Bobby - Headshots

anonymouscuban

Here's the headshots I did the other day. I really appreciate everyone's help on that other thread.

1


2


3


4


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6

divamum

Fantastic final set of shots for him!! 1&4 are the ones I like (although possibly crop a little more from the right in #4? A matter of taste, but I'd like that camera right eye just a leetle bit further over).

I think, in fact, your initial challenge was nothing to do with the shoot or the photos themselves, just that you were picking the wrong ones to showcase Once you get more used to deciphering what the actor-client is trying to "sell" with the shots, it gets way easier to cull effectively so you have the right ones on offer!!!

joshhuntnm

very good work. i would smooth his skin just a tad.

anonymouscuban

Thanks Diva. You were so much help. I can't thank you enough. And yes, I have a better idea now what makes for a good headshot so next time should be easier.

Josh, I struggled with deciding what to do with his skin. First of all, the kid has a lot of freckles so I didn't want to do too much and lose them. Additionally, he's in dire need of a facial. A lot of white and black heads that I painstakingly healed out. My wife makes me get a facial every 2 months and I will never complain again after looking at his at 100% crop. Pretty gross.

I really wasn't sure what is acceptable as far as skin work goes with headshots so I kept it on the light side.

divamum

I think you got it about right Alex. For my opera singers I go a bit more "fashion" with the skinwork - although never beyond the point where it looks like a fabulous makeup job rather than full-blown magazine retouching - but I think for an actor (particularly one who is trying to market his youthful appearance) keeping it natural is good. CLone out the obvious blemishes as you have, even out any skintone blotches and bad dark circles, bump up the eye sparkle, clone out bumps and clean up any dry skin on the lips and that's about it.

Btw, I treated myself to the TRA retouching action set during the Black Friday sale (I always liked the original retouch skin softener and have used it as my final step for ages) - used at low opacities they're excellent for this kind of basic retouching, particularly the deblotcher. Fast and simple. I also have Portrait Professional, but *always* use it on a layer so I can dial it back; it clearly uses the photoshop engine for different techniques than the ones I know how to do "manually", so it is sometimes very helpful for certain jobs. I typically pick the tool that gives me the results I want rather than having one set one-size-fits-all method. It's why my "deep editing" takes me so long, since I often wind up experimenting until I get what I think looks best for that particular face and image.

Nikonjoe

Nice pics, what camera & lens did u use?u

anonymouscuban

Thanks. Nikon D700 with Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 AKA "The Beast".

BTW, welcome to DGrin and the People forum.

anonymouscuban

Diva,

Didn't see your reply earlier. Thanks for chiming in. I have several TRA actions. I have the retouch and is what I use for eye bump. I don't use the retouch itself that much though. I typically use the spot heal brush first to get rid of the bigger blemishes, bry skin, black heads, etc. Then I run Imagenomics Portraiture plugin. Typically set at the "normal" default settings. The changes are imported back in on a separate layer and I tweak through opacity and masking. I like the results. Much easier than doing it all manually and I don't see an appreciable difference, at least not for my stuff.

BBstringer

Skin
Ah, the eternal skin question:D I think you did a nice job with it Alex. Yep the Imagenomics is worth every penny isn't it? Thanks for sharing all this work. It's been great watching it evolve along with all your decisions. Good stuff.

divamum

Alex, to be clear, the TRA set I'm referring to is the new one - a bunch of new actions.in a separate.set. you may not need.them - and sounds like you're super happy with Portraiture - but.it's worth having a look at them. At the Black Friday price they were well worth it.

Icebear

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Nikon D700 with Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 AKA "The Beast".

Alex, you should know better. The 24-70 is the "Brick." The "Beast" is the 70-200.

anonymouscuban

BBstringer wrote: »

Ah, the eternal skin question:D I think you did a nice job with it Alex. Yep the Imagenomics is worth every penny isn't it? Thanks for sharing all this work. It's been great watching it evolve along with all your decisions. Good stuff.

Isn't it though. Probably the one edit in portraiture that is most easily overdone. That line between just right and too much is a thin one. Then you have the issue of when to do more or less depending on the subject, the type of portrait and the client's wishes.

I look back at some of my old work and cringe at how much I used to smooth the skin.

divamum wrote: »

Alex, to be clear, the TRA set I'm referring to is the new one - a bunch of new actions.in a separate.set. you may not need.them - and sounds like you're super happy with Portraiture - but.it's worth having a look at them. At the Black Friday price they were well worth it.

Ah. I have the old action sets. The 1st TRA set and the one called Revenge or something like that. Both have some really good actions in them.

Icebear wrote: »

Alex, you should know better. The 24-70 is the "Brick." The "Beast" is the 70-200.

Uh... No, I think I'm right. I have the old 28-70 not the 24-70. The 28-70 is commonly referred to as The Beast. Its quite a bit fatter and heavier than its younger brother. With the hood on it looks utterly ridiculous to be honest. I get more comments from the average Joe when walking around with it than I do with my 70-200. And the ladies giggle with one look of me strapped with that lens.