Actor Jesse.
eL eSs Vee
Registered Users Posts: 1,243 Major grins
My neighbor was a child actor, but his mother never let him get the good roles (he had the role of "Eddie" in The Courship of Eddie's Father, but his mother yanked him before the series began filming). Now he wants to try again.
I'm the first to photograph him for his agent. It's also the first time - in a long, long time - that's I've shot in a studio environment (even though it was his garage). I used my $250.00 two-strobe kit from Adorama.
I had one umbrella to camera left, a reflector to camera right, and a second umbrella doubling as a background and hair light.
Please let me know what you think and how I can improve them.
I'm the first to photograph him for his agent. It's also the first time - in a long, long time - that's I've shot in a studio environment (even though it was his garage). I used my $250.00 two-strobe kit from Adorama.
I had one umbrella to camera left, a reflector to camera right, and a second umbrella doubling as a background and hair light.
Please let me know what you think and how I can improve them.
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Lee
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
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Take my next comments with a LARGE grain of salt - you may be well aware of all this and have achieved exactly the look you and he wanted, in which case ignore everything I say. This is only my 2c, ymmv etc etc. No offense intended!!
HOWEVER... to my eye (as a professional performer rather than photographer) they are somewhat old-fashioned compared to the "in" style for headshots shots these days. At some levels, it's good to "stand out from the pack", but oftentimes if you're too different from expected trends/fashion, you get tossed on the pile before they've even turned the photo over and looked at your resume. Reproductions (links below) is one of the respected photographer directories for performing artists and has links to loads of galleries where folks specialise in headshots - it's worth looking at the galleries from both coasts, since each market tends to expect different things (broadly speaking film vs stage, although it's not quite as simplistic as that)
Los Angeles directory
New York directory
As a performer your photos are not merely representational, or even to set a mood, but they are one of your prime marketing tools (particularly in theatre where you may be "typed" out of an audition based on your look - including the way you look in your photos - long before they hear you speak/sing/dance). What I get from these is a character actor who is marketing himself for thug or comic roles in the Edward G Robinson (thug) or Joe Pesci (comedy) vein. If that isn't what he's planning on "selling", then the pictures need to be reshot to capture what he DOES want to project. Has his agent reviewed these as to whether they'll be marketing him in the way he wants? You can be sure that s/he will have an opinion - even if they like them, they may ask for a reshoot to capture certain specific aspects that they intend to "sell".
Hope that helps. Apologies again if I'm preaching to the choir, but I know that sometimes what photographers are looking at in a picture and what casting agents are looking at in a picture aren't the same thing so just thought I'd speak up!
I will say he looks quite the character and a lot of fun!
Thank you very much for everything, divamum. You've given me information that I hadn't even thought of. I will review these websites and learn all I can from them.
His agent hasn't yet seen the pictures. Shortly after we shot them, Jesse went away for the weekend, so even he won't see them until Monday.
And funny you should mention Joe Pesci: He's often told that he resembles Pesci and those roles are some of what he's after.
Again, thank you very much. You've given me some invaluable information.
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
Glad I could help. I hesitated whether to comment, since I never know whether this is common knowledge or not since headshot photography is really quite specialised!
When you look at the Reproductions galleries you'll see that the fashion right now is natural light and urban chic styles. HOWEVER... there are definitely some indoor more typical studio shots mixed in - you'll just have to click around to see some. You can totally make this work with some tweaks, I think, and once you know what's the generally expected "look" I'm sure you can achieve it. It's all in knowing the market...
Best of luck - and please do post back as you work through this project (especially if you take any more shots)
You have helped me more than you know! Just by looking through most of the galleries on the Los Angeles page, I've learned a lot. Jesse and I will be doing more headshots, that we know. Now, though, I have a better grasp on how to get him working.
Thank you again!
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
My pleasure - I'm glad I could help!
Thinking about this further (and you should probably consult his agent for this): it's probably worth finding out if there are current conventions regarding the expected "looks" an actor usually presents in their package (ie comedy, drama, news/VO, formal, informal etc etc), if there are any expectations/styles more appropriate/expected for a more mature actor, how many different "looks" he'll need as final, retouched prints (my guess is 3, but check), and whether there are different specifics needed for film headshots vs TV vs VO vs Stage vs advertising (eg specific conventions that go with each type of work). Again, this is guesswork on my part - as an opera singer, they usually don't care how my face will film or what I"ll look like on TV lol.
Best of luck with it, and please do post back as you progress - me-the-photographer (rather than me-the-opera-singer) is really keen to know what you learn about all this stuff as you get his shots together!
ETA: One final thing... I don't know if you're doing this as a friend, or for a fee, but in general the convention for headshots (as you'll see from the pricing packages in the various galleries) is a fee upfront, and then the actor gets full reproduction rights ... although the photographer also retains copyright, (iow both parties have freedom to use the shots without reference to the other party). Some photographers actually have their copyright printed ON the picture (in the border) to ensure they get credit; some don't bother.
While I'm now realising that this is very different from most photoshoot conventions, given that a performer can EASILY get through 500+ prints a year, this is the only way it's financially viable. Also, it's why prints are generally done through one of the big repro houses and sometimes are high quality lithos rather than photo paper prints (I've used http://www.abcpictures.com/ in the past - the quality is pretty good, and the prices are excellent. Reproductions in NYC also does them, although theirs are a little more expensive. There's a few places in LA as well, but I can't remember their names off hand.... hunt around - they shouldn't be too hard to find in Tinseltown...
Question: You mentioned "News/VO." What is "VO"? I'm pretty certain it's not "Voice Over."
I am learning a lot about headshots just by looking at some of the sites. Robin Emtage's site is particularly interesting to me. I've skimmed a few others, but her site grabs me. She has a great style and impeccable technical accuity. I'm learning even more with your help. I'm glad you looked at my pictures of Jesse. Thank you infinity!
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
__________________
My SmugMug Gallery
My Facebook
"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
Emtage's stuff looks good, and is very much in the currently popular style.Not surprisingly, the Left Coast seems to use less of the "urban" look (in NYC, lofts and graffiti-brick-walls, and park benches are almost becoming a cliche they're so commonplace in headshots now).
Btw, I remember seeing some GREAT shots a while back of somebody who included "mature" actors in their portfolio, but I can't remember where it was - if I find it, I'll post with the link.
Your enthusiasm is exciting - I'm sure Jesse will be thrilled to have found a photographer who really wants to grow and help him get back in the business! One of the biggest complaints you hear among performers is that the shoot becomes about the *photographer* (and the stylist), rather than the artist - unlike fashion work, in headshots, the photographer's work really needs to be transparent so that the artist's personality shines through. In fact, in Operaland there are at least two popular "name" photographers who make people look good (really, REALLY good), but who the artistic directors don't actually really like, because they look at the shot and think, 'Oh, that's a {{insert studio name}} shot" and notice *that* before they notice the person. FWIW.
Tess Steinkolk
Here's one from the NY listings - I like the *range* she has, and there are quite a few obviously non-model, non-conventional faces she's really brought to life. She's managed to make people's quirks look interesting, and all of her shots scream "personality" to me (except the ones where somebody's obviously selling their looks, and in those she's capitalised on that in a good way, IMO). For a character like Jesse, that's the kind of thing I can imagine sellign well. You'll see that her work is a little less "cookie cutter" than the dominant LA style, but then again... it's a different market.
I also like that her portfolio is set up so you get the commercial/glamour/corporate/casual shots of each person compared side by side in a lot of the gallery - it's really useful for getting a feel for those different "looks" and how things were changed both in styling, and shooting style.
I think there are a few minor details that could be improved upon.
Image 1- I don't like the collar tip popping up on his right side. Perhaps that is the wrong style of shirt, but it looks a bit unkempt. i would also like to have his eyes whitened, they appear a bit too bloodshot. Also, I'd soften his skin a bit.
Image 2 - similar criticisms, though this time the angle of the shot make either this shirt or jacket appear uneven.
I'd also start off the series with a smile.
Image 3 -I like the expression, your white balance seems a hair too saturated.
Image 4-I like this shot, though I wish I could see some teeth. The eyes are much better. And black becomes him.
Image 5 -Same as 4.
Image 6 - great smile --teeth and white eyes, all right!
Image 7 - OK, but does not fair well being stacked with no. 6, his eyes are too small and not white. I tend not to like to see tongues exposed like that.
Not bad for such a long hiatus.
M
- Dood, number your pics!
- The guy looks nice in front of the camera!
- He does remind me of Joe Pesci
- Focusing is spot on!
- You need to be more attentive to details. His collar is out on one of the picture, I don't remember which ;-) (see why you need to number them? :-). For a subject it's next to impossible to notice these things, you have to watch it.
- While his expressions change nicely and create a good variety, the same "upper body straight on" format is booooooring. Even if you go for the headshots only, change something, don't be a tripod! Move upper, move lower, left, right, tell him to turn... When Shay "trained" us in his WPBC, we learned it's possible to take 10-15 different portraits in one minute, while having subject in the same place and not even moving much. You probably spent at least an hour with him, and if it wasn't for his expressions and change of the outfits, it would be the same "watch the birdie" shots over and over again...
- While I think you make a reasonable decision with your lights, you could've created a much greater variety by changing the lighting, too. You've used diagonal, but could have also used single light. Remember Jow McNally's mantra: "to make your subject look interesting, you don't have to light it all"!
- Same about backgrounds. I personally don't think a washed out white is a good contemporary bg for the portraiture, but I'm biased here. At any rate, you could've achieved a greater variety by changing the bg, especially considering you didn't need 9'x12' for a headshot.
Nice job overall! Hope he'll get the part:-)HTH
I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Boston Legal is no more. The series finale aired in December. It was one of the few television shows I watch regularly.
But... is there something obscene about the tops of people's heads?!?
It's just neurotic faddishness this censorship of people's anatomy. Do people on TV and in movies have no tops to their heads?!?
It gets now to I'm looking first thing at the top of the head... yep, it's missing... next... yep, it's missing... Hundreds of the freaks! How BORING is that. And all the diagonals with cutsie upturned eyes, like all these scores of beautiful people were just snapped while they were stooped over looking for their keys in the grass?!?
hehehe...
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
Boston Legal is one of my favorite shows!! But - this is so sad - it was just canceled last season =*(
Houston Portrait Photographer
Children's Illustrator
Miguel and Nikolai. I agree with every point you two have made and will take them to heart. Very good advice. Thank you very much.
I'd had the camera set to "More Vivid", and while precessing these few I saw that I should have set it differently; perhaps "Portrait" or "Softer" to reduce the saturation and, of course, less hurried processing. (He was leaving for a weekend trip and I wanted to get at least a few to him before he left. I missed, but now I have time to improve them.) For future shoots, I'll experiment to see what works best. I'll also reprocess these and do a few others. I also think that make-up would have helped, as well. His red eyes were resolved with eye drops - they were getting dry.
The collar did pop out, as we'd been careful to make sure everything was straight. Obviously, a few things got away from us or went unnoticed. (I'll work on becoming more detail-oriented, like I was a couple decades ago.) I had noticed the collar during post, but because he had such a great expression in that image, I processed it anyway. In hindsight, though, I should have rejected it because of the collar.
And yes, he is a lot of fun to be around. To make himself laugh, he'd say, "Lee, you're an idiot!" I didn't mind at all. In fact I encouraged it, because it made him laugh.
Thank you, everyone, you've been more help than you can imagine. And divamum, I think you especially for introducing me to the current style of headshots. I'm certain that my next shoot will be quite different, and my processing and attention to detail much improved.
NeilL. I'd noticed the same, but since I did a lot of that with fashion models back in the '80s, it doesn't bother me . . . much. I mean, if that's what the agents and casting directors want, that's just one of the ways I'll make my money.
One last thing; how about this order for the images?
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Thank you again.
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
__________________
My SmugMug Gallery
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
I also told him that, at times, he reminded me of Danny DeVito. He certainly has the same height and hairline.
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
Is he from Jersey (or Brooklyn)? ;-)
Wrong coast.
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"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather