One of the things I like the most about photography, aside from the cool toys, is that you get to meet interesting people. Characters. People with spark. The challenge is then to capture that and show it in the photographs. A headshots photo session needs to be more than just a mere glimpse of your subject's personality.
Jonathan Arons, also known as “the trombone dancer”, is a multi-talented actor, singer, dancer and musician, based in New York. Jonathan needed some professonial headshots and some portraits for promotional use. We Read more inside...
Headshot photography: Studio lighting - Westcott Eyelighter
With portrait lighting for head shots, there are so many configurations - all the way from dramatic lighting, to very even light - but always keeping in mind that the lighting needs to look flattering. It is all in how we balance the various lights, and how we add fill-light.
Westcott has released a curved reflector, the Eyelighter (B&H / Amazon), and it is quite versatile: Read more inside...
Studio photography - Working with a large Octa Softbox
It was exciting when I equipped my studio last year with a variety of lighting gear - so much to choose from. A little kid in the toy store! I want everything. The decision obviously has to be made between various lighting items that are only slight changes from other, with little real world difference. And then there ia also lighting gear that is quite esoteric.
I chose various gridded stripboxes and reflectors, in addition to the soft boxes and beauty dish that I had. Then I had my eye on an octabank - specifically Read more inside...
Headshot photography: What makes for a good headshot?
A few out-takes mixed with a few keepers from this headshot photo session, and it helps illustrate some of the process of getting to a good headshot.
The lighting is key. Posing is important. But there's another aspect that makes a great headshot - your subject's personality needs to come shining through. So, yes, it is in the lighting. It is in the posing. It's in the expression ... but a very important key is the personality of the photographer - how to make your subject feel relaxed. How to make the photography not feel like Read more inside...
Shooting portraits with fast lenses for that distinctive shallow depth-of-field look, works in the studio too. In fact, it works exceptionally well. But it is perhaps an unexpected way of working in the studio - the usual way is to work with apertures in the range of f/8 or f/11 for great depth-of-field and superb image sharpness.
That super-fast aperture portrait lens - such as the 85mm f/1.4 - really focuses the attention exactly where you want it … Read more inside...
Mike is an actor / musician friend of mine, who also works with the Modern Gypsies at times. We recently updated his headshots with a session in and around the studio. As a working actor in New York, he has appeared on stage, as well as some spots on television. Amusingly enough, while shooting outside the studio against the warehouse building's facade facing the main street, a young boy, walking past us with his mom, turned around and asked Mike, "Are you famous?" Of course we couldn't disappoint the kid.
Being a character actor, and shooting Read more inside...
On-location corporate headshots - Efficiency and speed
That's me, all set up for on-location corporate headshots last week. Five speed light & Softbox set ups, to be placed in a different area each, to efficiently give 5 different looks. My client wanted head-shots of a list of people, with varying backgrounds around their offices. And also with different sets of clothes. We decided that 5 different looks would work best, and give them variety.
I considered the options I had. Two of them amounted to too much disruption:
- dragging one light around, and setting it up every Read more inside...
