Headshot Marathon, Day 2 (C&C)

divamum · March 22, 2010

Whoosh. Yesterday was the second session for the college acting students (first session thread here). There were 7 scheduled, but due to a snafu two turned up for the same time, meaning I did a total of 8 of 'em. I was absolutely fried by the end!

Until the last half hr, it was much - MUCH - brighter than the previous week, so I had a lot more light to play with and could rely on the reflector to really punch things up. Also, the extra brightness seemed to make a HUGE difference to the focusing accuracy, or at least it seems so; this week, the only tossers for AF were MY fault and I knew why, and that's the only thing I can come up with to explain the differences in AF last week and this. :dunno Would the equipment find it that much easier to lock focus in more "edgy" light? I know the sensors look for high contrast.

In any case here's some of my favorites from this week's candidates. C&C absolutely welcomed - the more the better! Thanks SO much. Also, I know I"ve been posting my own shots and asking for help while not really contributing so much to other threads, which makes me feel so guilty! I've just run out of time - the three shoots I've done in the last 9 days totalled something like 2700 frames over all (14 headshot sessions, and one opera performance) - it's all I've been able to do to keep up!! So, extra thanks for helping me through this - I REALLY appreciate all the feedback and assistance :thumb

1. I actually had to dial back vibrance and saturation both for him, or his eyes looked unnaturally blue. I think he wears contacts, but they were really, really REALLY blue!!! Hard to get anything out of him other than a class picture smile, so was glad to get this slightly more complex expression out of him.

(Did I wash him out too much? :scratch)

2. I told them "plain shirts, or at most small discreet patterns". This is what she turned up in.... (!?). The hair really is that bright - it was GORGEOUS, in fact and i have to say that I do love the colours. And another pair of great eyes - almost all of them were blue or green-eyed this week.

3. Yep, really shallow dof - I wanted to play with it. This was shot with the 50mm, if memory serves. I'm not sure it's a headshot for her, but I do like the "meltaway" effect, if only for my own portfolio

4. This was an experiment which actually worked pretty well, I think. I decided I wanted to try doing a black-on-black in the same lighting (natural through the window+reflector+small pop of fill flash as/if necessary). My 5-in-1 reflector has a black side, so I put that behind him, and shot against it as a background. It's a bit small, but for a headshot it worked fine and I do like the light. How does it look on other monitors? This guy was a sweetheart to shoot - he has kind of a 60's thing going on to my eye, and I'm dying to work up some high contrast B&W of these shots for myself when I have time, but in the meantime I kind of liked the cool wb/tint on this one.

5 More natural WB. Yeah, hair over the eye, but that's just how he wears it. It doesn't really bother me, for some reason, but does anybody find it particularly distracting?

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6. This was the toughest shoot of the day. Bright, lovely lady, but sooooper self-conscious for the camera and it took quite a while to get her to settle down and be able to let some personality show. She's sure got gorgeous blue eyes! I didn't have to do much to bring them out - they really do pop like that.

7. This kid has had some modeling experience, which I think shows; he was very easy to work with, and always gave me something in his eyes. This was a crazy posing idea I tried which I actually really like - it's just a railing along the side of the hallway, but something about the way he draped himself over it appealed to me. Does it work for anybody else, or is it too confused?

(also, I think I need to bump up sat and contrast on this a bit more - easily done. Also, tone down exp/bbrightness a tad?)

8. Another really interesting kid... but tricky to shoot. Really, his look/persona demands a totally different lighting/studio setup, but in the time allowed that wasn't a possibility so I had to work with what I had available. He has this kind of beatnik look going on, so he's another I think will look good in BW, but for the moment trying this to give him something that fits within expectations for a headshot, but also shows he's a little quirky. Does it work?

As always, C&C SERIOUSLY appreciated. Thank you all so much!!!

Cuties02q · March 22, 2010

I love #3

adbsgicom · March 22, 2010

Seriously nice stuff, Diva! I really like 3, much more than 2. You might want to clone out or crop out the little flick of cleavage at the bottom since it is so dark.

I like 5 more than 4, both for color balance and that the hair is fully over the eye and not just dipping in. If that's him, then you captured it. If he wanted it out of his eye, I'm sure you asked....

Nice job on 6, wish her smile was less 'smirky'.
Last two are very nice.....

My 2-cents....

Macushla · March 22, 2010

These are so beautiful.

The kids are probably thrilled. #7 is my favorite, I love the pose and the eyes. I really don't know much about photography but in #1 the angle is not that flattering. I think that is his adams apple down by the bottom of his chin, it almost looks like a growth. Maybe you have a slightly different angle for him. Maybe I'm the only weirdo that would look past his eyes to see that.

Thanks for posting these I was really looking forward to them. (and all the rest of the sessions):D

D'Buggs · March 23, 2010

1,3,4,7 and 8. Me likes!

5; yeah, the droopy hair...

6; This is too bad, that gal has a lot of potential. Killer eyes, nice complexion, and what about them lips

.... She's seriously, 'stiff'.

I can't comment on tones and such as I'm on my lap-crap, right now.

kidzmom · March 23, 2010

1,3,4 (love the black!!), 7 and 8 are my personal favs! These are awesome! You should be very proud! They are tack sharp and crisp! Love them all. Eyes are dead on and everything feels right in them. Super!

Hey...sidenote---I was bummed you didn't enter the mega challenge. I saw that you were eligible and was anxiously awaiting a fun entry.... (bummed!). I have never done a challenge before and entered the Green one this time.. Looks like fun. I went through past winners and saw a bunch of your photos! WOWED! That coffee bean shot and Lake Oragami rock! Very nice work!:ivar

Scott_Quier · March 23, 2010

My hands-down favorite has to be 3 - your shallow DOF really, really worked well on this on

Individual C&C (just my opinion):

Yes, washed out a bit much and a touch over-exposed - his right forehead at the hairline appears to be completely gone.
She has such wonderful eyes and you got them super sharp. A couple of things in this image to correct:
- There's a stray hair across the bridge of her nose
- A slight skin blemish just below her left check
- Were this my photo, I think I might do a bit of selective sharpening of just her irises
- For next time ... the shadow from her piercing, because of the angle of the shadow, is a bit off-putting. Were the light from above her a bit, I don't think it would be such an issue.
Like I said above, this is my pick from the set! Very, very shallow DOF. Her far eye (her left eye) is in focus and not so much her right eye. I don't know the head-shot industry, but I'm thinking cropping the cleavage shadow might be a good thing.
No so much in love with the cool WB of this one. But, you did a marvelous job of getting seperation between his dark hair and the dark background - something no so easy to do sometimes. The light on his left cheek seems to be a bit hot - I think I might either dial down the over-all exposure or but his cheek just a bit.
Same comments as the previous, save that I like the WB a bit better on this one. Again, I don't know the business, but I do like this one better. And, no, I don't really mind the hair in his eye - there's just enough of is eye visible to establish and maintain the sense of eye-contact. Just a note to take back to your actor/model - his beard is sparce enough (like mine) that he would look a lot better clean-shaven.
It's clear, even without you having to say anything, that this lady is not comfortable in front of the camera. In this image, she is still quite stiff. I'm looking at this on a monitor that is not color-corrected, but I'm thinking the WB is a bit off - there seems to be too much magenta/red in her face. As for light, again with blown hot-spot on her left cheek.
I agree, a bit more contrast would not hurt this image. Your DOF is shallow enough that his left eye is in nice focus while his right eye is out by just "that" much, though I don't know if that will show up in an 8x10 print. I also like pose. I think I would have asked him to remove that ring though.
Check the WB - much too much magenta! I'm thinking a slightly tighter crop would be a goodness.

divamum · March 23, 2010

Thanks, as always!

@cutie et al - I'm so happy everybody liked #3!! I LOVE that shallow DOF look, but I know it's a bit of a fad right now and not always to everybody's liking, so I'm thrilled at the response you've all had to it - yay!! I have no idea if she'll like it - the other one is a far more "typical" headshot - but I'm glad it works for so many of you

@Andrew + Buggs, yeah that smile not a goodness, but it was actually one of the better and MORE relaxed ones. Srsly - such a challenge. I thought she was going to cry at one point she was so darned uncomfortable. I tried to put her at ease, but she admitted the has a REAL problem having pictures taken and that she gets incredible anxious etc etc. (are there any specific techniques that anybody knows to help in that situation ?)

@Macushla - thank yo so much! The first batch of kids from last week seemed to have been happy, so hopefully these guys will be as well. And you're absolutely right about his adam's apple! I'm sure there are some others where his chin's further down. That said, I found it hard to come up with a flattering angle for him - he's quite slender with REALLY wide shoulders too (the kind of wide shoulders that leave a large gap under the arm). I'll go through the keepers again to be sure I pull the ones with the funky neck-line - excellent observation.

@Kidzmom - I posted in the Mega thread that I just couldn't get to it - I was SO disappointed, but between these two batches of headshots and the concert opera shoot I did on Thursday I had something like 2700 frames to process. I just ran out of time :cry Thanks for the kind words regarding the other challenge shots!

@Scott - as always, thankyouthankyouthankyou for the detailed feedback. I'll be referring back to this when it comes time to edit the final copies!!

Keep it coming, folks - this is so helpful!!

Agnieszka · March 23, 2010

Ohhhh, pretty, pretty, pretty!!!

Qarik · March 23, 2010

good stuff diva..#3 rocks my socks off

divamum · March 24, 2010

Thanks, Qarik and Angie!!

Headshot Marathon, Day 2 (C&C)

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