First time doing headshots

DivotDan

DivotDan

Veteran
Well, I say it's my first time. I've done a ton of portraits, but never specifically headshots. These are going to be used on bio pages of a technical writing firms website. I took these yesterday, and few more today. I'll post some of the others once they are edited.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks
Dan



 
Hi Dan,

I think it's a good start. My question is, what are the headshots for? That would help me understand your objective better. The lighting is decent but I'd work on balance a little more. My main concern is the framing. There's a lot of empty space above most of their heads. I'd follow the thirds rule as much as possible, you might get better results. I'd also work on poses a little more, these guys are pretty stiff. Long gone are the days of stale sears poses. try a chair and have them relax, try some new angles, loosen up!

Nice start, good luck!

:)
 
Thanks for weighing in. I was looking forward to your opinion. I'm not trying to get into the head shot game, but I guess when people know that you take photos they will hit you up for just about anything.

These were just basic shots to go along with bios on their corp web page. I showed him some different styles and he just wanted the straight forward look. I was hoping to get a little more creative too. They all do technical writing so I'm not sure they wanted the end result something less "tight" or posed or whatever.

So talk to me though about the rule of thirds. I intentionally placed their eyes right on the top 1/3 line, and I felt like there was too much space at the top too. I decided to leave it that way for now to allow them room to crop for the web design or whatever....but I agree there is too much space. Do you have an example of what might be a more "proper" crop? I was conflicted on that.

Also, talk to me about the balance. Do you mean more even light on the subject? Maybe less or more ambient? Just curious the direction you would suggest. Thanks again for commenting.
 
DivotDan said:
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I think a little balancing of those harsh light lines goes a long way, and a simple crop. She doesnt look as "greesy" now. Her chest was unbalanced too. I try to nail this with lighting but as you can see, you can do a little in post too to even things out. Notice how in yours that lower right jaw (real bright) is lit much different than her upper left forhead (dark). Keep an eye on that when lighting.
 
also, chicks hate bags under their eyes, so try to soften those a little when possible, as i did there. the trick is not to look "touched-up".
 
No dodge and burn, just capture nx. but again, I would do it when you light so you can avoid it in post. Just keep an eye on harsh spots on the face, keep it soft and spread. Good lcuk!
 
These are definitely more portrait styled shots.
Alveraz pretty covered everything else.

I'd definitely shoot from a higher angle next time. Make them stretch out for the camera. Get some looks of happiness and dramatic in there. Alveraz has some great examples on his site.
 
I like Capture NX a lot with its control points. It came with my D300 for free, but it does not support RAW from my D700. But I agree it should be managed more from the light setup to begin with than forcing it in post.

For the second set of photos, I was in a parking garage and only using one light source. The background was a tree outside of the deck. While I think one light makes cool photos, not sure it was the best setup for this. I think adding fill would have evened out some of the harshness. I was looking back at the photos I shot of the girl with short blond hair, and in this one I shot her with the strobe too far to her right vs more in front of her like on a lot of the other shots. Combined with no fill or bounce it was just a little too harsh I guess.
 
NX supports RAW, that's all I shoot in and it's the only post software I use. What happens when you try to open the file? Is the extension NEF?

As for light, I personally never shoot headshots in direct sunlight. meaning, I like large windows or garages, so I can have the flood from the sun but also have the means to control it. I then use my CLS for the rest and one silver bounce if needed. I push the subject as deep or shallow into the garage as needed.

Direct sunlight leads to either real flat portraits, squinty eyes, blow outs, and unbalanced light on the face (like some of these above). Try a garage, it's an amazing secret most professional headshot photogs use. Just an idea.
 
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Yeah, the first 2 were done in direct sunlight. All of the rest were done in a completely covered parking garage....and no one was facing the sun.....so I'm not sure why they were all so squinty. Must be the way they smile.

My D200 and D300 NEF's work fine in NX, but Nikon makes you get NX2 to use the D700 NEF's. So I will will not be using NX as much now as I would like, since NX2 is not an upgrade but a completely new $200 build.
 
DivotDan said:
but Nikon makes you get NX2 to use the D700 NEF's. So I will will not be using NX as much now as I would like, since NX2 is not an upgrade but a completely new $200 build.
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How lame. So I'm buying a D300 soon, are you saying those nef's wont be compatable with my nx 1.1?
 
Naw. D300 files are fine. Just D700, D5000, and maybe D90 too that do not work in NX1. Those only work in NX2.

Actually, I got me NX for free when I bought my D300. :) I've tested it and there is no problem.
 
I picked up a D200 and a new 85mm instead as I plan to go D700 in a few months and need to save a little more. So I should be cool in 1.1.

I redesigned my site yesterday by the way, everyone hated the last design. This is the final design for a while, I'm exhausted with this and need to rely on this branding for a while. It's working though, booked through the next two weeks with clients. www.zampanophoto.com

If you see any issues with the site let me know.
 
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