Ok so it's been a LONG while since I've done any headshots, and then I had two sessions in two days!

Jesse is an actor, director, professionally trained clown (seriously!) AND he runs a theater. Busy guy :) His last headshots were from 2008, shot in a studio, and have a very traditional theater look to them in terms of lighting and posing. He wanted a more modern look and feel for these.

These have been adjusted in Lightroom, but I haven't done any retouching yet. Note, I realize that only the first two are headshot material, but he asked that I get some portraits as well for use on his website or for other bio pages, and those are of course the ones I processed first because I love them.

C&C is welcome, we're doing some pickups tomorrow for a number of reasons. Primarily because we were somewhat rushed for the first session - he took much longer to shave than I thought he would - and also because the little stool I bring with me to location sessions broke and I couldn't get the desired height/angle to shoot him in standard headshot style. I'm 5'2". (The area we used sadly didn't even have any good spots for him to sit down.) I'll post those after we shoot them!

1


2


3


4
Doesn't he look a little like a redheaded Alan Cumming in this shot?

5

Like #1 and #4 a lot - great feel and personality from those. The processing works well for them, too. My only real query is to wonder if you were using a wide-ish focal length? I'm seeing some distortion....

Originally Posted by divamum Like #1 and #4 a lot - great feel and personality from those. The processing works well for them, too. My only real query is to wonder if you were using a wide-ish focal length? I'm seeing some distortion....

Thanks! That's odd though, these were all shot at 50mm on a D700. Tell me where you see distortion, I definitely want to correct it!

I personally prefer shooting headshots with a short (or even long) telephoto - the compression is usually very flattering. I will use a 50mm on a crop camera when I'm in tight spaces, and consider that about as wide as I'lll usually go and would always prefer a longer focal length. If you have a longer lens, give it a try - 85-200 is going to be much more flattering to the human face. Look at #1 - great shot, but see how big his head is from nose upward, vs how small his mouth from nose downward? He does have a pretty steep forehead, but if you look at #5, you can see he has a lot more chin/mouth than you get in #1. I actually love #1 as a shot, but just something to watch out for.

You're absolutely right. I rented the D700 for a wedding I shot the day before, and I picked up a 24-70 to go with it but not a telephoto. I didn't know I would be doing this shoot til the day of, and I figured I'd use the full frame body since I had it for another day! Normally I would've been shooting with the 50 on my D90, which would've been/felt longer. Oh well, next time :) Thanks for the feedback!

FWIW...

70 mm works pretty good with the d700 for shoulder length head shots. For tight heads I like my 105 prime.

I REALLy like #4. My only small nitpick, is that the blue background is missing from under his raised arm, leaving a black area.
Apart from that, I think it is a fabulous shot. He looks very natural and the PP looks lovely.

Love 1 & 4, mostly 4!

4 for me, better if his chin had been up a bit more.
The first three have distortion, the last the horizon through the head.
He has a relatively big forehead, do you have any shots of him from a lower angle.
The processing looks promising.
I like the energy/personality coming through in 3 and 4.