More photographers than ever are making a full time living photographing headshots, in their own homes, on their own schedule, as their own boss! If you've ever wanted to make money from photography, the information below is probably the most important thing you could read.
As long as you have a camera, a simple clean wall, and know a handful of important tips, you can easily take beautiful headshots that make anyone look like a rockstar. And yes, even you can even create them with a smartphone! The real secret to shooting an incredible headshot that clients will pay for over and over again is in your skill as a director and your ability to notice the little things most photographers overlook.
Fstoppers has teamed up with Peter Hurley, perhaps the most well known headshot photographer in the world, to create the greatest and most comprehensive tutorial on all every aspected related to headshot photography. From cameras, settings, and lighting to coaching your subject, styling their wardrobe, and working with makeup and hair, Peter covers it all! Thousands of photographers have used this tutorial to launch their own businesses, and for the next couple of days, we're offering this incredible course at its biggest discount of all time.
If the Course is This Cheap, it's Probably Useless
It's easy to come across deals that seem too good to be true. Giant discounts often just mean that the product is horrible and the only way it will sell is by marking it down over 90%.
Thankfully, that's the furthest thing from the truth with Peter's tutorials. Peter Hurley's techniques have been used by over 20,000 photographers and have led to the largest photography community of full time, professional headshot photographers in the world.
Literally thousands of people make a comfortable living by shooting headshots from the information they've learned from Peter. Whether you want this to be a side hustle or you want to create your own schedule and do this full time, Peter teaches everything you need to build a business that can scale however large you can imagine it.
Is There Room in the Market for Another Photographer?
Yes! There has never been more of a demand for the average person to want a high quality headshot than now. We live in an era where your virtual presence is sometimes the only representation people ever see of you. An online image is a major influence in how people will interact with you, which means almost everyone needs a professional looking headshot.
Who Is Peter Hurley and Why Should I Listen to Him?
Peter is one of the most successful and well known headshot photographers out there. He spent the early part of his life traveling the world as a professional male model. During that time, he was forced to understand the subtle movements of his own face and was also able to pick up learn the technical side of photography from some of the best photographers in the business. Eventually he moved to New York city and saw a niche in the market that he thought he could fill. "I thought that if I could shoot actors headshots like commercial photographers shot celebrities I could be successful."
Peter now charges thousands of dollars for a single headshot session and continues to perfect his craft. Peter has been featured on Good Morning America, published in the New York Times, and his work has been used by thousands at some of the biggest companies including Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Adobe. Needless to say Peter is the definitive source for popularizing the modern day headshot, and best of all, he is willing to share all of his years of experience with anyone willing to learn.
Peter Hurley has become synonymous with masterfully lit portraits that showcase the inner beauty and confidence of his subjects. Not only is he a master at his craft, Peter is also a charismatic teacher who is able to break down each part of his workflow into simple, relatable steps that others can emulate in their own style.
Tell Me More About Peter's Tutorials
Over the years, Peter has teamed up with Fstoppers to create three separate tutorials. The first, The Art Behind the Headshot, is an introduction to Peter's techniques, lighting, and business. Although it was filmed over ten years ago, every bit of it is still relevant today. This course can stand on its own and is being offered for only $19, that's a 94% DISCOUNT.
Peter's second tutorial, Illuminating the Face, focuses less on working with clients and more on learning every aspect of the lighting you'll want to master as a portrait or headshot photographer. For a limited time, we're offering a bundle option for both these tutorials for only $135. Normally, the cost would be $600 for both these tutorials.
Perfecting the Headshot, the latest tutorial with Peter, was created to give a comprehensive update to every aspect of his workflow. Although some of the information is similar to his first tutorial, Perfecting the Headshot was filmed eight years later. Over that time, Peter has refined his craft and has became an eve better photographer and teacher. Perfecting the Headshot encapsulates over a decade of Peter’s in-person workshops and puts them in a rewatch able video tutorial. This course can also be bundled with the other two for a total of $300, over 66% off their normal price.
The Art Behind the Headshot
In this 4 hour tutorial Peter reveals everything that he uses to produce not just technically sound but "interesting" images day in and day out. Although this video does touch on a number of topics, this tutorials main focus is on coaching those in front of your camera into producing the best possible images.
Topics Covered
- How To Make Anyone Look Their Best
- Starting Your Business From Scratch
- Natural Light vs Studio Light
- The Peter Hurley Signature Look
- Shadowed Lighting For Men
- Alternative Studio Lighting (Strobes)
- Tethering
- Camera Gear
- Understanding The Human Face (Mouth, Eyes, Eyebrows, and Body Position)
- Coaching and Facial Expression
- Creating Different “Looks” During Each Session
- Marketing
- Retouching/Printing
- Makeup/Hair
- Clothing
- Pricing
You'll save $281 by purchasing Art Behind the Headshot for only $19
Illuminating the Face
As a follow up to Art Behind the Headshot, this tutorial is a unique 4.5 hour video that focuses on the technical aspects of lighting the human face.
Filmed With 4 Cameras and Proportional Modeling Lights
Peter and the Fstoppers team spent 3 days planning and testing, and 6 days filming this detailed video. By using flash heads with proportional modeling lights, Peter is able to spend the first 3 hours shooting without strobe which allows you to clearly see every subtle lighting change he makes. The Fstoppers crew recorded the entire process with 4 cameras running simultaneously so that you will be able to see the shoot from every angle, including a video camera that mimics Peter's still camera. Every time Peter moves a light or changes a power setting, you will be able to see that change on the models face.
Lighting Modifiers Tested On Male And Female Faces
Flattering light differs on men and woman and so it was important to have both a male and female model. By using the same models for the entire 6 day shoot, Peter is able to compare images side by side that were taken days apart. You will be able to study these models faces and by the end of the tutorial you will have a completely new outlook on lighting cast on the human face.
Learn Different Genres Of Lighting
For the first 3 hours Peter goes over the basics of lighting and individual lighting modifiers. You will be able to compare hard light to umbrellas to softboxes to beauty dishes to ring flashes and other light shaping modifiers. Once you have an understanding of the available tools, Peter designs 6 completely different images using all of the modifiers at his disposal. By the end of this tutorial you should have a solid understanding of classic, beauty, fashion, and edgy lighting.
Learn To See Light
This tutorial is not a lesson in camera settings or ratios. Instead of teaching you to mimic light and camera settings, Peter teaches you to see light in a new and detailed way. After watching this tutorial you should be able to view images taken by other photographers and be able to understand exactly how that image was lit simply by looking at the shadow angle, depth, sharpness, falloff, and catch lights. Instead of teaching you to recreate Peter's shots, Peter will teach you how to sculpt the light and notice subtleties so that you can create your own unique images and personal style.
You'll Save $465 by purchasing Art Behind the Headshot and Illuminating the Face for only $135
Perfecting the Headshot
If there is one main theme behind Peter's work, it is that every person needs to look both confident and approachable. The number one challenge any photographer has when photographing people is learning how to break them out of the all too common "deer in the headlights" look and make them look comfortable and engaging. In this tutorial Peter dives deep into the human psyche and explains why people almost always have apprehension and fear when looking into a camera. After learning what causes people to look "blank and out to lunch," Peter teaches you multiple techniques to make your subjects look more confident and attractive.
Strengthening facial features by directing the body position
Strengthening the Physical Features of the Face
Perhaps one of the most difficult skills to master as a photographer is directing people into a flattering pose or position. Before working with Peter, we used to believe that there were good and bad models and attractive and unattractive subjects. Peter turns that mentality upside down and puts every aspect of the image in the photographer's hands. Peter is a master at manipulating the body, and through creative angle positioning he can either hide or accentuate someone's facial features. Celebrities and celebrity photographers are masters at this skill but Peter shares the same techniques so that you too can strengthen jawlines, minimize weight, straighten out crooked noses, even out differences in eye size, improve posture, and hide perceived flaws like crooked teeth, large ears, double chins, and forehead wrinkles. By evaluating every client that comes through his door and applying his techniques, Peter can pull out the most amount of beauty from anyone who steps in front of his camera. It's pretty amazing to view the differences between first image from a session and one taken 10 minutes later when the client applies Peter's coaching techniques. In many cases the person's features look completely different and the overall final headshot is a much more pleasing portrait of the person. In this tutorial Peter teaches you everything he uses to make the smallest detail perfect so your clients can look their absolute best.
Straighten A Nose With Just Lighting
Crafting Dramatic and Flattering Lighting
One of the most recognizable elements from a Peter Hurley headshot can be found in his lighting. Peter typically uses soft, flattering lighting for his women's portraits but often adds shadows and dramatic edge lighting to his men's headshots. Over the years Peter has evolved his signature "4 light beauty light setup" into a more efficient triangular setup, and he explains exactly where to place your lights so that you too can get the most flattering skin tones, shadow density, and general pop out of your own headshot lighting. Peter also teaches you how to chisel out jawlines by adding a kicker light as well as how to manipulate fill light to increase or decrease the overall shadow density in your male lighting setups.
Learn Peter's Soft, Flattering Lighting and His Men's Shadow Lighting
Peter is known for his large constant lights which provides soft, flattering lighting on any subject. However, if using constant lights is outside of your budget, Peter also shows you how you can achieve similar looking lighting with the use of small speedlights as well as by using 100% natural light. Whether using natural lights, hot lights, or strobes, or are shooting inside a studio or outside, this tutorial will teach you how to craft Peter's headshot lighting regardless of what gear you can afford.
Peter's Favorite Photography Gear
No tutorial would be complete without talking about photography gear. Over the years, Peter's gear has changed considerably. Back when he first worked with Fstoppers, Peter was known as the photographer who shot headshots with a Hasselblad medium format camera and a square array of Keno Flo fluorescent lights. These days Peter's setup is based around Canon DSLRs and his signature Westcott Flex Kit LED lights. Every piece of photography gear that Peter uses on a daily basis helps streamline the headshot process so that more time is spent taking photos and less time is wasted messing with gear. In this tutorial Peter will show you all the tools he uses to produce the consistent style for which he has become so well known.
Hair, Makeup, and Facial Hair
Peter Hurley is very particular about women's hair and makeup in his headshots but most photographers tend to overlook these details. Peter answers all of the tough questions: Should it fall on the front shoulder, can you put it in a ponytail, should it be straightened or left curly, do you let it wrap to one side, how do you prevent it from covering an eye, how messy is too messy, should you use hairspray to contain flyaways, and how much styling should your hairstylist do when I client walks into your studio? Peter tackles all of these questions and shows you exactly what he likes and does not like when photographing a female headshot.
Peter also addresses some of the issues you might have when a male client wants to shoot both with a beard and freshly shaven. You can add a lot of value to your clients simply by not only allowing them to change their clothing and hair but by also shooting them with and without their facial hair. When it comes to hair, most photographersleave it up to their clients but Peter shows you why you should take charge so that your clients look their absolute best.
Peter's Workflow and Retouching with Damian Battinelli
One of the most important aspects of running a successful photography business is having a streamlined client workflow. Peter Hurley is often shooting 2-3 headshot sessions a day in his studio which leaves very little time to spend delivering specific images to his clients. In this tutorial you will learn how Peter has automated all of his image delivery, proofing, retouching, and printing so that he can spend more time taking photos and less time behind his computer. He walks you through his entire process including culling photos with his clients, backing up his files locally and remotely, creating and sharing online client proofing galleries, outsourcing his retouching, and seamlessly integrating his printing into his proofing gallery so that clients can purchase and download exactly what they need all without contacting Peter directly.
For the first time ever, Peter has also teamed up with high end retoucher Damian Battinelli to show you the exact steps Peter takes to perfect every image that goes on his website. Together Peter and Damian talk about what they like and dislike in headshot retouching and why you shouldn't overly retouch any of your work. Damian then takes you into Photoshop where he walks you through three full edits as he teaches you some of his favorite retouching techniques he uses to retouch Peter's work.
This Download Includes:
- 10 1/2 Hours of Content
- 21 Video Files (14.5 GB, 1080p 23.98fps h.264 mp4 files)
- The Peter Hurley Headshot System
- Lighting for Women and Lighting for Men
- Peter's Setup with Constant Lights, Strobes, and Natural Light
- The Chameleon Approach and Sherlock Holmesing
- Understanding the 4 Different Types of Clients
- Minimizing Weight
- Reducing Glare in Glasses
- Picking Your Lens and Flattering Focal Lengths
- Shooting Headshots Outside
- Accentuating and Hiding Facial Features
- Working with Children
-
Peter's Favorite Tips on Hair and Makeup
- 3 Full "Real World" Client Shoots
- Understanding the Business of the Headshot Market
- Retouching Headshots with Damian Battinelli
- Peter's Entire Client Proofing and Workflow
You'll Save $600 by purchasing Art Behind the Headshot, Illuminating the Face, and Perfecting the Headshot for only $300