How'd I do? (C&C)

divamum

C&C always welcomed! :thumb

Some of you may recall I posted a little while ago looking for tips to flatter heavier subjects. This young man's headshot session was on Wednesday - we actually had a great time, and he was super-easy in front of the camera :thumb

He has an interesting conundrum for his headshots in that he's quite young (early 20s), but sings a lot very mature-character rep (hence the more serious looks) - somehow we had to aim for a balance between showing him as he is, and suggesting that he can project the kinds of characters he sings.

Wide shot:


And a few of the looks we did. Lighting was either 430ex+45" Photek Softliter or "sodacarton" softbox (~8x11") CL + reflector CR. I did a few with the 420ex as a hairlight, but in general we didn't need it.

1 (retouched)


2. (unretouched) I like the natural smile in this, but he seems to be choosing the more serious ones



3 (retouched - mostly the shirt which no matter what I did to smooth it kept bunching up under the arms)


4. This is his favorite. I didn't notice it beforehand (or I wouldn't have given it out as a proof) but this is the weirdest thing I think I've seen so far: the CL eye is sharp. The CR eye appears to have motion blur. SS was 250. :huh:dunno:scratch




Main thing I learned from this shoot: light falloff is THE BOMB for backgrounds! This is my white popout bg and I absolutely love the shades of grey it turned in these lighting setups - I'll definitely be using it like this whenever I can!

angevin1

Gosh Diva, these turned out nice!

I'm with him, I like Numba 1 as well. The Natch smile is something I would automatically pick as a fav.


If these were mine, I'd be a bit bothered by the lack of light in the CR eye. it's just a wee bit of a pet-p of mine. Otherwise, I have to learn to get over that.

The Orange shirt does nothing for him, but I think in a Medium to Low key, it would be better.

If he sends that favortie of his to anyone, I'd cringe! He looks...Hmmm???

Miserable? Uncomfortable? I don't know, but I'm with you on this one!

Nice fall off on your White BG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, that Shot in #1 is nice!

adbsgicom

Nicely done, Diva!!
+1 on #1.....

divamum

Thanks! I like #1 (hence why I chose that one to retouch as a "sample" shot - I usually do that with a couple from the shoot just to give clients an idea of what they can expect from the final shot(s) they choose since I don't do the "deep editing" until they've made their selections)

Yes, Tom, I think I probably should brighten that camera right eye a tad. The challenge, of course, was keeping balancing fill on that side so that it was dark enough to slim his face, but bright enough to look balanced. Also, his left eye (CR) is noticeably smaller than his other one and ever so slightly turned, so it didn't catch the light as well (the catchlight is there, it's just on the white instead of the iris). It's ironic that in the last one that's the eye that would have the motion blur (I still haven't figured that out - how could it affect one eye and not the other!? Even if he blinked, wouldn't ss 1/250 have been fast enough for it not to be a problem? Weird.)

Btw, he was thrilled with the entire session, which was nice - I'm always worried until I get feedback from the subjects! It's so hard, because so often the way a photographer sees us isn't the way we see ourselves..............

angevin1

divamum wrote: »

Yes, Tom, I think I probably should brighten that camera right eye a tad. The challenge, of course, was keeping balancing fill on that side so that it was dark enough to slim his face, but bright enough to look balanced. Also, his left eye (CR) is noticeably smaller than his other one and ever so slightly turned, so it didn't catch the light as well (the catchlight is there, it's just on the white instead of the iris). It's ironic that in the last one that's the eye that would have the motion blur (I still haven't figured that out - how could it affect one eye and not the other!? Even if he blinked, wouldn't ss 1/250 have been fast enough for it not to be a problem? Weird.)

You certain that thing is motion blur? It is really hard to tell from this small-ish photo for me. Care to link a bigger one? it almost looks like he is THAT side of the focal field. As far as Shutter speed. The eye is faster than the shutter!! From what little I know, I'd say you have to be above 1/650...but l@@king around I found this.

divamum wrote: »

Btw, he was thrilled with the entire session, which was nice - I'm always worried until I get feedback from the subjects! It's so hard, because so often the way a photographer sees us isn't the way we see ourselves..............

I'm certainly beginning to get that!

BradfordBenn

Divamum - I think you nailed it with #1 nothing that as you said a little deep editing can't improve, not that I see a lot of things that need to improve.

divamum

Yeah, I'd have thought DOF, and there is a bit of softness from that (which, thankfully, with the resolution of the 7d I can make "go away" for an 8x10 in the event he does choose it) - it was the 135 @f4. But the way the lashes are blurred to me looks like motion rather than anything else. It's odd. Regardless, I'm hoping to talk him out of that one.... not only for the technical flaw, but because there are others which are better, IMO. I think he likes this one because he was getting self-conscious about the eye and in this one they looked more even. If I'd spotted the weirdness of the softness I never would have proofed it for him in the first place :bash

Here's a link to a large version of a deep crop, fwiw.

angevin1

divamum wrote: »

Yeah, I'd have thought DOF, and there is a bit of softness from that (which, thankfully, with the resolution of the 7d I can make "go away" for an 8x10 in the event he does choose it) - it was the 135 @f4. But the way the lashes are blurred to me looks like motion rather than anything else. It's odd. Regardless, I'm hoping to talk him out of that one.... not only for the technical flaw, but because there are others which are better, IMO. I think he likes this one because he was getting self-conscious about the eye and in this one they looked more even. If I'd spotted the weirdness of the softness I never would have proofed it for him in the first place :bash

Here's a link to a large version of a deep crop, fwiw.

FWIW to the fella. When I looked at his photos, to see who he was, I didn't notice any dysmorphia. All I was lookin to see: Was he happy? Was he confident? and Was he nice?

The last photo, the one I think we are discussing, makes him look like a kid, not a professional!

I like the bashing brick/head emoticon!!....oh man if-only, right?!

tropico

Good job!
I like #1 as well.

VayCayMom

I like #1, the blue is so flattering. I really love his face in #3 but that shirt! It is unkempt looking. The last one with the hooded eyes not a great look for him. I just noticed another reason why I like #1, his ears are hidden. his ears are distracting to me. Great job. hehehe and here I thought my gray background on my pop out was a sign of my not being experienced enough to make it look white!! like the walk of shame.. oh my look at that GRAY background !!! tsk tsk. Ya did good.

divamum

Thanks Tropico and Trudy.

Yeah, Trudy, you have to blast the bg with light to get it white. I only have 2 flashes - speedlights - which makes it tricky (although at some point I want to try this trick - I have one of those trifold foamcore thingies which I propped up so it bounces light back and tested it, but haven't used it in a shoot yet. I considered it for this one, but I was trying to get more modeling shadows on his face to help slim him, thus decided a high key look probably wasn't the way to go.....).

Btw, how big is your popout background? I have the smaller one (it's 5x7 I think) and love it, but I do find sometimes that it's hard to keep people within the frame if I pull back. Also, do you have to stretch yours or put it on a stand, or can you just prop it up against the wall? Just curious...........

ETA: btw - he's picked one of the blue sweater ones for now (the one he's chosen is ok, although not as good an expression as #1 imo) and is still deciding on one of the black sweater ones (there are a few which are more dramatic lighitng which he likes - kind of an Orson Welles look going on....). In the last year of doing this I've learned that clients seldom choose the shot that I think is best. In fact, out of about 25 sessions this year, I've only had that happen twice!

kyeezie

1 and 2 are my favs. Can we see a touchup of 2? His smile there is contagious! You did a great job!!

divamum

Thanks Kyeezie! I love that smiling shot - I'm sorry he didn't choose it, but maybe I'll rework it for my portfolio if I get a chance....

Btw, do these look orange/overcontrasty to anybody? I've been arguing with my monitors this morning.

Hackbone

I like #1, good job. With large folks try to keep the colors dark and maybe go for some shadows to create the illusion of slimness( is that a word?).

VayCayMom

That foamcore thing looks cool, but totally not available on Amazon I used to have my 5x7 hanging from a big lightstand, and weight the base, BUT I realized it was way too hard to switch around, so when I did the actor's headshots I took it down and lean against the wall. Unless I am just using it for headshots it is hard in my dinky room to keep it in the pop out which can make for a lot of work if proofing a lot of photos. I bought it to be portable but I hardly ever take it out of the room. I am hoping to get the real deal with the stand and roll of paper or whatever for the seamless look. I do have the white plastic train for the pop out and that is worth the expense.

divamum

The foamcore I'm using to try that setup is one of these, which I got at Walmart for about $9

Haven't tried it with a subject yet, but the test shots weren't bad at all

divamum

Thanks Charles. We did some that were more dramatic/shadowy (kinda Orson Welles-ish) but he chose these lighter, lower contrast ones. I will admit that with the more contrasty ones it was hard to keep his face in shadow, but with light in the eyes. I think that's the next thing I need to master consistently... Thanks for the feedback!