Business card shot - final

divamum

Oy - do clients ALWAYS keep you waiting for months'n'months after the shoot before choosing from their proofs and then ZOMG suddenly need a finished shot asap?!!

I shot this delightful fella back in May. He now is starting a new business venture and has been told to submit the photo for card-printing asap (Why couldn't they have done this when I was twiddling my thumbs without enough to keep me busy?! :huh)

In any case, a'processin' we go...

Could y'all lend me your expert eyes and tell me:

1. Colour and processing satisfactory? I'm working on a Huey-calibrated monitor, but I still don't trust it (or my eyes!)
2. Any particular crops/sizing issues I should know about when prepping a shot for business card printing?
3. Anything else I should know, and/or need to do to this shot to present it for that purpose?

He wants a hi rez jpg, so I'm exporting from LR at 100%... this will work, yes? (I shoot on an xsi, so rez is pretty good)

Ta ever so!

(Oh also - I can lift the shadowing on the rh side, but I liked the way it modelled his face so actually increased the contrast through processing rather than leaving it as shot or trying to diminish it; ditto, this vertical crop is slightly tilted from the landscape original, but I thought it slimmed his face down and enhanced the eye-contact for a biz shot.)

dlplumer

Your photography looks fine Diva, but:

1. His right (our left) sideburn is too long and longer than his left sideburn.

2. His tie and collar are poorly made and adjusted (not good for a business card imo)

divamum

Thanks Dan. I'll make sure I notice that better next time I do a collar+tie shot (although I'm not sure why the tie is considered not good? I think he's put on a bit of weight and his collar might have been a bit tight, but I know he was paying attention to how the knot sat when he tied and adjusted...).

I can't do much about the tie this time (this is now a 4-month old shoot and won't be redone for this!), but should I adjust his sideburn? Some of that may be optical illusion from the slight tilt I introduced...

Anybody else on colour and processing? Looking at it having stepped away for a few minutes, I'm now wondering if it's too dark? Ugh - I will be SO HAPPY when I feel I can start trusting my own judgement on processing!!!!

adbsgicom

Dang, Dan you have good eyes on the sideburns!!! I believe you are right that they are uneven.

Given how small his will be going, I don't know if it matters, there looks to be a bunch of dark blue around his hair and right side (from our point of view) of his neck. Looks like you cropped out some bg stuff (better than I've managed to do on any of my photos, so I can't give you any pointers, other than noticing it).

Nice picture though. The lighting looks nice. I have no experience to say if the contrast/shadow is what is 'professional' for business cards. None of the ones I have laying around have pictures on them...

divamum

adbsgicom wrote:

Dang, Dan you have good eyes on the sideburns!!! I believe you are right that they are uneven.

Given how small his will be going, I don't know if it matters, there looks to be a bunch of dark blue around his hair and right side (from our point of view) of his neck. Looks like you cropped out some bg stuff (better than I've managed to do on any of my photos, so I can't give you any pointers, other than noticing it).

Nice picture though. The lighting looks nice. I have no experience to say if the contrast/shadow is what is 'professional' for business cards. None of the ones I have laying around have pictures on them...

Thanks. No, I didn't crop out the bg - that blue is from the gelled background light pointing away from him, and I haven't figured out how to minimize it entirely. Not quite sure why sometimes that seems to "bleed" through hair and sometimes it doesn't. This was only my 2nd-ever studio shoot. Even only afew months on I see things I would have done differently (like raising the softbox a little more) but live and learn I guess...

Keep those replies coming, folks! I can still make just about any processing adjustments so if you see anything jarring I could/should change, lemme know...

adbsgicom

divamum wrote:

Thanks. No, I didn't crop out the bg - that blue is from the gelled background light pointing away from him, and I haven't figured out how to minimize it entirely.

I'd be curious when you learn. Was this stored in jpg in the camera, or RAW? I've had some images against blue sky get some effects like that, but that was on blonde hair pickup the blue, and I thought it was just averaging issues of the compression.

Tim Kamppinen

The only way to get rid of that is to position the subject further from the background. It's just reflected light spilling back onto him. I guess there's some way to fix it in post but it probably wouldn't be easy.

I wouldn't worry about the collar & sideburn considering the size it's going to be printed at. If you wanted you could clone his left sideburn longer... that wouldn't be too hard. I would lighten the shadow side of the face, though. It looks fine, but for a business headshot it's a little too dramatic for my tastes, and printed small it might exaggerate that.

heatherfeather

I think it looks fantastic! Really nice job on the lighting as far as I can say.
(Being a non studio lady...)

divamum

Thanks you guys!

It's a raw file - I suppose the lighting halo must be that we were too close, although we were at least 6+ft away from it. Hmm... need to figure that out for the future (although I don't think I'll have access to the college studio except by special request this semester, because I'm not auditing a class. WAAAHHHHH!!! Back to my two speedlights... )

In any case, a lighter version. I left the sideburn (it actually is even with his nose, believe it or not - it's an optical illusion I think, be, cause I viewed it with the grid and if they are uneven it'sonly by a tickle), but I did try to desat the halo a little in LR. I find this a little washed out, but how does it look to others?

jeffreaux2

I prefer the second version with the shadows lightened. I think it will better suit its purpose at the final size.

marikris

I agree with Jeff. The second one is brighter and more inviting, in my opinion.

adbsgicom

Ditto. Nice work.

VayCayMom

marikris wrote:

I agree with Jeff. The second one is brighter and more inviting, in my opinion.

ME TOO

divamum

Thanks all! I think that's pretty conclusively a vote for the second one

REALLY appreciate you taking the time to look and let me know! bowbowthumbthumb

marikris

divamum wrote:

REALLY appreciate you taking the time to look and let me know!

My pleasure, divamum

anonymouscuban

Yup... second shot is much better in my book. The first made him look really "sinister". My first thought was that if I was looking for an evil villain, I'd pick up his business card. I think it was the lighting. The shadows were a little too strong. Second one is much better... more honest business man, less Dr. Evil.

divamum

Wow - how'd this get bumped back up?! It's from ages ago (these shots were taken in May 2009!). I would light this somewhat differently now I suspect (FWIW this was my first paid headshot shoot )

anonymouscuban

... WOW... just noticed the date. How'd I find this anyway??? Guess I should look at the dates!!