Affordable NYC Headshots - What You are Actually Looking For

While everyone usually gets a headshot because they need one, not everyone gets it because they *want* one. Affordability in a NYC headshot is a relative to each individual; the definition is usually dependent on how much you are making at the time you get a headshot. While some individuals are just starting out and truly don’t have funds for one (in which case, ask someone to take a great iPhone photo of you, and do it many times until you feel it’s well done), others are movers: they are head-first into doing what they want to do, and see where they are going in the next 5 years. They are willing to bet they won’t just be where they dream they will be, they will surpass it. Affordability is relative to where you are in life, but…can you also afford to keep pushing a bad photo just because you found one on the cheap? Affordability works both ways: if you try to find a cheap deal and get a headshot from a team that does ok or sub-standard headshots, thinking you’ve just checked a box on your marketing plan, think again… you will be taking a larger risk in the end because you’re presenting a sub-standard display of your company at present. Like any Equity stock on the market, we won’t go for the stocks that feel neutral or slightly negative, we’ll always choose that ones that give off feelings growth, nuance, elevation. By conflating the feeling of affordability with cheapness, you are minimizing your own marketing plan down to a price without considering the following days, weeks, or months of executing that plan thereafter, which is showing your new, sub-standard photos to prospective buyers or employers. Being affordable is a general and broad question in itself, asked often by someone who does not have a well-documented history of income or work experience in the market they are trying to enter. So, it would be time to realistically speculate, and plan for a bigger tomorrow:

Photos and Marketing:

should be considered a priority in delivering effective and impactful impressions to prospective employers,
helps generate a positive impression of you before someone meets you, or while they are researching you

shouldn’t be looked upon as “cheap” if you are looking for quality shots with a quality plan, this is marketing, everything should be done with care from the ground up when marketing yourself
are planned with as much care and thought by you as possible, because it gives you the peace of mind in using these materials for the next 1-3 years. The more you want to use these materials, the cheaper the overall production cost will be, because you will not need to pay multiple times for multiple shoots

“Affordable” isn’t “Cheap”

There isn’t generally a defined set of results on Google for “Affordable headshots”, mainly because it’s not as good an SEO marketing term for photographers as “CHEAP headshots”, which usually helps them gain priority on google searches. If price was the only factor, your search would be complete: just hire the cheapest one you see, it simply comes down to a number. The only problem with that is you more than likely get some of the worst shots you’ve ever seen. Above the “cheapest”, you still get someone of the same, sub-standard quality, just a little more expensive (notice a trend here?), as the search you are going through is all about numbers, not quality. Start your search over again, take out the numbers, see what you find on the first 10 pages. Give yourself a canvas to compare how people use color and lighting to market everyone with nuance, not just flair. What qualities are you seeing? What can you afford to market with?

Affordability and the NY Headshot is Relative

Why is a headshot often more expensive in New York City? It’s simple: the overhead and cost of operation. Think about what a photographer can afford to create, how much time they can afford to give to each person so they aren’t rushed, and how much effort they can afford to put in. Reverse that, and you’ll see who’s really looking at you and seeing you when you step in front of the camera. New York studio costs are always through the roof; the average photographer spends $1000 to rent a studio a few days a month, and $5000+ just to lease one on their own. They also have a family to feed, insurance to pay, and all of the money paid is pre-tax; needless to say, there is alot that doesn’t get kept in the end, it’s still a labor of love. What kind of service do you want to support and keep supporting? If you’re a deal-finder through and through, think back on the things you spend a little more on in life that get you ahead; surely you don’t have the same strategy for every business or creative decision you make. Photographers try to pay studio costs while giving clients a truly unique and personal experience. For businesses and corporate headshots, offices commission and pay them to create a unique and well-planned, well-designed gallery of colleagues for the team.

How We Do Things

Our team goal (at Michael Levy Photography) is to be as affordable as we can while also taking into account the costs we must pay to the resources we use (studio). If this was done outside the city, it would most likely be much cheaper, but a higher priced headshot, especially one with quality, should be affordable only once you believe you can give it to anyone you meet and believe it will do what it’s supposed to do: show your multi-nuanced personality, not just your face, or your friendliness.

Being friendly and having a face are all a part of being human, and making connections. Photos, especially headshots, should tell a story. With headshots, it’s a story past your handshake, past the first impression; it’s relationship we hope to one day have with you, or a moment we one day hope to feel or live ourselves. That story creates a much more powerful impression.

Our costs are just over average, but our process and style is more invested to return to you more value in the end. Put an investment in this new stage of your life if you’re invested in your career; meaning, you have been at this for a few years, and plan to involve yourself heavily for many more (not your life savings, just a little more).

Your “Final Edit” for Today - a Summary

If you’re looking for something affordable, understand budgeting with quality. Understand that affordability should also incorporate your measurement of risk or desire for more. Affordability is not what you can financially afford, but what you can afford mentally and strategically when you have a business plan.

All businesses measure risk over reward, and if you look for a headshot photographer, measure what you want personality-wise along with the aesthetics. See who matches how you see things. Understand that their price might be an own reflection of your own value. If that is a little higher than some, then maybe, just maybe that is a good measure of how you see yourself: in a higher echelon, a greater stage of work.

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