Headshots: Bev
C&C Always welcome!
Had fun with this sweetheart of a soprano yesterday - first full shoot with the 5dII. Still finding my way around the new beast, but by and large very pleased. It must be said, too, that when I have to shoot in my small living room FF is MUCH easier! It also means my 85 1.8 is becoming my go-to lens indoors - it's a much better lens than the 50 1.4, so no complaints from me...
1. This is the only one she's seen so far and she loved it
2.
3. I have no idea why I like this shot as much as I do, but despite the weird crop (it came out of camera that way - I took a little off the bottom, but nothing off the sides) her connection into the lens really engages me and I think I like the way the bokeh areas lead you right into the sharp eye. Maybe. Dunno. I may change my mind in the morning and decide I hate it! :rofl
4. I went way over the top retouching this one and beefing up the makeup, but I kinda dig it. I wish she had just a tad more smile on her lips but, again, the connection to camera grabbed me. It wasn't easy to get a range of expressions out of her - she was easy to pose, but she did tend to have a very specific "picture smile" and it was hard to get anything else even with my usual tricks...
Had fun with this sweetheart of a soprano yesterday - first full shoot with the 5dII. Still finding my way around the new beast, but by and large very pleased. It must be said, too, that when I have to shoot in my small living room FF is MUCH easier! It also means my 85 1.8 is becoming my go-to lens indoors - it's a much better lens than the 50 1.4, so no complaints from me...
1. This is the only one she's seen so far and she loved it
2.
3. I have no idea why I like this shot as much as I do, but despite the weird crop (it came out of camera that way - I took a little off the bottom, but nothing off the sides) her connection into the lens really engages me and I think I like the way the bokeh areas lead you right into the sharp eye. Maybe. Dunno. I may change my mind in the morning and decide I hate it! :rofl
4. I went way over the top retouching this one and beefing up the makeup, but I kinda dig it. I wish she had just a tad more smile on her lips but, again, the connection to camera grabbed me. It wasn't easy to get a range of expressions out of her - she was easy to pose, but she did tend to have a very specific "picture smile" and it was hard to get anything else even with my usual tricks...
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And, since she likes that first one, you might be able to use that as a coaching tool to get different smiles out of her.
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To me, and it might just be me, the others look "glamourish". I'm not sold on her being that type of person.
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Scott, session is now over - short of a catastrophe, I don't re-shoot so no chance to work with her again. I think there are plenty of choices for her among the proofs she'll get, so hopefully she'll find one she likes. She's only seen #1 so far and really liked it, so there's at least one to please her
Bryce, you raise a really interesting point: I agree with you, she IS a more casual gal hence why my first run of shots were outside in the outfit she turned up in:
HOWEVER... she's an opera singer, and even though Operaland has relaxed to a bit more casual in recent years, there are still expectations of some degree of "diva glamour", particularly for program images etc (and she does a lot of concert work). I admit I went whole hog on the makeup retouch in the last one, but it does still look like her and could well fill a need for her. Even in my "basic" shoot (she chose the shorter package, so we only had about 45 minutes or so) we managed to do some outdoors in a jean jacket, a more professional look in the red dress, and a diva look in the black jacket with the silver background. I reckon that should cover everything
Charles, you raise an interesting point too, about "vertical". One of my challenges with posing is getting people to stop holding their shoulders/neck/head as one stiff unit, particularly if they're standing. Any ideas? I keep experimenting with this, but there's a certain type of gal who no matter how much (or how specifically) she's directed to relax those shoulders and bend more than one direction at once struggles with it. I SO need a plain wall/corner to use so I can at least get them leaning; I'm finding my indoor space more and more restrictive, but just don't have an alternative at the moment. With the winter coming fast, I need to keep building my posing and lighting skills for non-location shooting
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That's actually exactly what I do, Hack, and much of the time it works beautifully, FOr a few, however.... the challenge isn't so much feet/where weight is - they all seem to take that direction well - but that shoulders+neck seem to get fused into one "don't slouch" position where everything gets really "square" and too even. Even when I ask them to work a shoulder, tilt a head, or try to be a little UNeven, some people seem to really struggle with that. Best I've found is to get them seated and lean them on a knee or table which forces some angles, but sometimes that creates its own set of problems sometimes.
Work in progress, on my part
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I guess FF really does make a difference
Just a little progress eh?
Comments and constructive criticism always welcome.
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Snowgirl, I do get them to breathe but this "fused" shoulder/neck thing is so weird, and I"ve faced it a couple of times - it's like they just CAN'T let themselves bend unequally. I don't think it's that they physically can't, but just that they have this "Must hold myself straight" in photos thing. It's usually girls, too - the guys tend to be more willing to be "uneven" in their shoulders when asked.
I have 9 student actors to shoot tomorrow (mini-shoots, not full ones - I haven't completely lost my mind yet!!) and am going to play around with different ways of working with this particular issue; I want to try and find some kind of reliable trick or way of directing it out of folks
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Shawn, I'd have to look them all up but I tend to shoot at wide apertures, usually 2.2-4.0. It bites me in the butt sometimes as I miss both eyes in focus, but as long as the bokeh draws me in I don't mind that (some do, but it doesn't bother me personally).
Since I got the 5dII I find myself using my 85mm 1.8 A LOT - I've probably used it more in the last 3 weeks than in the entire time I've had it until now! I also have a 135L I love for portraits, but it's awkward to use indoors in my small shooting space; I use it as often as possible when outside, however.
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