Head shots, my first time

hioo1 · February 5, 2011

This was my first official headshot gig, and I was wondering what you guys thought, what I was good at and what I need to work on. My friend Sandy is going back into acting after a bit of a break, and she asked me to take her head shots, here is a sampling of them.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

I took them all around town, with my t2i, with my 50mm and 580ex speedlite used for fill

there are more here: http://www.williammbrown.com/Portraits/Sandy-Ziolkoskis-Headshots/15716063_pQWPM#1177966885_59oi8 in case you think I may have missed something good.

thanks!

System · February 5, 2011

Pretty good lighting with a couple of hot spots on #2, 3, 4. You could use some skin "cleaning" PP.

divamum · February 5, 2011

I like 5 and 7 - nice expressions from her that will all "pop" nicely with some PP - they need brightening, contrast and, as mentioned by previous poster, some retouching. In particular, those eyes need to really pop - she's got beautiful eyes and I think the lighting will allow you to bring them out well with some doding/burning and increased contrast/local sharpening.

I like the neutral colours of the beige sweater/background in 3, 4 and 5 - #4 is a really nice catch of her, but I do find the diagonal line from the siding behind her a bit too "obvious" and it distracts my eye. If you can maybe crop in a little more and/or minimize that (blurring? Not sure) it's definitel a good expression.

The first one has too much obvious background for a headshot - I see "window" followed by "subject". In general, it's best to shoot with a wide enough aperture to blur out the background; if your lens won't let you open up enough to help with that, then pull the subject forward away from the bg a little more. Interestingly, while 7 could have been distracting, the way the lines frame her head actually works very well for me, and it's a good strong expression from her. I like her expression in 6, but the lines are distracting in that one.

Re-post once you've had a chance to work on them a bit - would love to see where you go with these!

chris5olson · February 5, 2011

i like the posing on #3, #5 and #7.
on #7 i wish the background on 7 was a little more blurred out but it still works.
on #1 i noticed the window in the background 1st

good job though

hioo1 · February 5, 2011

I retouched #5, think I went too far? not far enough? hints? tips? Its one of my first times skin "cleaning" so any help there is appreciated.

5.

Am I on the right track?
Thanks!

EDIT: Removed the lines, was having trouble getting them to disappear, finally got it I think

chris5olson · February 6, 2011

i really like the retouch. I dont think its to much. i love what you did with the eyes!

Reenie · February 6, 2011

I love the retouch. The beige background with neutral sweater help the eyes pop. And great job w/skin retouch though I'm picky and would try to clean the left side of her chin where the red area is-that's just me. How did you heighten the blue? Increase saturation in all or do you have a program that can focus a specific area like that?

reyvee61 · February 6, 2011

I really like #3 the most, great job for the first time.....

divamum · February 6, 2011

Can you clone out the siding lines entirely? If that can be done, that's a keeper (as it is, they still distract me too much). Play around with the last one, too - that has some real potential, I think

zoomer · February 7, 2011

Shoot the last or first hour of the day. Find some good light, find a background you can blur into oblivion. place your subject into the good light in front of the good background. Shoot, check histogram, shoot again. Be careful not to blow out any parts of the photo, use your blinkies.

She does look relaxed, can tell she is a friend of yours. That is half the battle.

Experiment more with angles, when you are very close you don't want to be much above them, too much angle.
Photos look pretty soft as well, did you sharpen them and do a levels adjustment?

I think you did ok for a first try.

If you really want to improve go look at a lot of professional work on the internet so you can see the work that the best people are doing....then you will have a target.

angevin1 · February 7, 2011

zoomer wrote: »

Shoot the last or first hour of the day. Find some good light, find a background you can blur into oblivion. place your subject into the good light in front of the good background. Shoot, check histogram, shoot again. Be careful not to blow out any parts of the photo, use your blinkies.

She does look relaxed, can tell she is a friend of yours. That is half the battle.

Experiment more with angles, when you are very close you don't want to be much above them, too much angle.
Photos look pretty soft as well, did you sharpen them and do a levels adjustment?

I think you did ok for a first try.

If you really want to improve go look at a lot of professional work on the internet so you can see the work that the best people are doing....then you will have a target.

EVERYTHING Zoomer said!

Plus (reiterating): the backgrounds are hugely distracting. That combined with angles, no make-up and color palette/clothing distractions are taking the viewers eyes and perhaps thoughts away from the target.

And Like Zoomer suggested taking a peek over at others work can aid you in finding a look to emulate.

divamum · February 7, 2011

and... for performer headshot samples - LOTS of them - head over to www.reproductions.com and look through their directory (which links out to many headshot photographers' galleries). Many different styles and approaches to peruse, and it gives a great sense of current trends and thus what to aim for.

hioo1 · February 8, 2011

Well I took the background out of the one above. We plan on doing a shoot in spring as well since then it won't be freezing with 2 ft of snow everywhere, so hopefully I will get some better ones then.

dawssvt · February 9, 2011

Nice set! Keep shooting!

angevin1 · February 9, 2011

hioo1 wrote: »

I retouched #5, think I went too far? not far enough? hints? tips? Its one of my first times skin "cleaning" so any help there is appreciated.

Am I on the right track?
Thanks!

Yes! Much better to me!

Here is a method I've tried and enjoyed (Dgrin tute!)!

divamum · February 9, 2011

on the final rework with plain background !

Head shots, my first time

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