Headshots: Mattie and Lisa

divamum

C&C always welcome!!

Busy week for me - these two singers, plus an opera company promo shoot (plus a new role to learn, plus the academic year about to gear up. Eek!! Not complaining, but the proverbial "never rains but it pours" :lol3)

In any case, had a chance to put the new radio triggers through their paces - absolutely LOVE being able to use ETTL and adjust settings in-camera while being entirely free from line-of-sight restrictions; the Pixel Kings have been a great choice for me.

All shot with the 7d+580ex in a 2x3 softbox.

First up was Mattie. Things started complicated because it was raining - we've just been storm after storm here. Fortunately, she was flexible and willing to wait and see - it did dry out 2hrs after we were scheduled to start... and fortunately it was also cloudy since 10am would have been disastrous otherwise!! It all worked out, but was a bit stressful.

Not the easiest gal to shoot - very sweet, but she's obviously been disappointed by photos before so was very self-conscious about her inverted-triangle figure (which can look bigger in headshots) and her eyes getting small when she smiles. Definitely had my work cut out for me and I think I need to revisit posing rules for various body and face types. Haven't heard back from her with her own choices, although she said she was very excited about the proofs - here's hoping!

1.

2. Tough to get a natural smile out of her, but I managed a couple - she was freestyling by the end, which helped



3. This is one of my favorites from her session - she had finally relaxed enough to work the camera instead of pose for it. (And yes, I know about the left hand - I wish I'd spotted it while shooting and asked her to move it, but I didn't and I still like the shot )



Next up a day later was a Lisa, a grad student in town. When booking her session I'd thought she was going to be the proverbial difficult client, but she turned out to be an absolute sweetheart and a total natural in front of the camera! We had a blast, and got several distinctly different looks despite a pretty short session.

4. We did a few outside



5. And indoors. This was a test shot and, in fact, a flash whoopsie (I hadn't put fresh batteries in the triggers, which I now will ensure to do every session), but I LOVE it. It took some processing love, but despite the missing-top-of-head and underlit background, I just love the directness of her expression.



6. One of my favorite shots this week - she was too adorable! I'm really pleased we got several different expressions in this part of the shoot and with this setup; I really liked the way the background brought out her skintone and hair.

Photosbychuck

1) Crop more off the right side.
2) not crazy about the slumping shoulders.
3) Love it
4) Beautiful
5) Nice save
6) Love it





Chuck Cassidy,
www.aperturefocus.com

Gotham

Nice work. 5 & 6 are my favorites. I personally like a cut-off head quite often -- and this is one of those times. Helps break up the negative space nicely.

divamum

Thanks for the comments guys!

Chuck, I like negative space - I think that one actually needs a little more, though, to make the effect work; if she choose it I may go back to the original (rather than 8x10 crop) and put it in a border for 8x10 printing.

Agree with you about the shoulders - it was really a challenge to pose her as she was pretty stiff, and has such BROAD shoulders. You'd think she was a swimmer (she isn't but she looks like one). She also has a short neck which disappears, so I was constantly trying to set her up so she would have to stretch up and out of herself a bit. Really tough; as I said, I need to revisit ways of posing certain body types to enhance various physical shapes. She's actually quite slim, just very broad in the shoulders.

Gotham, I too often crop into heads, although on this one I wish I'd had a tad more to work with (that's actually the top of the frame as it was shot, not a crop as such). I love unusual crops and tilts for headshots - not so much so as to make the viewer look sideways, but I find I always look longer at interesting compositions than a straight-up head and shoulders shot. I reckon if I can give my clients shots which make the powers that be take an extra microsecond to look at them, then I'm on the right track

Quincy T

Funny how you mention 5 was a mistake, diva, because that's the best one in the series.

Bryce Wilson

Quincy T wrote: »

Funny how you mention 5 was a mistake, diva, because that's the best one in the series.

With six a close second.

I dunno why, can't really put my finger on it, but the first gals images just leave me flat.

divamum

Thanks Quincy! I confess I love that one - it's only that it wasn't lit that made it a mistake for me. Had to do a lot in post to save it, but definitely think it was worth it; it will be interesting to see if she chooses that one. She really came to life in the hallway we started shooting in at that point - not sure if it was just the point in the shoot where she relaxed and warmed up or the extra space (I'm really loving shooting on location these days - so much more ROOM than at home!) or what, but she was just awesome and almost every shot from that sequence is a keeper. She is THRILLED with the results, which is nice - she's a bubbly, bouncy girl who doesn't necessarily think of herself as a stunner but more "intelligent goofball", but I think these shots showed her how drop-dead-gorgeous she is as well as captured her warmth and energy. Very pleased with the session. She did her own makeup, btw, and a fantastic job on it IMO.

Bryce, can't say I disagree with you on the first gal, although I think I got very close to a winner with #3. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear what you all might have tried for her face/build/bone structure

BrettDeutsch

divamum wrote: »

Bryce, can't say I disagree with you on the first gal, although I think I got very close to a winner with #3. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear what you all might have tried for her face/build/bone structure

I think a straight on shot, chin slightly down (just barely) would work better with her, not these sideways glances. It would highlight her cheekbones and not make her look so nervous/timid, which is how these appear to me. Bolder lighting (as in 5 & 6) might also make her pop more.

Bryce Wilson

I think why you (and I and the others) like her in number three so much is because you have her head placed in perfect perspective to the camera for her. The broad side of her face combined with the very nice line that is created by the far cheek down to her chin is very attractive. It would be fun to do an entire shoot with that same angle and see what you could get.

Now I know that this session was for a very specific purpose, but I think her face and her look SCREAM light me dramatically with lots of shadows and nooks and crannies. But that's me.

divamum

Yeah, the weather pretty much ploughed me as far as lighting choices in the first set - I had the shoot timed so we'd have beautiful open shade with low sun/long shadows to use as desired against that stone building, but instead we had overcast so everything on the ground was evenly lit. Yes, I could have dropped exposure and let the flash do the work, but I found I didn't like that look so much and was getting ugly shadows I didn't like; maybe I should play with some of the imagesand see how they work processed a bit more dramatically instead of so bright/light/airy ~muses~

Btw, second set were totally different location indoors in a big, window-ed space to which I don't have open access - it was the client's access which gave it to us.

Here's an outtake, without any editing. I may pull this after a little discussion but it's pretty representative of her face shape; she told me she hates how many of her shots have "chipmunk cheeks", hence why I did so many with her turned, to try and slim the face and bring out the cheekbones. I also hoped that might help open her eyes out a little (or at least let me get some light into them).

Much to learn here, so I greatly appreciate the input from you all

lilmomma

i like them all but 5 is stunning! good stuff diva )

divamum

Thanks Melissa! Despite some of the challenges they were both really fun shoots and hopefully will lead to do more for the students in town - I really enjoy working with them (one of the reasons I have a very affordable package - I pretty much designed it for the student budget!).

And can I say again how much I LOVED using the Pixel King transmitters? Have no idea how long they'll last as a "budget" imported product (and, of course, PW has just upped their ante by making themselves compatible with the new Canon radio flashes - that will be an amazing system in due course), but not having to work within line of sight - while still having ETTL and being able to adjust from camera rather than having to reset the power on the unit - was HUGELY freeing for me. When I'm trying to work fast, one less thing to think about is really great.

nak

I like #4 best: Great isolation of subject from background, you're not fighting the lighting as in 5 or 6, subject is well posed and poised (relaxed).

#6 has perfect pose and expression, best of the set. Good work getting her hair to show against a background far too close in color. That background color and brightness compared to her hair is what holds this back from being better than #4.

#2: Maybe I've seen too many of the cliche "hold your own camera self-shot" vacation/event pictures, but #2 struck me as close to that pose. It's clearly not; the lens is far longer than in a self shot, the quality is far too good, etc. But if you imagine the subject's left arm holding the camera, bent at the elbow, with her gaze at the elbow it almost works. I think that #2 would be improved by something as simple as eyes on the camera instead of off to the side.

#3: Minor fix - there is a white line outlining the back of her head.

divamum

Thanks Nak! Fwiw, they are both delighted with the sessions (phew) and I'm starting to get their final choices coming in so will be editing in coming days.

Good catch on #3! What you're actually seeing is the highlight from the jut-out of stone behind her (the dark area is the piece that sticks out - that wall has some architectural detailing on it. If you look closely you can problably just discern it despite the bokeh blur).

nak

divamum wrote: »

Thanks Nak! Fwiw, they are both delighted with the sessions (phew) and I'm starting to get their final choices coming in so will be editing in coming days.

Good catch on #3! What you're actually seeing is the highlight from the jut-out of stone behind her (the dark area is the piece that sticks out - that wall has some architectural detailing on it. If you look closely you can problably just discern it despite the bokeh blur).

I saw that on #3. If the white didn't follow her head, it'd be an asset, not a distraction. Nit picking, to be sure. Because it follows her head it resembles something it's not - a photoshop artifact where some trimming was done.

Sometimes I think that half of the art of photography is remembering to see (before I shoot) all of the things I've seen reviewing prior images and had missed seeing in the viewfinder. I find that seeing how to go from good to great doesn't make getting there that much easier.

glennp

Love 5 and 6!

I understand trying to force some models/clients to smile. Don't know what it is that some folks just don't smile and feel very uncomfortable with doing it. Glad you were able to get a few of her smiling.

glenn

D3Sshooter

Nice series, and I do like the one with the wall (3). For some reason walls and models attract...

divamum

Thanks guys! Best part is that both clients were super-stoked and have already started referring me, so I guess I delivered. I just wish I'd had this amazing Sue Bryce workshop BEFORE the shoot with the first gal - so many ideas I could have used to help her get some angles and lines into those broad shoulders! Next time...