Today's headshot shoot
C&C absolutely welcome!
First portrait shoot with 50d.
First shoot with new reflectors.
First shoot in my living room in quite some time.
Wowzers. This one came out of nowhere and this is not an ideal weekend for me to be shooting since I'm extremely busy, but it was the only time we both had. Since I didn't want to lose the opportunity, I did my best to make it work. I wasn't really feelin' it today... or so I thought until I started playing around with a few of them. In theory, I shouldn't be retouching and editing until after she's picked the shots she wants "done up" for print masters, but as usual I can't keep my hands off them....
fyi I did these without a calibrator - they will absolutely be checked on a calibrate monitor before they go any further (assuming these are even the shots she winds up choosing)
What blows my mind is how DIFFERENT this gal looks with different lighting/pose. I'll probably post some more as I work on them; there are a couple more which are very different both in terms of her hair/clothes and the lighting as well.
all taken with 50d+50mm 1.4. These two were both speedlight flash, but we did some natural (window+reflector) light ones too.
My favorite so far
1
2.
3. Can't decide if I like this one or not - it's a bit "80's soap opera star", but I have to admit I had fun playing with the hairlight.... :wink (shame it's a bit overlit on that side, but it was as low and as far away as it could go....)
First portrait shoot with 50d.
First shoot with new reflectors.
First shoot in my living room in quite some time.
Wowzers. This one came out of nowhere and this is not an ideal weekend for me to be shooting since I'm extremely busy, but it was the only time we both had. Since I didn't want to lose the opportunity, I did my best to make it work. I wasn't really feelin' it today... or so I thought until I started playing around with a few of them. In theory, I shouldn't be retouching and editing until after she's picked the shots she wants "done up" for print masters, but as usual I can't keep my hands off them....
fyi I did these without a calibrator - they will absolutely be checked on a calibrate monitor before they go any further (assuming these are even the shots she winds up choosing)
What blows my mind is how DIFFERENT this gal looks with different lighting/pose. I'll probably post some more as I work on them; there are a couple more which are very different both in terms of her hair/clothes and the lighting as well.
all taken with 50d+50mm 1.4. These two were both speedlight flash, but we did some natural (window+reflector) light ones too.
My favorite so far
1
2.
3. Can't decide if I like this one or not - it's a bit "80's soap opera star", but I have to admit I had fun playing with the hairlight.... :wink (shame it's a bit overlit on that side, but it was as low and as far away as it could go....)
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These are looking pretty good!
Some comments on #1
#2
From a purely technical standpoint, this is better than the first. There's some contour to her face and the focus is so much better - take a look at her eyes. You can see skin texture there and her beautiful blue eyes are sharp (as are her eyelashes). Not sure about the collar of her blouse/dress. I think this would have worked better with bare shoulders and/or tighter crop. The blur tool was used quite a bit less heavily under her eyes - I can actually see some of the the lines there and I really, really like to see something of "the real you" in the photo. Take a close look at her forehead above her right eye - there's something there that looks like an edit mistake.
#3
From a lighting standpoint, this is the best of the group .... and the pose works for me as well. In fact, I think I like it better than the other two (though #1 is a very close second for me). As for attempting to mute the power of the flash - how about using a paper towel across the head of the flash? That would have probably dropped the power by at least a stop. Or stop down your lens ... I think f/4 is too large an aperture when shooting at this distance .... I think you would have been better served shooting at f/8. The blur tool is used a bit too much here (just MNSHO). The focus is spot-on her left eye - right where it should have been.
Now for some constructive help .... if you model has issues that she would rather not see the light of day like lines ... well there are better ways to handle this. Have you investigated the healing brush or the patch tool. Done right, these can be use to maintain the texture of the skin while, at the same time, removing the objectionable elements. There are a series of 3 SmugMug tutorials on photo re-touching:
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1170442
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1169397
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2983104
I hope all this helps!
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In response...
Short version: "Don't edit photos at midnight when you're tired, however good an idea it seems at the time" :giggle. I actually retouched these with some PS actions in the interests of speed, and because she had indicated she wanted a more "glamorous" diva look than "casual actor" style (she's a singer) I used a much heavier hand than usual; if she wants them, I'll do more careful skin work for final copies. Thanks for the specific info on where you see the problems & artefacts - I'm NOT seeing them on my monitor, so it's useful to know. I like those actions - and they SERIOUSLY speed things up - but they are less subtle than when I retouch "manually".
I'm annoyed about having taken some of the flashed shots at 1/60 - that was DUMB on my part. I needed it for the natural light ones (although it ploughed some of those too), but should have bumped up AND stopped down as soon as I switched to flash. I think if I do enough of this I'll find a way to think methodically AND keep a constant stream of expression-inducing-chit-chat going, but at the moment they tend to be mutually exclusive, which means I sometimes forget the most basic things. Most annoying, since there were a couple of potentially good shots which aren't useable because of it, and I know it's my own fault.
As for the ISO... speedlights. Batteries. While they do pretty well, I've found by bumping the iso up to 400 makes them work a little less hard so recycling times are faster. These will never be blown up beyond 8x10, so I think 400 is a reasonable compromise between speed and grain.
Anyway, thanks again! I'll be interested to see what she thinks once she sees them after I finish culling them (groan) and get the basic processing done. I think she'll have plenty to choose from and just hope she'll like them.....!
(edit for typo. Whoops.)
The first looks like it has a bit of sharpening artifact in her eyes (irises). You may want to back off a bit if you did some selective sharpening in this area.
You framed her face very nicely with her hair. These should be eye-catching headshots.
http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/
Scott - I know you weren't talking to me but I'm taking notes. Thanks for posting the tutorials!
I like #1 the best. I love the crop and the angle of her head.
Here's one more, if only to show how different this girl looks depending on what you "do" to her. I don't think this one is as flattering as the ones above, but she said she might want a couple of more traditional and conservative shots, so we did them. FWIW, the session was about 2hrs, and she did ALL her own makeup and hair (rather well, I thought).
I find this one unflattering. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the hair shadows and her positioning make her face look "broad".
Kudos to her on the good job with the hair and makeup.
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I would agree. I think it's the hair parting as well as the slightly flat light (I may reprocess to bump up the modelling a little, which might help). This one does, however, look rather more like she does IRL - I'd say the others are possibly too flattering. I'll be very interested to see which ones she chooses (I'm learning that I NEVER like the same ones as the client!)
(and please feel free to comment on processing/wb/contrast etc, although nb that I'm still working without a calibrator - long story, but I had to derig everything and haven't reloaded it. These WILL all be checked on a cali monitor before being finalized!)
(not sure I"m convinced about the crop on this one now, with all that negative space. There's tons of room for me to adjust it as I choose; I actually shot it in landscape, and was just playing around with it.)
Same set as #3 above, but with somewhat less hair light....
Great job! I really like the 1st one in the first set and then ALL 3 from the last set! I actually really love the green shirt shot with the negative space. I LOVE it actually! Super work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been a bit MIA here lately.. Still checking on but posting less. I'm crazy busy with the 4 kiddos (and I'm doing an insane 365 project on Flickr). Hope you are well!!!
XX
Kelly
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Of the third set (post #10), well, I'm frustrated - I can't pick a favorite. Oh yes I can - read on!
The first and third are dynomite - very glamorous .... just Wowzers! The eyes are sharp. Noise is very well controlled. I grabbed a copy of the full-sized original to see if I can find any PP artifacts. Yes, I can see a little evidence, but I had to look very, very hard (and I had to know where to look) - this is just so well done! But .... after looking closely at #2, I think I would recommend you NOT do any work to remove the very slight wrinkles, etc under her eyes. I really and truely think she looks better with those lines there. Of, if you are going to work under her eyes, try to figure out how to keep intact the skin texture.
#2 - I think this is my favorite. This is one that, were she my wife, I would love to see on the mantle but I think I would crop it a little differently. I really, really like the light in this one. I think I would also delete some of the fly-away hair. If you did any skin work on this one, I can't find it - you're good, but I don't think you're that good ... at least not yet.
#3 - Again, I think you should probably re-think the skin work under her eyes. Pay a bit more attention to cloning out the stray hairs intruding on her face (right eye, left cheek, etc). There's something starting at her hairline over her right eye and extending 1/2 way to her eye that needs some attention.
And, finally, I agree. With just a slight expression and/or head position change - she looks like a completely different person .... kinda like she's a set of twins/triples/etc. Very versitile.
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@Scott - Thanks for the detailed technical feedback - very much appreciated, and will be invaluable once I start working up the final copies of these after she's made her choices.
Yup, plenty of skin work on that one too
In terms of styling, I find the green dress is much more a natural "personal" picture; the others are more "promo picture" style, and were intended as such. I know she wants a variety of looks to use to reflect her various roles and activities, so we gave ourselves as many options as we could. She will need a natural "actress-y" one for any music theatre submissions she may make, one which is a pretty typical, glam "diva" promo picture for programs etc, and one which will show that she could easily reflect the youthful-but-tragic roles in her "fach" (the German word used to describe the typical roles in a singers' repertoire, based on a combination of their voice type, look and the personality they can project onstage). And possibly another one as a kind of all-purpose "don't I look like I"d be really fun to work with in any capacity you'd care to use me?" submission shot.
(Geez. I write all that out for people outside the biz and I realise how many hoops the entertainment industry makes us jump through!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I've just about finished culling, so should get some feedback from her soon. I sent her the first shot in this thread as a teaser and she was excited, so we'll see what happens next! I'm sure I'll be posting her final choices for the eagle eyes here at dgrin to give the once over...
Thanks again for all the great feedback
I like the last two shots you posted the best for that reason.
In all the rest of them she seems to have just a hint of that "waiting for the camera to go off look in her eyes".
These are very well done photos and I am sure she will be very happy with all of them.
To me it is important to give the customer some different looks, ladies like that just a little bit soft look.
My favorite of the set is the very last one posted. If it were mine I would digitally fill in just a smidge of some hair at the light area at her hairline at the part and clean up the stray hairs on her cheeks. Darken her upper for head just a smidge and warm her skin tone a smidge. For a finishing touch do just slight burn at the bottom of her cheek bone curve to accentuate those awesome cheekbones of hers. I would probably give her just a bit more highlight in her hair as well, but then I tend to go to far
It actually looks very good just as it is.
Really nice work overall!
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Too much neck, needs serious crop at the bottom.
Slither of shoulder (through bra strap? - yuk!) distracting.
Washed out skin texture/colour, but I don't know what's happened - over-processed pp?
Hey! That's the one I like!
http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/
I'll leave you two to battle out the aesthetic merits, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it's a black dress, with no bra straps in sight....
Webster, fwiw, the style of these kinds of shots is remarkably specific within present trends, and that crop reflects current expectations. Performer headshots fall into an odd gray area somewhere between traditional portrait and fashion shoot - it's what makes them tricky! I think if anything that shot could weather a slightly looser rather than tighter crop (which would also reveal the other shoulder of the dress) but that's just the one which I liked best as I played around with it, and put her eyes in the optimum position. But, as you say - it's all subjective!
S'all good