mark's studio
• Headshot Photography for One Full Day
• Two Environmental or Studio Celebrity Style Portraits
• Professional Makeup and Hair, and professional Wardrobe Styling
• Step-by-Step Approval throughout the shoot
• Instant reshoot on all setups
• Professional Retouching for Six Images

The Full Day Headshot Package
• One hour interview and wardrobe selection prior to the shoot with Mark
• Information Gathering Project to help us assess how you are perceived by others
• Full Day Shoot at Mark's studio
• Headshot Photography for One Full Day
• One Environmental or Studio Celebrity Style Portrait
• Professional Makeup and Hair
• Step-by-Step Approval throughout the shoot
• Instant reshoot on all setups

Three Setup Headshot Package (available with and without Professional Makeup and Hair)
• One hour interview and wardrobe selection prior to the shoot with Mark
• Information Gathering Project to help us assess how you are perceived by others
• Three Setup Headshot Shoot at Mark's studio
• Headshot Photography
• Step-by-Step Approval throughout the shoot
• Instant reshoot on all setups

Two Setup Headshot Package (available with and without Professional Makeup and Hair)
• One hour interview and wardrobe selection prior to the shoot with Mark
• Information Gathering Project to help us assess how you are perceived by others
• Two Setup Headshot Shoot at Mark's studio
• Headshot Photography
• Step-by-Step Approval throughout the shoot
• Instant reshoot on all setups

We work with a small and select group of only three outstanding Hair and Makeup Artists, all of whom are experienced at working with Mark and to accommodating his high standards. Professional makeup and hair is strongly recommended to achived the best results, especially with high resolution digital capture. Nearly all of the headshots on this site included a hair and makeup artist.

If you don't see what you are looking for here, please call us to discuss how we can accommodate your needs.

Please call us at 888-273-2838 to discuss your needs and for pricing information.

What is a set-up? A set-up (which is also called a "look") is an integration of lighting, background, wardrobe, hair and makeup that is crafted to bring out a particular part of your personality.

A Web Gallery is included with your session. Anybody with a computer can access your images for six months after your shoot, but we ask that you request it be put online at the time of the shoot, otherwise it will only be put in your image delivery.

On a related note, we often receive inquiries about modeling, and would like to suggest you visit newmodels.com which generally has very good information on the truth about the modeling industry.

Mark's Los Angeles Studio

About Mark

Mark Robert Halper has been a working, professional photographer for over fifteen years. Mark has built a career on consitently bringing quality and creativity to a diverse range of photographic specialties. Mark specializes in shooting people (although he also shoots product and architecture) and works primarily for advertising, entertainment, corporate and magazine clients. A few of his clients include Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Bally's, Business Week, Cedars-Sinai, Charlotte Russe, The Discovery Channel, Hasselblad, IBM, MySpace.com, UCLA and Sanyo.

Mark has been the subject of a number articles and interviews, and done several television appearances. If you'd like to know more about Mark's more recent accomplishments, please visit the News page of Mark's commercial photography site.

A headshot is a marketing tool intelligently crafted to communicate those qualities about a performer that are generally consistent from role to role. Its purpose is to get the performer called in for those parts for which they are likely to be cast.

Prior to the shoot, I'll ask you to do some homework to prepare for our time together. When you arrive we'll spend about 50 minutes in an in-depth discussion about who you are and use that information to determine the best way to approach your shoot and target and refine each of your set-ups. The process I use is based on essence work created for actors to market themselves effectively based on their own unique qualities. In a number of ways, this will be the most important part of the process.

After we've decided together what aspects of you and your casting we want to focus on about you in each of the setups, I taylor the elements of your headshot to support those essences (lighting, background selection, clothing, crop, etc.). I think if you look through the images on this site you'll see that while these elements don't call distracting attention to themselves, they do serve to bring out those parts of each person's individuality that a particular set-up is about.

Test shots for you to approve are always part of the process, and we don’t shoot until you are happy with what you see. We generally shoot 60+ images on each set-up, and check the results as we shoot to be certain that we capture what we are looking for before we move on to the next set-up. We usually stop about halfway though to see what we have done and use that information to make additions and improvements. Think of it as an instant re-shoot. Once you have what you need, we prepare the best ten to twenty images from each set-up for you to have reproduced and upload them to the internet for you to download when you get home. The reason we don't supply a CD is because using a digital delivery system and not providing tangable property means that we don't have to charge you sales tax, and you still get the same high quality imagery.

I strive to create visually compelling portraits that reveal the essence of who you are. I believe that a memorable headshot that captures something honest and consistent about who you are is more likely to get you called in for the right role than a more generic alternative (no matter how well executed).

Most of these shoots take about half a day (and you are the only client there I am shooting). I choose the elements of your portrait based on what you are trying to communicate to casting directors and/or agents. I make these images as individual as possible, while staying within the needs of the industry. I understand that this cost reflects a very significant investment on your part, and I treat the entire process accordingly (another very talented photographer once pointed out to me that a great headshot can change somebody's life, and I've never forgotten that).

Now that I'm shooting headshots again, people are asking me why. It's not something I really need to do. Four years ago I decided to take an Improv class, and discovered how much I enjoy working with actors. I have done a number of Improv and acting classes (mostly for fun) and have a good idea of what it is like to be on your side of the camera. (I have also done a number of workshops on actor's branding and marketing). For me, this is a new opportunity to work with creative people and make great portraits. It is also a chance to get in deeper than I usually have the opportunity to in a corporate or celebrity shoot, and an opportunity to help somebody move their life forward.

I'd like to encourage you to revisit this site (as well as the sites of any other photographers you are considering), imagine that you are casting a film, television show or play, and ask:
Do you think you have a good idea who a person is and what they really look like based on their headshot? Does the photo distract from the actor? Do the people feel like real people? If the person was right for the part, would you know to call them in?
Then ask yourself:
Which photographer will most effectively create a marketing tool that will get me called in for the parts for which I am likely to be cast? Which photographer will represent the best long term investment in my career?

Some questions to consider asking other photographers:
What do you do to discover and market my individuality? Do you change the lighting and background between setups, and to what extent are those decisions individual to me? How much time will we spend together? Will there be any other clients at the studio at the same time? If you haven't seen a broad range of their actor's headshots, ask to see them (being a talented celebrity or portrait photographer does not necessarily make one a talented headshot photographer).

After you have taken the time to explore and consider your options, I hope you will call me to discuss setting up a session. More imagery, biographical information, frequently asked questions, and just about everything else you might want to know can be found at studiomark.com.

I love being a photographer. Call me because you love and believe in what I do.

Mark works with very high resolution Hasselblad/Imacon medium format digital capture in the same square format as you see on this site (these files are not the same "35mm" jpegs most photographers provide). The quality is appropriate to a two page magazine spread, and easily large enough for you to crop into without any quality loss. We can work in either black and white or color, although color is the defacto standard in headshot photography today.

We generally suggest that you preserve the square format and print your images at 7'x7" on 8x10 paper, with your name underneath.

The map below has been provided to show the general location. Directions to the studio are also available. For the exact address and/or directions please contact us.