Actors headshots/portrait lighting & bakground with Video lighting

[DCMP]

Hi All! 1st thread Ive started here, and I KNOW i am a newbie in many aspects of photography, but I feel Ive got a good handle on the basics.

I am going to be shooting some headshots for local actors and students. Due to the oncoming winter weather, I'm forced indoors. Problem is, I don't have any photography flashes or strobes. I have constant lighting sources for video in the form of a Rifa 66, 2 tota lights, and a DP. Thats basically a med/large softbox 500-1000watt, a wide, 2 wide, harsh 500-750 watt, and a powerful spot at 500-750 watt (they all toss between 29k and 31k). and plenty of lighting accents (flags, reflectors, difussion, gels, yadda yadda)

I have used this setup for B&W on occasion, but I have to start doing color for film auditions as well as the stage theater I have been doing. Any suggestions on how to handle the background and lights? I have a few nice crushed velvet fabrics, figure i could stick them far back enough they'd show as black, maybe an accent light to pull the color. Also a white paper paneled trifold screen. I just don't yet know how my subjects will look in front of the various drops, or if it will look to much like a student photo. Argh! (to top it off, blew a fuse tonight, had to stop testing until morning).

2 flashes, and id be fine, nut i have to work with this. Before i blew a fuse, pics were black with the softbox at 10 ft, and 2 tota's with umbrellas at 5-8 ft. Any closer, I loose the eyes in the catchlight. Help!!

Hehehe oh yeah, I'm shooting with the 7d with either nifty-fifty, or kit 28-135

[nuffi]

I could be way outta line here, but no one else has piped up so I'll give my two cent's worth.

Your light sources should be fine. Light sources are light, whether it is strobe or not doesn't really affect the end result much. You seem to have a good handle on lighting basics, too, so you should have little worry there.

For actor's headshots, usually ppl want relatively flat lighting that shows all the subject's features, so it might be best not to get too dramatic, and don't go for that wide open, wafer thin depth of field.

If you can get enough light and distance to shoot with the zoom at around 100mm or longer at f/8.0 that would be ideal imho. Sweet spot of the lens, gets enough DOF, it's all good. On a crop body you can get away with using the 50 at a pinch, but if you go any wider the results get a touch distorted which is also bad in headshots.

Of course, once you've got a headshot that the client needs from you, then knock yourself out with dramatic lighting, DOF or whatever.

:)

[bobbyz]

On planet neil tangents there is recent post on using video lights. Someone showed some nice shots with < $30 sunpack light. Neil uses lowel lights with barn doors. He mentioned about a book "Hollywood portraits: classis shots and how to take them".

[DCMP]

Thanks guys! I'll post some of today's results, and take a look at those vids for tomorrows set.

I may have moved in the wrong direction for this first set, shot mostly 2.0 on the 50mm, with a variety of zoom lengths on the 28-135. But I DID focus at x10 zoom on the eyes for almost every shot, so that may help cover that snafu.

[ActorsHeadshots]

For actors headshots I use only one main light on the subject and another on the background. I like his set up because it helps to give a bit of depth and contrast to the headshot and the background light helps to separate them. I use strobes at he moment but in the past have used tungsten lights the same way. It works well for me in as a busy actors headshot photographer in London (http://www.nickgregan.com). One of the most important tips I can give is to make sure that the eyes are the focal point and that they are crisp and sharp.

[DCMP]

First round of examples are at http://dcmp.zenfolio.com/headshotsamples

[williejr]

Check out Kevyn Major Howard work at www.headshot-photography.com He does not use any studio lights, its all natural lighting. He has been dubbed the king of headshots in LA. You will see why after looking at his port.

[aroundlsu]

I have not had good luck using Arri film lighting for my stills. And believe me I tried. For one, even the 1k lights are not very bright with softboxes so you are going to be shooting slow and at a higher than ideal iso.

After I got some very cheap off camera strobes the quality of my photos went up tremendously. One reason even cheap strobes give very crisp photos is because the light is only on for a small fraction of a second. Zero motion blur. Also even the cheapest $50 studio strobe is bright enough to shoot at iso 100 2.8 1/250. You would need 5kw tungsten lights to shoot that fast. And you would melt your talent.

Spend $100 on some cheap strobes. Trust me. I am so sure I just spent $5k on profoto strobes even though I have all the movie lighting I need here where I work.

[DCMP]

I have not had good luck using Arri film lighting for my stills. And believe me I tried. For one, even the 1k lights are not very bright with softboxes so you are going to be shooting slow and at a higher than ideal iso.

After I got some very cheap off camera strobes the quality of my photos went up tremendously. One reason even cheap strobes give very crisp photos is because the light is only on for a small fraction of a second. Zero motion blur. Also even the cheapest $50 studio strobe is bright enough to shoot at iso 100 2.8 1/250. You would need 5kw tungsten lights to shoot that fast. And you would melt your talent.

Spend $100 on some cheap strobes. Trust me. I am so sure I just spent $5k on profoto strobes even though I have all the movie lighting I need here where I work.

Thank you! That is exactly the issue I was having, and I appreciate your response. Time to organize and sell some gear for strobes.