Theatre lobby photos C&C

dlscott56

Hi all. This year I volunteered to do the lobby photos (head shots) for the season at our local community theatre. I do it for free to have a chance to dive in and try to learn a little about portrait photography. They know what my skill level is and are fine with it. Here are a couple from the first shows cast. I'd love to hear some C&C from you.





Hopefully as the season progresses I'll get better. Thanks in advance for your critique.

Aspecto5

You need to start charging. :B

0scar99

I'm sure they are fine with it!!

anonymouscuban

I agree with Nelson. These are pretty decent headshots. Good enough to charge for them so I can't see them having any complaints for the price you charged.

divamum

They're excellent for lobby cards - the only nit I have is the creased background.

While these are more than fine for their intended use as lobby cards, they're rather static and in what would be considered an "old-fashioned" style to use for headshots per se, ie for actors to submit for jobs. If any of the subjects are looking to move to the professional level as actors, then they would need photos of a somewhat different kind to be competitive; if they approach you to use them in that way, you might want to encourage them to let you do some others in a more current style.

Btw, I find myself wondering - do professional theaters/companies still do lobby cards like this, ie where they have one photographer take a picture of all cast members to display? I know it's common with community/amateur groups, but I haven't seen it myself at pro houses. That said, it could easily be a regional thing, so just wondering if anybody knows ....

dlscott56

Thanks everyone. I've started by trying to do some simple lighting/posing. I hope to learn more modern styles of doing headshots and thought this would be a great place to do it. In our theatre the directors have a lot to say about the style of shots they want. Fortunately, quite a few of them will give me the opportunity to shoot however I like. Divamum, in our area the local community theatres are shooting cast members for each show by an 'in house' photographer (some paid pros and some amateurs like me). I see everything from pro shoots to actors standing against a brick wall and shot by a POS with on camera flash around here. Not sure about the pro theatres here. Also, the creased background is due to the fact that I'm using an old drop cloth from the house. I was hoping to have it out of focus enough not to notice. Guess I need to work on that one . I'm assistant directing the next show so will have the influence to shoot however I want. Any suggestions for shooting styles would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking and comments are really appreciated. Shooting people is really out of my comfort zone but would like to get the confidence to do more of it.

divamum

Ooh!! Ooh!! First time I get to refer to the new sticky

Tips for shooting Performing Artist Headshots

The kind of shots and styles referenced above may not be what you want for lobby cards - they're NOT the same thing as a headshot and, despite the many similarities, don't serve the same purpose - but the information and samples will give you an idea what's out there in Headshotland for some other ideas

dlscott56

divamum wrote: »

Ooh!! Ooh!! First time I get to refer to the new sticky

Tips for shooting Performing Artist Headshots

The kind of shots and styles referenced above may not be what you want for lobby cards - they're NOT the same thing as a headshot and, despite the many similarities, don't serve the same purpose - but the information and samples will give you an idea what's out there in Headshotland for some other ideas

Wow!!! Lots of reading to do. I'm going to enjoy every minute reviewing the info you linked to here. Thank you! Auditions for the next show are Monday, so, I will have more shots to post soon, and will make sure to read the info you've posted first.

Thanks divamum