Hi folks, I'd love to get some C&C on this shot from a recent actors headshot session. As per the title, the light is all natural, with only a reflector below for some bounced fill. The key is reflected sunlight from a light coloured building camera left.
This a really clean, sharp & attention grabbing photo. Any post editing?
Thanks. Yes, it has had retouching, FS, D&B, the usual stuff.
Well done! Great composition and even lighting. Eyes draw you in.
Thank you Greg. That's great feedback.
Well done
Very nice indeed!
I'm going to be super picky now... it's a fine shot but since you asked for critique:
I'd need to see a larger size to be certain but some of the retouching on the forehead looks a little overdone. The skin seems slightly featureless - but at the same time it's very slightly blotchy.
The chin is is _marginally_ bright for my taste when compared to the eyes.
She's got quite a broad face. I might have tried to find an angle which reduced the width marginally, maybe shot from very slightly lower, turned her a little towards the light and tried to increase the shadow density on the camera right side. But by the time I'd done all that my model might have got bored and lost all the engagement you've built up.
It's unusual for actors to wear strongly patterned clothing in headshots; it distracts slightly.
Don't actors headshots have to be 8x10? They usually are, I think.
Wow Simon, great and detailed reply/critique. Without wanting to sound defensive, I'll try to respond to your (100% valid and accurate) comments.
I'm still learning retouching, using the FS method. So I've tried to walk that fine line between cleaning and losing all detail. I see what you're talking about with the blotchiness. I think it's less evident in the larger version, but fair call nonetheless. There is still detail in the larger version, and she did actually have a very smooth forehead. But her skin did have some redness and splotches over larger areas, which I struggled to deal with. (NB: any links you have to good retouching tutorials would be massively appreciated!!)
Agree that the lower part of her face is a touch bright. I probably should have pulled some of those highlights. The main lightsource is sun bouncing off a cream rendered facade, that doesn't run all the way to the ground, giving a 'downward' bounce angle. I used a Sunbounce below to bounce light back up for fill.
Yes! She has a very broad face. This shot was in-between a range of angles that I shot of her. I have a selection of angles vertically and horizontally. I guess this could come down to a truth-telling scenario. There's not much point in her submitting a headshots that dramatically slims her face, only to give a casting agent a massive shock when she turns up in person. I gave her a bunch of options and she selected some quite angled and some very front on shots.
Yes, this top was borderline on the pattern for me personally. I fully agree that patterns can be very distracting. For me, this didn't fall into that category, but I concede that this could be subjective. She felt very comfortable in that top, so it's where we started. I also have plenty of shots with her in other (non-patterned) tops.
I supply shots in 8x12 format (here in Australia) and know that a client can then print an 8x10 fairly safely. TBH I've never had anyone ask me to make an 8x10 crop. I know that 'used' to be the standard globally, but so did B&W headshots. Besides, many of my clients use shots for online portfolios etc where aspect ratios are not important. So this could be a regional thing.
Some of the most detailed FS & dodge & burn tutorials are here on FStoppers :)
Though I haven't yet found any decent guidelines as to when and where to use them; that's personal taste.
fwiw.. If I have time then I get the best results by using the healing brush tool on major pimples and micro dodging and burning to remove blemishes, small pimples, minor variations in tone, etc. It is very time consuming and takes practice - and can need some colour correction. I don't do much on the high frequency layer in FS, and as little as possible on the low frequency layer. I'm sure experts do work on the HF layer, I just find it hard to get right.
Different areas of an image can require different blur radii; going too small can eliminate detail; going too large can cause other problems.
If I'm trying to do a quick job then I'll duplicate the low frequency layer and use the skin softening tool in Color Efex Pro to blur tones rather than sampling & painting a colour or doing a Gaussian blur. I'll turn the small details slider down to 0, though. Then mask off and paint in only where needed.
That is a really cool tip about using Color Efex Pro on the LF layer! I'll have a play with that. I'm quite time-poor on these sorts of jobs, and find it easy to get carried away with retouching (in terms of time spent on it). So anything that will make that process more efficient and still produce controllable results...bingo.
I do go through with a healing/clone brush to clean up major flaws before doing any FS work. I'm still learning to balance how much FS to apply and how best to deal with the LF layer to remove colour issues in the skin.
Thanks again for your thoughtful and detailed input on this image!
Check out Julia Kuzmenko's 3 part d&b guide
https://fstoppers.com/post-production/ultimate-guide-dodge-burn-techniqu...
If you can get good with dodge and burn you won't have to rely on frequency separation as much.
She also has a guide to fs.
https://fstoppers.com/post-production/ultimate-guide-frequency-separatio...
One technique I like with fs that helps with color correction is to add blank layers set to color between the high and low layers. Set your opacity low, 10% ish. Select the good color with the eye dropper (alt or option key when you have the brush tool) and paint over the bad areas with a soft brush at the same size as the bad patch of color.
Superb tips there Justin. I'll do some reading/watching/testing. So much to learn!
Hi Chris,
Sorry I'm a bit late to this, but better late than never. I'm an actor headshot specialist.
A couple of years ago I was composing with cropped heads, but I found that a lot of actors really don't like this look. You have included a lot more of her body than is necessary for an actor headshot. If you keep eyes on the top third, you'll have a good basis of composition around that.
Actors use their headshots on profile sites, such as IMDB and CCP, and on Social Media. Though it makes no sense to me, the space given for a portrait is often square, so i would advice that you allow for greater width in your shot.
There is some blotchyness in the skin. I'd recommend learning frequency separation as a great way of cleaning this up and retaining textrure.
Bare arms are very distracting. You should be sending out preparation guidelines for what clothes work best and what to avoid. I always ask for a minimum of 3/4 sleeve. Solid colours work best, too - that floral patter is quite distracting, even though it's OOF.
The lighting is very flat and the lack of shadow means there isn't much depth or dimension. You have no hair light or accent light and this would add a lot of interest to the shot.
Her shoulders and head are in a T pattern. Try aiming for a Y where there is a little angle in the head or slope in the shoulders. She is also sitting without much going for deportment. A slightly straighter back would give a more alert pose. The shot has to communicate to a Casting Director that the actor is alert, switched on and deeply interested in the role.
I would never shoot a headshot from above as this puts the actor into a dimunitve position.
I think you've done a pretty good job with her expression, but it does look a little sneery. As the leading, establishing shot it is important to show that the actor is easy going and is going to be fun to work with. The expression would be good in a portfolio showing the actors range/type.
I hope this critique helps and that I have not come across as harsh, just trying to help. I'm even more picky and critical with my own work!
Best of luck! Jenny
Thanks for the super detailed critique Jenny. I agree with some of your points, but not so much on others. Most of what you've advised is fairly textbook technique, and there could be good reason for that. However, I personally find much of that textbook technique to produce very static and boring results. To me it looks like school portraits in front of a muslin backdrop from the 80s and 90s. That's not my style. So I realise I'm going against such advice, and some of my stuff won't work as a result. But I'd much rather have some stuff that doesn't work, and produce something that is a bit different, than just produce a bunch of cookie-cutter images for every client.
This image is just one of many that I produced for this client. There was a significant range, many of which avoided some of the 'issues' you pointed out, including ones with accent/hair light, more angles, shot from eye-line or lower, and different clothes.
My clients get a gallery of images that I choose from their shoot, from which they select finals for retouching etc. This was an image the client chose for herself, with the help of her agent. Most of my clients will enlist the help of their agent or a close friend to help them make their final selections from the proof gallery I provide for them.
One thing I do find interesting is that you say you "would never shoot a headshot from above...", yet your opening image on your site, is shot from above...as are numerous others in the homepage slideshow.
Apologies if my response sounds defensive or terse in any way. I genuinely appreciate your feedback. You've taken a lot of time to put all that info down on paper, and you clearly have a lot of experience. There is some very good advice in there, which I will take into account on future shoots. Thank you.
Nice shot Chris! If I could offer my $.02, I would say for me the image overall feels a little flat. On my monitor, there seems to be a red tint or tone that I might try and get rid of. In terms of the cropping, i prefer either not cropping the head or maybe in this case not quite as much. I seem to like it more in landscape headshots as opposed to portrait.