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More headshots...
... from last week. Very different clients and sets!
As always, C&C welcome
Here's Lilian - tricky face in that her eyes vanish when she smiles but if she doesn't smile she looks too fierce! I feel her pain, since I personally have the same problem, but at least that meant I knew some things to try ...
1. She posted this one on FB to a rapturous response from her friends. I wasn't sure if I'd gone overboard on retouching - I find this one a little too "flat" - but I did a 2nd, subtler version which she didn't like as much as this one, so I guess I got it right the first time.....
2. And a somewhat different look from her. I wish I'd spotted that the necklace wasn't lying quite straight - phooey. I could probably straighten it in PS but ugh - that one will be a pain to make look good, I have a feeling.
Next up, Jed. A young bass... which was part of the problem - his repertoire is old/evil characters, and he's young and very sweet! Had to keep stopping him from trying to overdo the "I'm an evil bass" thing and just be himself. It was also WINDY which meant I couldn't use my off-camera flash (no assistant) OR a reflector and just had to wing it with the flash in the shoe.
3. This blue fence was a total SCORE since it completely matched his shirt - I went nuts with it! Just loved it. I was actually bouncing the speedlight off the pale cement here; it worked ok to add a little fill and brighten his deepset eyes a tad.
4.
5. I was watching for it ALL the time, but no matter what, his jacket collar/shoulder line kept popping! Ugh - drove me nuts. He's lost a bunch of weight so his clothes were kinda of big, but this has shot to the top of my list of Most Problematic Things To Fix In Post. This edit is NOT finished yet (I'm not sure I like the high contrast), but I did (I think) manage to fix the collar. Total pain and took forever. If he picks any of these, I'm going to spend a lot of time at the computer.....
Guys, IS there a trick for making sure this doesn't happen? I know about sitting on the jacket tails, but it happened pretty much every position he moved to...........
6. He wanted some "city vibe" shots, so we did a bunch round the neighbourhood. I like this one, but once again there are collar issues (his shirt this time, and I'm not sure i can fix that). I don't mind the highlighted ears/shoulders, but are those a dealbreaker for anybody? Curious what sort of reactions y'all give me....
7. No matter how I directed him, he REALLY wanted to look directly at the camera. Finally, when I got him indoors, I managed to get this angle. I personally think this is the "money" shot of the session; typically I prefer the outdoor ones, but this one seemed to me to capture both his youth and some "gravitas"; I really like the way the quasi-Rembrandt lighting gave him a little mystery. The rim on his CR cheek is from my faux "giant softbox" - there's a vestibule just out of shot camera right, and I stick my speedlight in there, pointed up at the ceiling. Results can be a little unpredictable, but I can usually chimp it to where I want it. Love the way it picked up his cheekbone.
As always, C&C welcome
Here's Lilian - tricky face in that her eyes vanish when she smiles but if she doesn't smile she looks too fierce! I feel her pain, since I personally have the same problem, but at least that meant I knew some things to try ...
1. She posted this one on FB to a rapturous response from her friends. I wasn't sure if I'd gone overboard on retouching - I find this one a little too "flat" - but I did a 2nd, subtler version which she didn't like as much as this one, so I guess I got it right the first time.....
2. And a somewhat different look from her. I wish I'd spotted that the necklace wasn't lying quite straight - phooey. I could probably straighten it in PS but ugh - that one will be a pain to make look good, I have a feeling.
Next up, Jed. A young bass... which was part of the problem - his repertoire is old/evil characters, and he's young and very sweet! Had to keep stopping him from trying to overdo the "I'm an evil bass" thing and just be himself. It was also WINDY which meant I couldn't use my off-camera flash (no assistant) OR a reflector and just had to wing it with the flash in the shoe.
3. This blue fence was a total SCORE since it completely matched his shirt - I went nuts with it! Just loved it. I was actually bouncing the speedlight off the pale cement here; it worked ok to add a little fill and brighten his deepset eyes a tad.
4.
5. I was watching for it ALL the time, but no matter what, his jacket collar/shoulder line kept popping! Ugh - drove me nuts. He's lost a bunch of weight so his clothes were kinda of big, but this has shot to the top of my list of Most Problematic Things To Fix In Post. This edit is NOT finished yet (I'm not sure I like the high contrast), but I did (I think) manage to fix the collar. Total pain and took forever. If he picks any of these, I'm going to spend a lot of time at the computer.....
Guys, IS there a trick for making sure this doesn't happen? I know about sitting on the jacket tails, but it happened pretty much every position he moved to...........
6. He wanted some "city vibe" shots, so we did a bunch round the neighbourhood. I like this one, but once again there are collar issues (his shirt this time, and I'm not sure i can fix that). I don't mind the highlighted ears/shoulders, but are those a dealbreaker for anybody? Curious what sort of reactions y'all give me....
7. No matter how I directed him, he REALLY wanted to look directly at the camera. Finally, when I got him indoors, I managed to get this angle. I personally think this is the "money" shot of the session; typically I prefer the outdoor ones, but this one seemed to me to capture both his youth and some "gravitas"; I really like the way the quasi-Rembrandt lighting gave him a little mystery. The rim on his CR cheek is from my faux "giant softbox" - there's a vestibule just out of shot camera right, and I stick my speedlight in there, pointed up at the ceiling. Results can be a little unpredictable, but I can usually chimp it to where I want it. Love the way it picked up his cheekbone.
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Not sure how I feel about the backdrop on 3 and 4. I keep staring at it and not him.
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It is most flattering to him! Beauty!
Chris
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Yeah, Alex, that edit on #5 is only half-baked - if he wants that series I have to figure out what to do with it; I only posted it here for the jacket edit. I will invest in a supply of bulldog clips (great idea - more secure than clothespegs or even safety pins), but I'm still not sure how to manage the jacket thing. I shall add into my "notes before shooting" info I send them that their clothes need to fit!! This shoot is frustrating; more than a few good images lost to ill-fitting jacket, and wind which either turned up the tails, or plastered his pants against his legs. Boo.
Trudy, once I started charging for headshots I pretty much counted on my main career as a singer fuelling the photo business, and I"m happy it's working out like that. Clients who I don't actually already know are typically word of mouth, which is just the way I like it. I'm certainly not ready to stop singing for some time yet, so keeping this as a concurrent business is ideal. I really enjoy it, and there's no doubt it helps to know the roles and repertoire to help guide what sort of shots to take
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