SP this Morning

shatch

I was invited to audition for a role in a local movie today (Idaho...must be a small movie with no names in it...Hey! I'm a no name!:D ). Needed a headshot. My kids say I look mad.

eL eSs Vee

Not so much mad as upset. Put together a few more, showing other emotions.

Nice image!

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

I was invited to audition for a role in a local movie today (Idaho...must be a small movie with no names in it...Hey! I'm a no name!:D ). Needed a headshot. My kids say I look mad.

Very artsy done!
I like the bg, what was it?

shatch

eL eSs Vee wrote:

Not so much mad as upset. Put together a few more, showing other emotions.

Nice image!

Thanks Lee! I have a couple of more shots that I am trying to get to work for a new business card. May have to reshoot. Hard to compose in front of the camera with a remote.

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

Very artsy done!
I like the bg, what was it?

Nikolai, How are you doing? Looks like your new hiking program is keeping you active and growing in your photog skills.

The background on this is the rock wall of my fireplace. Note the cousins playing the Wii.


I have a medium softbox above me with a CTB gel on it. White balance set to shade and bumped a little more to get fully warm skin tones. I put a bare bulb incandescent light next to the rocks to burn in the golden tones. I then held a coroplast white board for a bottom reflector and shot pressing a PW remote activator. Lots of chimping and guessing.

Note: Kids still playing Wii


Take care of yourself and be good. I shot a colleague recently at work and had a tungsten lamp in the hallway behind with the same kind of result (golden background.)

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

Nikolai, How are you doing? Looks like your new hiking program is keeping you active and growing in your photog skills.

The background on this is the rock wall of my fireplace. Note the cousins playing the Wii.


I have a medium softbox above me with a CTB gel on it. White balance set to shade and bumped a little more to get fully warm skin tones. I put a bare bulb incandescent light next to the rocks to burn in the golden tones. I then held a coroplast white board for a bottom reflector and shot pressing a PW remote activator. Lots of chimping and guessing.

Note: Kids still playing Wii

Take care of yourself and be good. I shot a colleague recently at work and had a tungsten lamp in the hallway behind with the same kind of result (golden background.)

Thank you for sharing the setup details!

Yeah, hiking with pretty girls makes all the difference:-)

PW activator? You mean you can trigger your camera with PW? how?

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

Thank you for sharing the setup details!

Yeah, hiking with pretty girls makes all the difference:-)

PW activator? You mean you can trigger your camera with PW? how?

I have PW plus II
Set the channel on the unit you will hold in your hand to "1" and put one in the camera hot shoe. There is a cable release that is designed to plug into the pw and into the cable release slot on your camera. Set this unit to "1" as well but plug the cable into camera/flash. Set the third PW up as usual but set it to channel "2". The key to this is the off camera flash will be set to "channel" +1 of the other two units. So when I want to take my photo, I just press the "Test" button on the pw I'm holding and cross my fingers that it works.

One other thing I have to do is turn off my camera and turn it back on again after I have viewed any photos. Don't know why, but it works again.

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

I have PW plus II
Set the channel on the unit you will hold in your hand to "1" and put one in the camera hot shoe. There is a cable release that is designed to plug into the pw and into the cable release slot on your camera. Set this unit to "1" as well but plug the cable into camera/flash. Set the third PW up as usual but set it to channel "2". The key to this is the off camera flash will be set to "channel" +1 of the other two units. So when I want to take my photo, I just press the "Test" button on the pw I'm holding and cross my fingers that it works.

One other thing I have to do is turn off my camera and turn it back on again after I have viewed any photos. Don't know why, but it works again.

Hmm, I tried that, yet nothing seems to work. The cable I have is "mini-to-PC". Same as yours, or yours is different?

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

Hmm, I tried that, yet nothing seems to work. The cable I have is "mini-to-PC". Same as yours, or yours is different?

This Cable (but I think mine was 3rd party and cheaper)


That plugs into this port (Remote Terminal N3 type directly under the video out).

joshhuntnm

the light looks like it is coming too much froom above, leaving the bottom part of your face shadowy

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

This Cable (but I think mine was 3rd party and cheaper)


That plugs into this port (Remote Terminal N3 type directly under the video out).

Gotcha, thanks! Yup, I don't have this one. :cry
But $112 for a piece of wire, man... I need to check on ebay or something.

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

Gotcha, thanks! Yup, I don't have this one. :cry
But $112 for a piece of wire, man... I need to check on ebay or something.

I don't remember for sure but I don't think I spent over $40 for mine. I'm pretty sure I purchased it at BH. Must have been a knock off brand.

shatch

joshhuntnm wrote:

the light looks like it is coming too much froom above, leaving the bottom part of your face shadowy

The light is coming straight down but the majority of what you are seeing is my inheritance of a 5 o'clock shadow even after shaving.

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

I don't remember for sure but I don't think I spent over $40 for mine. I'm pretty sure I purchased it at BH. Must have been a knock off brand.

$40 I'd pay easily. But thus far the cheapest I can find is $80+. There was some $8 piece from Taiwan on ebay, but I'm totally not sure about it.

BTW is yours "pre-focus", i.e. does it keep your camera "awake" in "half-depressed shutter" mode all the time?
And if not - does it focus and snaps upon recieving a signal? Or issues with camera going into standby?

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

$40 I'd pay easily. But thus far the cheapest I can find is $80+. There was some $8 piece from Taiwan on ebay, but I'm totally not sure about it.

BTW is yours "pre-focus", i.e. does it keep your camera "awake" in "half-depressed shutter" mode all the time?
And if not - does it focus and snaps upon recieving a signal? Or issues with camera going into standby?

I have to keep mine awake. It does focus and shoot upon signal. I shot these today on manual focus to minimize issues.

Nikolai

shatch wrote:

I have to keep mine awake. It does focus and shoot upon signal. I shot these today on manual focus to minimize issues.

So yours is not pre-focus one, correct?

shatch

Nikolai wrote:

So yours is not pre-focus one, correct?

When the PW on the camera receives the signal, the camera tries to focus then takes the shot. If it fails to focus, it fails to shoot. I choose to use manual focus for that reason as I couldn't fully compose the shot through the lens. So as for "pre-focus" I guess I'm not sure. It will try to focus prior to the shot if I have the lens on AF.

cmorganphotography

It says Al Pacino, The Devil's Advocate. The "fire" colours behind you, the brightness of your eyes with full white around the irises, and the head on pose.
Your face is made of figure 8's. You'll pull off a full profile quite well and a nice shodwy one quarter turned profile. I'd avoid looking upward because it'll throw light over your high cheekbones and possibly hide your eyes. I'd prefer a side glance from you rather than a straight ahead but I don't want you looking away either.
The high points of your face are your mid-forhead, bridge of nose, and cheeks right under the eyes. Work with the angles, I really think a tilted down chin [slight] turned to your left, looking with both eyes into the camera from the tilted, lowered angle.
Your face has a downward arrow shape. A blue or a green bg would compliment your skin tone better and instead of reinforcing your hazel eyes to be red, it'll calm them and make them more tranquil.
Lot of blather I'm sure, if you'd like a better interpretation, ask me anytime.

Halite

Nice self portrait. But for a headshot, you need to look at the camera. Anyone looking at your headshot is trying to get a sense of who you are, your personality, your comfort in front of the camera--all from this one image. So if you don't look at the camera, you hide a part of your personality, or appear closed off.

The setup shot you included later in the thread shows you much better! Go for that, IMO.

Tango

your left shoulder has bunched up fabric .......my .02

shatch wrote:

I was invited to audition for a role in a local movie today (Idaho...must be a small movie with no names in it...Hey! I'm a no name!:D ). Needed a headshot. My kids say I look mad.

shatch

cmorganphotography wrote:

It says Al Pacino, The Devil's Advocate. The "fire" colours behind you, the brightness of your eyes with full white around the irises, and the head on pose.
Your face is made of figure 8's. You'll pull off a full profile quite well and a nice shodwy one quarter turned profile. I'd avoid looking upward because it'll throw light over your high cheekbones and possibly hide your eyes. I'd prefer a side glance from you rather than a straight ahead but I don't want you looking away either.
The high points of your face are your mid-forhead, bridge of nose, and cheeks right under the eyes. Work with the angles, I really think a tilted down chin [slight] turned to your left, looking with both eyes into the camera from the tilted, lowered angle.
Your face has a downward arrow shape. A blue or a green bg would compliment your skin tone better and instead of reinforcing your hazel eyes to be red, it'll calm them and make them more tranquil.
Lot of blather I'm sure, if you'd like a better interpretation, ask me anytime.

Wow! Thanks for the detailed analysis of my SP. You are going to make me work harder to get a better shot aren't you? I'll get to work and post the hopefully improved version. Thank you for taking the time to comment and share your expertise. I wish growing and learning was easy. At least it is fun though.

shatch

Halite wrote:

Nice self portrait. But for a headshot, you need to look at the camera. Anyone looking at your headshot is trying to get a sense of who you are, your personality, your comfort in front of the camera--all from this one image. So if you don't look at the camera, you hide a part of your personality, or appear closed off.

The setup shot you included later in the thread shows you much better! Go for that, IMO.

Thanks Halite. Do you happen to have some examples of some headshots that portray what you are saying. I guess I'm a visual learner.

Thanks in advance. And thanks for taking time to comment.

shatch

AaronNelson wrote:

your left shoulder has bunched up fabric .......my .02

I guess I really should go see the doctor for that growth on my back.

Thanks Aaron. Why do I always overlook the obvious?

cmorganphotography

shatch wrote:

Wow! Thanks for the detailed analysis of my SP. You are going to make me work harder to get a better shot aren't you? I'll get to work and post the hopefully improved version. Thank you for taking the time to comment and share your expertise. I wish growing and learning was easy. At least it is fun though.

Your avatar has a good example of what I mean just look into the camera with something on your mind. Think about the birth of your kids, death of a family member, the day you got married, your favourite movie, listen to music that moves you. Your face will do the rest.
And you're welcome!

Halite

shatch wrote:

Thanks Halite. Do you happen to have some examples of some headshots that portray what you are saying. I guess I'm a visual learner.

Thanks in advance. And thanks for taking time to comment.

Here's the website of one of the best headshot photographers in the business:

http://www.jinsey.com/headshots/mainheadshotpage.html

Seemingly very simple photos, but every one shows off the personality of the actor.

Here are a couple I took this spring for a high school show. One "friendly" and one "serious":




The shallow depth of focus in these pics is not a classic headshot approach, but the personality of the actors shows through.

You've got a great look. Let the camera see it.

DavidS

I love the background setup in this.