My Headshot work
- Thread starter armisiano
- Start date
Nice work Armisiano, I think you're close to finding a spot-on style for industry standard actor headshots. Here's my thoughts on each, I'll assume these are strictly actor headshots, right?
From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Actor needs to look directly into the lens, the CD and agents demand this, there are no exceptions. I would avoid landscape shots, too many agents have killed me on those, so I avoid them now. You lost most of her hair, it's okay to crop a little, but this is too much.
2. Trash all your B&W shots, only old-school out of touch headshot photographers in NY do this anymore, for strictly theater actors, agents and CD's want all color now, period. The battle is finally over
Again, she needs to look in the lens. I love the composition by the way, outside of her eyes off camera.
3. His left eye is dangerously close to being too turned away. This should be your absolute limit to subject rotation, anymore is useless. Agents/CDs want full face. I have turning in my own work, but this is a little too much. Great lighting, I would pop that BG a little more though for depth.
4. See #2 (but the comp is fabulous here!)
5. This is my favorite headshot of the bunch. It pops with character and as an agent I know exactly what this guy looks like.
6. This is my least favorite. keep in mind I'm judging these as industry headshots for agents and CD's. The lighting is too dark, too much cropping and other obvious concerns.
7. Avoid landscape and as much as that strand of hair might look cool and wispy, it's distracting for agents and CD's. it's a fine line between model shots and actor shots, try not to cross that line.
8. Excellent shot, but the landscape will eventually hurt you. Trust me, when I stopped the landscape shots my % of customers rose about 20% and my agent referrals went through the roof. They look awesome, but fight the urge. Everything else is great here, though I would be careful with light, it seems to be making your actor squint here. keep an eye on here comfort, very, very important.
9. See #6 though I "get it" for a charactery shot.
10. Beautiful shot, though I would watch the flat aspect of lighting, could use a little more soft shadow play.
11. Great shot, but you tilted a little too much, that's it. I think her left eye could have used a little more exposure as well. Other than that, I love it.
12. This is awesome, and works great for a standard headshot believe it or not, just let go of the b&w and you have a great shot here.
13. Love it! I would clean up that glare on his forehead, it's distracting, and maybe separate his hair from the bg, a problem I have a lot myself.
14. Great shot, outside of landscape and b&w.
Great work man, keep at it!
www.zampanophoto.com
From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Actor needs to look directly into the lens, the CD and agents demand this, there are no exceptions. I would avoid landscape shots, too many agents have killed me on those, so I avoid them now. You lost most of her hair, it's okay to crop a little, but this is too much.
2. Trash all your B&W shots, only old-school out of touch headshot photographers in NY do this anymore, for strictly theater actors, agents and CD's want all color now, period. The battle is finally over
Again, she needs to look in the lens. I love the composition by the way, outside of her eyes off camera.3. His left eye is dangerously close to being too turned away. This should be your absolute limit to subject rotation, anymore is useless. Agents/CDs want full face. I have turning in my own work, but this is a little too much. Great lighting, I would pop that BG a little more though for depth.
4. See #2 (but the comp is fabulous here!)
5. This is my favorite headshot of the bunch. It pops with character and as an agent I know exactly what this guy looks like.
6. This is my least favorite. keep in mind I'm judging these as industry headshots for agents and CD's. The lighting is too dark, too much cropping and other obvious concerns.
7. Avoid landscape and as much as that strand of hair might look cool and wispy, it's distracting for agents and CD's. it's a fine line between model shots and actor shots, try not to cross that line.
8. Excellent shot, but the landscape will eventually hurt you. Trust me, when I stopped the landscape shots my % of customers rose about 20% and my agent referrals went through the roof. They look awesome, but fight the urge. Everything else is great here, though I would be careful with light, it seems to be making your actor squint here. keep an eye on here comfort, very, very important.
9. See #6 though I "get it" for a charactery shot.
10. Beautiful shot, though I would watch the flat aspect of lighting, could use a little more soft shadow play.
11. Great shot, but you tilted a little too much, that's it. I think her left eye could have used a little more exposure as well. Other than that, I love it.
12. This is awesome, and works great for a standard headshot believe it or not, just let go of the b&w and you have a great shot here.
13. Love it! I would clean up that glare on his forehead, it's distracting, and maybe separate his hair from the bg, a problem I have a lot myself.
14. Great shot, outside of landscape and b&w.
Great work man, keep at it!
www.zampanophoto.com
Last edited:
SilverWolf
Veteran
Great critique Alveraz. All things I would have said.
armisiano
Veteran
Alvarez, thanks for the critiques, very on point. I also agree with basically all of what you've said. Regarding the B&W's, I give all my clients both color and B&W versions of each (there's a lot of theatre work in San Diego compared to any film or print). #6 & #9 are my friends Pat and Dan who I stayed up one night drinking beer with and finally said, hey, my camera's in my car, hang on. Our goal that night: good myspace pictures.
I think my biggest mistake with this ad was that I wasn't focusing enough on showing good headshot examples, but just portrait work (i.e. #2 & #7 was actually a day at a park when my fiancee finally stopped turning away from the camera). I'm just hoping to get more clientele. There aren't too many actors in San Diego, and I'm worried that when I move to L.A. in the summer I'll get NO work simply because there are already SO many photographers. Anyhoo. Thanks again though for the critiques, I'll definitely take note, especially with the landscape shot thing.
I think my biggest mistake with this ad was that I wasn't focusing enough on showing good headshot examples, but just portrait work (i.e. #2 & #7 was actually a day at a park when my fiancee finally stopped turning away from the camera). I'm just hoping to get more clientele. There aren't too many actors in San Diego, and I'm worried that when I move to L.A. in the summer I'll get NO work simply because there are already SO many photographers. Anyhoo. Thanks again though for the critiques, I'll definitely take note, especially with the landscape shot thing.
I would consider narrowing it down to strictly headshots for this ad then, if that's your angle. Actors don't want myspace shots and if you narrowed it, the change and focus would look great. You've got a few gems here, but they are lost amid the other shots.
Oh, and I lived in SD for 30 years, I'm familiar with the theater scene, but still, the b&w is not needed in ads. You can simply write, "b&w available" somewhere in your ad copy, don't show it, it hurts more than it helps trust me. As for Los Angeles, stay away Seriously though, there are hundreds of headshot photographers up here, about 2% of them are good and make money, the other 98% flip burgers.
You have the talent, but to weasel into that 2% you need to have a huge eye for marketing, advertising and social skills. That's more important than anything up here to survive shooting headshots. There's no lack of clients, hundreds of actors swarm LA every week from around the states, but you need to know how to reach out and grab them. All I can say is, it took me two years to figure out how to do that, and it ain't easy
Good luck!
Oh, and I lived in SD for 30 years, I'm familiar with the theater scene, but still, the b&w is not needed in ads. You can simply write, "b&w available" somewhere in your ad copy, don't show it, it hurts more than it helps trust me. As for Los Angeles, stay away
Seriously though, there are hundreds of headshot photographers up here, about 2% of them are good and make money, the other 98% flip burgers. You have the talent, but to weasel into that 2% you need to have a huge eye for marketing, advertising and social skills. That's more important than anything up here to survive shooting headshots. There's no lack of clients, hundreds of actors swarm LA every week from around the states, but you need to know how to reach out and grab them. All I can say is, it took me two years to figure out how to do that, and it ain't easy
Good luck!
Matt Grunau
Adobe Demigod
Nice work Armisiano, I think you're close to finding a spot-on style for industry standard actor headshots. Here's my thoughts on each, I'll assume these are strictly actor headshots, right?
From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Actor needs to look directly into the lens, the CD and agents demand this, there are no exceptions. I would avoid landscape shots, too many agents have killed me on those, so I avoid them now. You lost most of her hair, it's okay to crop a little, but this is too much.
2. Trash all your B&W shots, only old-school out of touch headshot photographers in NY do this anymore, for strictly theater actors, agents and CD's want all color now, period. The battle is finally over
3. His left eye is dangerously close to being too turned away. This should be your absolute limit to subject rotation, anymore is useless. Agents/CDs want full face. I have turning in my own work, but this is a little too much. Great lighting, I would pop that BG a little more though for depth.
4. See #2 (but the comp is fabulous here!)
5. This is my favorite headshot of the bunch. It pops with character and as an agent I know exactly what this guy looks like.
6. This is my least favorite. keep in mind I'm judging these as industry headshots for agents and CD's. The lighting is too dark, too much cropping and other obvious concerns.
7. Avoid landscape and as much as that strand of hair might look cool and wispy, it's distracting for agents and CD's. it's a fine line between model shots and actor shots, try not to cross that line.
8. Excellent shot, but the landscape will eventually hurt you. Trust me, when I stopped the landscape shots my % of customers rose about 20% and my agent referrals went through the roof. They look awesome, but fight the urge. Everything else is great here, though I would be careful with light, it seems to be making your actor squint here. keep an eye on here comfort, very, very important.
9. See #6 though I "get it" for a charactery shot.
10. Beautiful shot, though I would watch the flat aspect of lighting, could use a little more soft shadow play.
11. Great shot, but you tilted a little too much, that's it. I think her left eye could have used a little more exposure as well. Other than that, I love it.
12. This is awesome, and works great for a standard headshot believe it or not, just let go of the b&w and you have a great shot here.
13. Love it! I would clean up that glare on his forehead, it's distracting, and maybe separate his hair from the bg, a problem I have a lot myself.
14. Great shot, outside of landscape and b&w.
Great work man, keep at it!
www.zampanophoto.com
Wow! I don't even do headshots and I was rivited by this post.
I found myself reading this and initially thinking "what the hell is he talking about?". Then I began comparing the shot to the suggestion. Then I was eagerly going from point to point, after opening another window of this thread so I didn't have to scroll up and down, losing time (dual 19"s rock for this purpose).
Then it was over and I was a sad panda.
:dankk2: