Approximately one out of five clients ask this very question and quite frankly I've been a little scared to answer it. Actually I do answer the question by saying "Oh, sure. I can happily make any of your choices black and white." But really who uses black and white headshots anymore?

Scouring the web for the answer one recent afternoon, I came upon a very insightful forum called Classical Voices. The forum's name pretty much explains its audience. Read a few posts in the thread and you'll conclude that if this traditional, main stream (and I don't mean that in a bad way!) crowd is choosing color headshots, then I think we can safely suggest you not bring the casting director your black and white one. You will look very passé!

The only advantage of having a b&w headshot is for print à la Playbill or for the theater's lobby poster. Having said that, you can certainly print a color photo out as black and white on your home printer. But it's likely the colors will have a washed out, muddy look. To solve this problem, just ask your professional headshot photographer to convert your color image to b&w. This allows contrast to be adjusted accordingly. You'll look amazing and you'll be a hero to whomever will ultimately distribute your headshot.