Ive been a long time fstoppers reader but this is my first post!
Few weeks back one of my mates asked me if i could take a headshot picture of him for his new job at realestate that he was going to use for business card / employee profile.
So last week i gave it a crack with gear that i had. 580ex flash and cheap 20$ ebay light / umbrella.
Ironically this was taken day after i watched your headshot video with Peter.
Picture looks slightly more red compressed than on my phone. Mind you we did have 4-5 beers prior to taking picutres. Lesson learnt
Any suggestions, criticism welcome.
Like it! Nice pose. One thing....do his pupils look somewhat large??
Thanks! They do look big! And for some reason oval too lol. To be honest i didnt know how to shrink those pupils with only two lights that i had. I got lots to learn when it comes to lighting.
I understand the lighting thing. All of my attempts at indoor portraits suck. So you will not see them posted here. lol
One trick to pupil size, I read, was expose the models face to a stronger light source just before you shoot. Of course there is always Photoshop (content-aware scale). :-)
I soo wanted to photoshop it but he wanted to keep it as it was shot. :( haha
Looks good!
Couple comments, and it's just preference.
1. I prefer the main light above the eye level for a corporate headshot. Looks almost in line with the eyes.
2 My eye is drawn to where the kicker light hits his face. Perhaps lower the power a bit, or move the main light to decrease the shadow that separates the 2.
And I assume since the kicker is bouncing off the wall, it's creating an odd color cast?
Thanks for tips. Will try go higher next time.
With kicker light it was just continues globe that i had. I guess i could have move it further away from subject.
I think you're really close with the lighting, actually. I agree about raising the key light a little bit, and also lowering the power of the kicker. I'd also suggest adding a bit more soft fill light on the right side of his face, but not so much that you lose the contouring shadows. Also, getting the background to pure white would help make it look a lot cleaner.
The thing that catches my eye immediately is his (camera) right eye. Does he have a slightly lazy eye? It also seems brighter than his left eye, which is strange since it's on the shadow side of his face.
I don't mind the larger pupils.