Los Angeles has more headshot photographers than any city on earth, and most of the good ones are within a few miles of each other in Hollywood, North Hollywood, Burbank and Studio City. The problem isn't finding one. It's working out who publishes a price, who delivers in a day rather than a fortnight, and who will actually come to your office.
So this guide is built on what each studio says on its own website, read on 1 October 2026: prices, turnaround, address, and whether they shoot on location. Where a figure is a studio's own claim rather than something we can check, we say so. We've included ourselves at the end, labelled as the new entrant we are, and we've left out the studios whose pricing lives behind a booking widget or whose "Hollywood" landing page points to a studio in Agoura Hills.
The short answer: For actor headshots with a rep's spec, the Valley cluster: Michael Roud, Marc Cartwright, Vanie Poyey, Stephanie Girard, Joanna DeGeneres. For the best all-round studio with 24-hour delivery, Bradford Rogne. For a budget session that is still a real photographer, Headshots LA. For an on-site team day with a published price list, The Light Committee; for conferences and expos, LA Corporate Photo. For a flat day rate for a big team, SpeedyHeadshots Los Angeles.
What to look for in a Los Angeles headshot photographer
LA pricing has its own conventions, and they decide the real cost more than the headline number does.
- "Looks" are the unit. Most actor studios price by the look (an outfit and backdrop change), typically $325 to $700 for two or three. Check how many retouched images each look includes; several include one in total, not one per look.
- Retouching is often extra. $35 to $115 per image across this list, and one studio doesn't do it in-house at all. A $475 session with two $75 retouches is a $625 session.
- Turnaround runs from 24 hours to ten business days. If you have a submission or a company deadline, this matters more than anything else on the page. Two studios here deliver galleries in a day; two take a week or more for retouched files.
- On-site is a different product. Only a handful of LA studios publish an on-location price. If you need 20 people photographed at your office, look at the on-site line in each card, not the starting price.
- Hair and makeup is almost never included. Budget $150 to $350 if you want it, and more at the premium end.
- Deposits are non-refundable almost everywhere, usually $100 to $250.
The best headshot photographers in Los Angeles
In no strict order of quality, since they serve different needs. Prices are as published on each studio's own site on 1 October 2026 and will move; the links in each name are where to check.
Bradford Rogne Photography
Rogne has shot directed portraits in LA since 2002 and puts his own count at more than 10,000 sessions. The studio is at 1308 Factory Place in the Downtown Arts District, by appointment, and the client mix is unusually wide: actors, executives, LinkedIn, personal branding, publicity kits.
Pricing is by the look, published and simple: one look $325, two $425, three $525, each extra look $100, or a 60-minute timed session at $500. Retouching is extra at $40–50 and up per image; women's hair and makeup is a flat $175. Companies that can't come downtown can book him on location from $1,500 for the first two hours and $500 an hour after that. Galleries typically land within 24 hours, which almost nobody else on this list matches. He also publishes his own survey of ten LA studios' prices, which is a useful second opinion on the numbers below.
Michael Roud Photography
Roud's studio sits on Cahuenga Boulevard West in the pass between Hollywood and Studio City, which is the geographic centre of the actor-headshot business, and the site lists Hollywood, Burbank, Studio City, North Hollywood and the rest of the Valley as its home turf. Actors are the core; business, music and fitness portraits are the sidelines.
This is the premium tier. Sessions with Michael start at $695 for two looks, each extra look $100, and each look comes back as 80 to 120 colour-corrected high-resolution JPEGs. His associate photographers (MRP+) start at $595 for two looks. The caveats are time and add-ons: the online gallery takes five to seven business days, retouching is $75 standard or $115 deluxe per image and runs about ten business days, and there is a $250 non-refundable deposit. Worth it if your rep asked for him by name; the wrong choice if you need files this week.
Marc Cartwright Headshots
Cartwright has photographed actors, executives and creatives since 2005 from a studio on Coldwater Canyon in Studio City. The published packages are clear about what you get: Essential $345 (one outfit, no set time limit, one retouched image), Standard $525 (two outfits, two retouched), Signature $625 (three and three). Extra retouches are $35, which is the cheapest on this list, and hair and makeup is $250 for up to two looks.
The one to know about is the LinkedIn & Executive Express: 30 minutes, one outfit, one retouched image, $295. For a professional who needs a current profile photo and doesn't want to buy an actor package, that is the best-value studio session in the Valley. The gallery arrives within one business day and retouched files within five, with rush available.
Vanie Poyey Photography
Poyey has been shooting actors for 26 years and says she has worked with more than 6,000 of them; the studio is on Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood. Theatrical and commercial headshots are the business, with children's headshots and a corporate line alongside.
Only the starting prices are public: sessions with Vanie from $595, with her associate Kayvon from $495, and the full package list sits inside the booking flow. Her own article on LA headshot prices puts a quality session with an experienced photographer at $400 to $1,200 and up, which tells you where she sees herself. Turnaround isn't published; ask before you book against a deadline.
Stephanie Girard Headshots
Girard's studio is in Burbank, a mile from Warner Bros. and Disney Animation, and the work spans actor headshots, business headshots and celebrity and editorial portraiture. Her about page says Backstage readers have voted her best headshot photographer in Los Angeles every year since 2014; that is her claim, and a long-running one.
Two ways to buy: by the look (two looks $550, three $650, four $850) or by the clock (30 minutes $399, 45 minutes $499, one hour $650). Regular sessions include two retouched images, hair and makeup adds $200–275 for women and $150–200 for men, and the deposit is $200 and non-refundable. All published prices are for in-studio sessions only, so this is not the pick for a team shoot at your office.
Joanna DeGeneres Photography
A long-standing name in actor headshots, working from a studio in North Hollywood's industrial pocket with free parking out front. The pricing ladder is one of the clearest in the city: one look $375, two $475, three $575 (her most popular), four $675, five $775, and $90 per look after that. Hair and makeup for women runs $175 for one look up to $275 for five.
Two things to budget for. Only one retouch is included per session, so a multi-look package means paying for the rest, and delivery is within seven business days. On-location shoots start at $875, which makes her one of the few actor specialists who publishes an on-site number at all.
Headshots LA (Joshua Michael Shelton)
Downtown on South Flower Street, a block from L.A. Live, with Shelton shooting every session himself after 18-plus years. The price list is the most accessible in Los Angeles: one look $200 with a retouched image, two looks $349, four looks $500, a one-hour unlimited session for $350, and a Mini LinkedIn session at $99 for a single unretouched look. Extra retouches are $50, a 24-hour rush is $50, and modeling digitals are $300.
He also goes on location for a $200 travel add-on on two-look sessions and up, and quotes team days by headcount, with the corporate page saying 40-plus people in a day is routine. Gallery delivery is 24 hours. If the budget is the constraint and you still want a working photographer rather than a booth, start here.
The Light Committee
A two-city operation (Glendale and Manhattan) that has photographed, by its own count, thousands of professionals over twelve years, and the only LA studio we found that publishes a complete on-site price list. Individual sessions start at $165 for a 30-minute, one-look, one-retouch Quick Business session, then $195, $295 and $345 as looks and time go up.
The mobile studio comes to your office for a $285 travel-and-setup fee plus $60 per person, or $885 for up to five hours on site with a ten-person minimum. Event headshots are $550 for the first two hours and $175 an hour after. Studio groups are $100 a head with a three-person minimum. Delivery is one to two business days for small groups and up to five for 26 to 50 people. The mobile page names Amazon, Caltech, NBCUniversal and Snap as group clients.
LA Corporate Photo (Brandon Ogden)
Not an actor studio: an event-photography company on Wilshire Boulevard with a headshot product built for conventions, trade shows and office days, working regularly at the Los Angeles Convention Center and L.A. Live and travelling to Anaheim, Las Vegas and San Diego for shows. Studio lighting, backdrops and tethered capture come to you.
This is where you find the only true day rates published in Los Angeles. An expo headshot station is $6,500 a day (one station, up to 300 attendees) or $10,500 a day for two or three stations and 750-plus people, with instant text and email delivery on the floor. Office team days are $2,000 for the first hour (12 to 20 people) and $650 an hour after. An Executive Express session, 30 minutes with two fully retouched portraits, is $800. Every booking comes with a perpetual commercial licence and $2M in liability cover, which procurement departments notice.
SpeedyHeadshots Los Angeles
Full disclosure: this is us. SpeedyHeadshots is a Toronto headshot studio that opened a Los Angeles operation in 2026, with a photographer based on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and no walk-in studio: every LA session is on location at your office, event or home. We are new here, so judge us on the process rather than an LA track record: tethered selection on the day, light retouching, and retouched images back within 24 hours by Google Drive link, organised by person.
The thing we sell that the rest of this list mostly doesn't is a flat day rate: $3,000 for one photographer, one address, up to eight hours, unlimited headcount, one retouched image per person and every frame from the day. Past about 25 people it is cheaper than any per-person or hourly structure above, and it is one number for whoever signs it off. Under that, teams are $175 to $125 per person and individual on-location sessions run $250 to $550, the same figures as Toronto, billed in USD and excluding applicable sales tax. Details on the Los Angeles page.
Also worth a look
Verified, priced on their own sites, and a good fit for specific cases:
- Wolf Marloh Photography (Santa Monica, 11th & Colorado). Express 30 min $445; 1 hour $695, up to 3 hours $1,095; one retouched image included. Says he has photographed over 5,000 actors in LA, New York and London.
- Kobe Levi (North Hollywood). 1 look $175, 2 looks $280, 3 looks $350; 30-minute unlimited $200. Same-day downloadable gallery.
- Zen Studios LA (Koreatown, W 6th St). Business Classic $250 (1 look); on-location Business Master $1,500 (120 min, 10 retouched); group discounts 10–30%. Next-day gallery.
- Dana Patrick Photography (Sherman Oaks). 2 looks $590, 3 looks $745; kids from $455. Images in 5–7 business days.
- Matt Marcheski (Arts District, Downtown). 2 looks $475 up to 5 looks $775; 1-hour unlimited $550; all hi-res images included. DTLA studio opened 2020.
- Guy Viau Photography (Hargis St, LA 90034). 1 look $275, 2 looks $425, 4 looks $650; corporate on-location on enquiry. Shooting since 1997.
- Paul Smith Photography (N Main St, LA). 1 look $495, 2 looks $795, 3 looks $995; retouching not included. Natural-light studio; images in about 48 hours.
- Monesson Photography (Venice & Bel Air). 1 look $125 retouched, 3 looks $195, 1-hour unlimited $250; on-location fee $125 outside Venice. Runs a mobile headshot truck to offices.
A note on the mobile studio people still ask about: The Headshot Truck, the converted van that used to park on Sunset, stopped rolling in 2024 when its parent company moved to virtual headshots. Monesson's truck in Venice is the one we could confirm still operating.
Which studio is right for your needs
For actor headshots with a rep's spec
The Valley cluster exists for a reason. Michael Roud at the premium end, Marc Cartwright and Stephanie Girard in the middle, Vanie Poyey and Joanna DeGeneres for long track records with actors specifically. Pick on portfolio and on turnaround against your deadline; the price differences between them are smaller than the delivery-time differences.
For actor headshots on a budget
Headshots LA at $200 for a retouched look with 24-hour delivery is the strongest value in the city. Kobe Levi ($175, same-day gallery) and Monesson ($125) are the next rung down, and The Light Committee at $165 is a real studio session at a booth price.
For LinkedIn and individual professional headshots
Marc Cartwright's $295 Express is the best-value studio session for a professional who needs one good image. The Light Committee ($165 to $195) and Headshots LA ($200, or $99 unretouched) are cheaper; Bradford Rogne ($325, 24-hour delivery) is the pick if the photo has to be excellent and fast. Our guide to what makes a LinkedIn photo work covers what to ask for.
For on-site team headshots at your office
Four real options with published structures. The Light Committee: $285 setup plus $60 a person, which is hard to beat under about 25 people. Bradford Rogne: $1,500 for the first two hours plus $500 an hour, premium quality, 24-hour galleries. LA Corporate Photo: $2,000 for the first hour plus $650 an hour, built for scale. SpeedyHeadshots Los Angeles: a flat $3,000 day rate with unlimited headcount, which past 25 people is the cheapest and simplest of the four, and $175 to $125 per person below that. Headshots LA and Joanna DeGeneres also go on location for an add-on or a minimum.
For conferences, trade shows and expos
LA Corporate Photo publishes the only expo packages in the city ($6,500 and $10,500 a day) and has the insurance paperwork ready. For a single headshot station at a conference where you want a flat number and files the next morning rather than on the floor, our $3,000 day rate is the alternative.
For Palos Verdes, Torrance and the South Bay
Every studio above is in Hollywood, the Valley, Downtown or Glendale, which makes the South Bay a trip for all of them. SpeedyHeadshots' LA photographer is based on the Peninsula; see headshots in Palos Verdes and the South Bay.
What do headshots cost in Los Angeles?
From the price lists above, as of October 2026:
- Budget actor or LinkedIn session, one look: $125 to $200 (Monesson, The Light Committee, Kobe Levi, Headshots LA).
- Mid-tier actor session, two or three looks: roughly $350 to $650 (Headshots LA, Rogne, Guy Viau, DeGeneres, Marcheski, Cartwright, Girard, Dana Patrick), usually plus retouching.
- Premium actor session: $695 to $1,095 (Michael Roud, Wolf Marloh, Paul Smith).
- Executive session: $500 to $800 (Rogne's 60-minute timed session, LA Corporate Photo's Executive Express).
- On-site team day: structures vary. Per person: $285 plus $60 a head, or our $175 to $125. Hourly blocks: $1,500 to $2,000 for the first block plus $500 to $650 an hour. Flat day: our $3,000 for unlimited headcount. Expo stations: $6,500 to $10,500 a day. A visiting San Francisco photographer who ranks for LA corporate work quotes half days from $2,000 and full days from $3,500.
Rogne's own survey of ten LA studios puts a multi-look session at $325 to $750; Headshots LA says $200 to $700; Poyey says $400 to $1,200 and up for an experienced photographer. All three are consistent with the lists above once you add retouching. For comparison, our Toronto cost guide covers the same categories at Canadian prices.
What to avoid
- A "Hollywood" landing page for a studio that isn't in Hollywood. Two of the studios ranking for "headshot photographer Hollywood" are in Agoura Hills and on Wilshire. Check the address before you plan a drive.
- Session fees that include zero retouched images. It happens at the premium end. Add the per-image retouching to the headline price before comparing.
- Seven to ten business days for retouching when you have a deadline. Several excellent studios work that way. Fine for a portfolio refresh, not for Friday's submission.
- Prices that live inside a booking widget. If you can't read the number before you give your email, assume it's the high end.
- Sale banners that have expired. One studio on this list still showed "sale ends September 21" in October. Quote the regular price when you enquire.
The bottom line
For an actor with a rep's spec, pick from the Valley cluster on portfolio and turnaround. For a professional who needs one good photo, Cartwright's Express or Rogne. For a team at your office, The Light Committee under about 25 people and a flat day rate above it. Los Angeles has the photographers; the work is reading the price list properly.
Need a team or event shot in Los Angeles? $3,000 flat, unlimited headcount, 24-hour delivery. How the day rate works →