college drama student headshots

VayCayMom

Here is my first attempt...but first here is a bit of the behind the scenes story..

all of my clients have come to me via someone that knows me, or a friend, or one of my family members, so I just HAD to ask this gal how she found me, she goes to school in Tucson which is 90 miles from me. She asked around and was recommended to another photographer.

Well this other gal is a young woman that used to compete with my daughter in pageants, I have known her for 10 years and I recently did a number of jobs for her, some paid and one just for fun, she is a part time model. After my last shoot with her, she suddenly hung out her shingle, I had no idea!

Well, on her website, on her personal page is a photo I took of her, it was a GREAT photo, and in teeny letters she had my name on the bottom of it. The student saw this after looking all through her site, googled me, looked at my work and called ME! I was sooo flattered !!
Anyway, this is my first try for an actor's head shot, she had guidelines from her teacher for us to go by. Sexy look, young innocent look, and on and on.

first here is the photo my student found that led her to me



1 This is my favorite, the young innocent look.

2


3


4



5

reyvee61

Well I would say that is quite the flattering story and these portraits are magnificent!
My favorite is number one as well.....
Congratulations to you!

VayCayMom

Thanks Reyv ! You made my day!

Darren Troy C

Really like #2. Beautiful girl.

kidzmom

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are awesome !

divamum

3&4 work the best as submission shots (ie casting calls) IMO. I'd decenter the landscape shot - it's actually an interesting and different look from her, but dead center takes away from that (I'd probably move it way to the right, possibly cutting into her hair and leaving lots of negative space on the left). I'm also not sure about the chopped arm in #5 - I'd probably crop it way in and lose it entirely. I keep going back and forth on 1 - the challenging expression is interesting but, especially centered like that, it seems a bit stiff.

Trudy, you got some gorgeous shots of this lovely girl - I'd love to see you do some more of these so you can loosen up the style just a little bit. It's just ever-so-slightly "posed" in these which makes for lovely portraits, but perhaps takes a little bit of her personality out of the equation. Get those eyes sparkling and moods projecting!

met

#1 is my fav. She looks like a young Julianne Moore.

Qarik

awesome..#4 for me

ows4428

#4 for me as well. Nice work.

VayCayMom

divamum wrote: »

3&4 work the best as submission shots (ie casting calls) IMO. I'd decenter the landscape shot - it's actually an interesting and different look from her, but dead center takes away from that (I'd probably move it way to the right, possibly cutting into her hair and leaving lots of negative space on the left). I'm also not sure about the chopped arm in #5 - I'd probably crop it way in and lose it entirely. I keep going back and forth on 1 - the challenging expression is interesting but, especially centered like that, it seems a bit stiff.

Trudy, you got some gorgeous shots of this lovely girl - I'd love to see you do some more of these so you can loosen up the style just a little bit. It's just ever-so-slightly "posed" in these which makes for lovely portraits, but perhaps takes a little bit of her personality out of the equation. Get those eyes sparkling and moods projecting!

Thanks Diva, I value your input! I am hoping to get some of their fellow students to give me a try. I am going to recrop those photos and send them to her as alternatives.

divamum

UGH! I just wrote a long post and then the computer crashed exactly as I hit "send" and it didn't go through. Boo.

Definitely worth a look through these articles for cropping ideas - she has some very specific thoughts on why things do and don't work. These articles are fantastic reading for anybody doing headshots - they're a touch out of date now so some style things have changed in the last couple of years, but they're still worth a read.

Bad Headshots, Good Headshots (link to examples at bottom of column)
Bad Headshots, Good Headshots II

To keep in touch with current trends, it's always worth a look through the www.reproductions.com directories and looking at other photographers' work. I usually check out both the NY and the LA directories to keep an eye on how they differ (they do) and just to know what's out there and being used for different purposes/genres/looks etc. Very useful....

WIth this lovely young lady, did you get any "bubbly", smiling ones? These are all very serious and only show one facet of her personality. She's incredibly beautiful, but I'm not sure these shots tell me what she could be cast as - sometimes the photo needs to subtly "suggest". The articles above give a lot of advice in that regard - definitely recommended reading!