A friend asked for some shots of her daughter to use for actors head shots. Since I've been working on my portrait lighting and posing I thought it was worth a try. I'm sure there's lots of room for improvements here and would love to hear your c&c.

Not much on post processing for these since I didn't want to mask any problems there may be with the shots.
#1

#2

#3

#4


#5


Thanks in advance for your comments.

I feel like I'm sort of stalking this forum today for some reason, giving my opinion on things that I really know very little about. I'll give you my first reaction though, and I'm sure others can give you more helpful information.

I didn't really like the background on the first couple. I'm not sure if the light falloff was intentional or not, but I think I would have rather had a solid blurred background. I can only assume with something like a head shots for actors, you are looking for zero distraction and all eyes on the model.

I think #5 is my favorite, although I might have either allowed her hand on her jacket to show, or have cropped it out. Having just a thumb and part of the index finger showing seems more of a distraction, especially against the dark jacket.

Very nice work, your model seemed very comfortable in front the camera. Looks like it was a lot of fun.

be sure to clean up all teh strya hairs wher eit meets the BG in post. over all well done..her smile is great. #4 is a tosser for me due to the lighting. #5 is great but is in contrast to the other shots. I do feel like the exposure and contrast could be upped on all the shots when you do (re)process them.

Honestly I think you did a nice job. the gradient in the backdrop on the first few do not bother me at all. As for the stray hairs, that is more work than it's worth in my opinion and really should be a pre issue and not something you should tediously have to deal with in post. A great MUA and hairstylist will go a long way for saving time in post.

She's a lovely lady and you got some great shots of her.
Five is my fave of the bunch

#2 is the winner for me, great pose really flatters her face. The most distracting thing for me is her issue of not keeping her at it's best for a headshot. The difference between the ends of her hair and the top HALF are too extreme and even though it may be from natural sunlight over the last few summers, I feel it should be addressed by her.

5 would be my favorite except her smile looks forced (and I think it should be cropped a bit tighter for a headshot). #3 is a no-go because of the hand (reminds me of an old-school sr. portrait) and #4 is lit wrong (lighting from below looks awkward). #1 and #2 are nice, but a tighter crop is probably in order. They're both usable as headshots but tell a different story so she'd have to figure out which one she wants to use to sell her "type".

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I really appreciate it. Yep #4 was disappointing as I initially thought it was going to be a nice shot. Realized when looking at it on my computer the mistake of having the light held too low. Hmmm, chalk it up to an amateur learning from his mistakes (hopefully). By #5 she was getting a little tired and it shows in the expression. Anyway, I think there are a few that I can work with here and some additional now that I've gone through the whole lot of images. So, I'm fairly happy and hope they will be as well.

Thanks again for all the great comments.

You've done a cracking job on the first 3, well done, I really really like them. She doesn't have a fake smile or looks blank/bored which is pretty common to see (even from pros). I'd prefer a solid white or grey background, but it's not at all a deal breaker. For an actor's headshot, the stray hairs will need tidying up unfortunately.

4 and 5, whilst being pretty good, aren't actor's headshot material for reasons pointed out.

Thanks.

Any opinions on this crop for a headshot?

Yeah, I think that works for a commercial headshot. However, I might tip her head some so her eyes are a little bit further right with her chin pointing toward the bottom left side of the frame - I think the picture will look a bit more dynamic that way.

Originally Posted by BrettDeutsch Yeah, I think that works for a commercial headshot. However, I might tip her head some so her eyes are a little bit further right with her chin pointing toward the bottom left side of the frame - I think the picture will look a bit more dynamic that way.

Thanks Brett. I'll give it a try and really appreciate the tips!