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View Full Version : Need quick headshot help please

fishcall
19th of April 2010 (Mon), 14:53
also posted this in the general section but maybe it goes here:
I'm pretty novice at this but need to take a headshot for my wife. She got a TV commmercial when she brought my son for a casting call and they said no we want you. She filmed that commericial and then the same talent agency called her for another casting call and she got one of only 5 call backs. We are suppose to bring an 8x10 to the casting call on Wed so I am trying to to take one this afternoon.
I got an XTi with a nifty fifty lens and a Sigma 18-200 OS. The Sigma's shots always seem dark to me so I figured I would use the Canon 50mm f1.8. Below a few shots I took yesterday after she was unshowered and been in the boat all day. She is going to pretty herself up today. I am thinking of shooting at the same time today under same lighting conditons if that is recommended. Are the green trees in the background ok? Or should I have a less bright background? I have no lighting tools and usually don't find the XTi's flash to be flattering so shooting natural light outdoors. I could put her 20 ft or so in front of our tanish house and blur background if that would be better. Another option would be on a dock with a large river behind her. I think these shot were on Aperature Mode and I opened it up as much as possible. Is this recommended? Or which mode? Another question I have is what setting should I have the camera on in the menu; Standard or Portrait or Natural? I really don't know how to use Photoshop except to sharpen so I'm going with what comes out of the camera. For a headshot should she be looking directly at the camera? Please tell how to improve the compositon of the below shots. Thank you and any quick advice would be great.
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/IMG_8795.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/IMG_8797.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/IMG_8801.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/IMG_8805.jpg
jenxin
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 02:52
i think a more interesting background would help a lot., some better lighting, highlight the hair, make eyes pop, and yes you should sharpen it up, also, shoot further back a bit. also a nice natural smile works good. you may have to increase the shutterspeed, then again, it probably wasn't too sunny. these are just some ideas and suggestions, though you should defitnitly learn photoshop.. good luck!
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 07:10
i think a more interesting background would help a lot., some better lighting, highlight the hair, make eyes pop, and yes you should sharpen it up, also, shoot further back a bit. also a nice natural smile works good. you may have to increase the shutterspeed, then again, it probably wasn't too sunny. these are just some ideas and suggestions, though you should defitnitly learn photoshop.. good luck!

yes, I know these are bad that's why she is showered with make-up and there are much better shots to choose from in this thead>
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=860517
Frugal
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 11:00
She is very pink in these, but the ones in your link have a good skin tone. Unless she is sunburned, makeup doesn't account for the difference???
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 11:02
yeah those pics above are just bad (meaning the photography) and wish I could figure out how to delete them or this post
jenxin
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 14:25
flash is used in your other ones?
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 14:40
flash is used in your other ones?
some but it is only the camera's flash. even dialed down it makes her looked washed out. these are the final two we are down to. there is no post processing because i only make it worse.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/Pilar%20pics%204-19-10/GIMG_8981_2.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/Pilar%20pics%204-19-10/GIMG_9125_2.jpg
jenxin
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 15:02
i duid some pp on your 2nd one, let me know if you like it or not.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/4538937448_563dcc2d49_o.jpg

only spent like 10 min hah
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 16:00
i duid some pp on your 2nd one, let me know if you like it or not.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/4538937448_563dcc2d49_o.jpg

only spent like 10 min hah

I like it! but she is very concerned about how the lipstick is rubbed off on both corners of her lips. can you smooth the lip color out any? thanks.
jenxin
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 17:02
wups man, i uploaded the old pic, 5 times. lol'd

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4539242346_3bd0cf5d3e_o.jpg
Frugal
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 17:04
Added some lipstick at sides of mouth to jenxin's excellent pp
http://dreamspro.com/misc/4538937448_563dcc2d49_o%20copy.jpg
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 17:15
Added some lipstick at sides of mouth to jenxin's excellent pp
http://dreamspro.com/misc/4538937448_563dcc2d49_o%20copy.jpg

can you email me this pic? jrwaits@fishcall.com
fishcall
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 17:19
wups man, i uploaded the old pic, 5 times. lol'd

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4539242346_3bd0cf5d3e_o.jpg

awesome! can you email me this pic? i need to print an 8x10 tonight. thanks.
jrwaits@fishcall.com
Frugal
20th of April 2010 (Tue), 21:16
Email on it's way. Major credit goes to jenxin.
fishcall
21st of April 2010 (Wed), 07:15
Thanks for everyone's help. Here the two final pics we went with. What do you think?
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/Pilar1ellacopy.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/fishcaller/Pilar2redo4.jpg